Sales is one of the oldest professions known to man. For thousands of years, salesmen have been pulling all the stops to get people interested in what they’re selling, and even though many people consider sales to be an art, there’s also a science to it. These days, your success in sales depends as much on your ability to use business intelligence tools to get valuable insights into your company, your industry, and your customers as it does on your salesperson charm.
If you’re trying to increase your sales and you know that your pitch isn’t the problem, the problem could be that you’re not implementing business intelligence to get the actionable insights your company needs to gain a competitive edge. Your business takes in tons of data regularly, but it’s what you do with the data that makes it so powerful. Continue reading to learn how you can use business intelligence solutions to increase your product sales.
How is business intelligence defined?
If you’re like most people, when you hear someone talking about business intelligence, the first thing that pops into your mind is probably, “What is business intelligence?” The simplest way to explain is that business intelligence (BI) includes the BI tools, best practices, and data that companies use to help inform their business decisions.
The fact is that your company has probably been using BI tools for some time already, but BI systems and best practices have evolved so dramatically over the past two decades that it’s an entirely new ball game. Even though BI is an umbrella term for the gathering and use of data related to business processes and customer experience, as you read on, you’ll find out that it’s so much more than just that.
Develop the products your customers have been waiting on.
Half of the battle in sales is learning what products consumers want. You could have the best marketing campaigns and sales approach in the world, but if you’re not selling the products that people want, your company will experience little to no success.
With the use of business analytics, you can scour multiple data sources to find out what products consumers in your market are the most interested in. For instance, City Mattress used analytics to find premium products like the Simmons Beautyrest mattress, a memory foam mattress that’s ideal for all types of sleepers, including side sleepers and stomach sleepers. By running diagnostic analytics algorithms, they were able to find the top mattresses based on sales performance metrics.
Find your buyers.
One of the most important lessons to learn in sales is that you don’t want to waste time and resources marketing to people who aren’t likely to purchase your products. Directing your marketing and business operations toward actual potential buyers is a much more efficient use of your time and talent.
With data analysis, you actionable insights that can lead you directly to your buyers. Advanced analytics can give you an accurate picture of the buyer persona you’re trying to attract, allowing you to make better decisions and more effective marketing campaigns.
Enhance the customer experience.
Over the past few years, companies have been putting more effort and capital into enhancing the customer experience. Why is that? That’s because, through the use of business intelligence systems, companies are able to get actionable information that helps them to tailor their customer experience to individuals and various demographics.
Customer relationship management (CRM) software uses historic data from past interactions with customers and analytical processing to give company’s insights into their customers’ buying habits and common customer support issues. By using business intelligence to enhance the customer experience, small businesses and large enterprises alike are able to promote customer expansion and loyalty.
The impact of business intelligence and data analytics on sales can be exponential when you use the right BI tools correctly. Big data is here to stay, so your company might as well grow with it.