Companies don’t hire sales reps because they have core competencies of administrative work and manually updating prospect lists. So why, when sales is under tremendous pressure to win new business, fend off competitors and grow existing customer revenue, do some companies burden their teams with time-killers like outdated tools and legacy processes?
Businesses thrive when sales teams are given more time to do what they do best – engage directly with customers. However, they need direction on the right opportunities that will likely close quickly and deliver maximum value. That’s where the field of revenue operations and intelligence comes in. RO&I uses advanced data science to identify sales insights at the account level and deliver them to sellers as actionable opportunities.
While RO&I has gained traction recently, many businesses have been slow to adopt it or haven’t yet examined what a digital transformation can do for sales. This reluctance toward a digital transformation comes from a lack of understanding of the benefits of RO&I. Too often, the tools that sales teams use haven’t kept up with how they do business today. Many companies still operate with traditional, siloed systems and processes that burden sales team operations, customer acquisition and retention, and revenue growth potential.
RO&I technology doesn’t have to be a headache. By investing in an RO&I solution, companies can future-proof their revenue engine and improve sales team operations along the way.
Improving Sales Operations
Combing through hefty Excel spreadsheets for pricing, customer and revenue information is a far too common reality for sales reps. The average sales rep simply doesn’t have the skills, let alone the time, to effectively analyze spreadsheets to determine the best action to take with each customer, yet they’re tasked with bringing in new business or upselling current customers without proper technical support.
The growing field of RO&I opens up new operational methods for sales teams, removing time-draining activities of administrative work and manual analysis so they can focus on what they do best: selling to customers. These solutions can drive predictable growth and help sales teams meet strategic goals. Companies already utilizing a RO&I solution reported a 59% improvement in win/loss rate for customers.
Technological solutions like RO&I eliminate spreadsheet fatigue and transform data into customer-specific actions that sales teams can pursue to upsell current customers. Advanced RO&I solutions communicate to sales reps which sales conversations to prioritize with specific customers, how to prioritize their time to sell more for more and point them in the right direction with predictive sales guidance. These solutions are imperative in a highly competitive digital economy and can increase same-customer revenue by five to 16%.
Retaining Customers and Increasing Buying Habits
Keeping their bottom line in mind, decision-makers tend to waiver on which technologies are most valuable to customer retention and revenue growth. Recent results show that with a RO&I solution, businesses can expect a 69% higher revenue growth.
Sales reps need to be proactively alerted when customer purchase volume falters. To do this effectively, advanced data science, driven by an RO&I solution, analyzes customer transaction history to compare previous and current buying periods and detect issues early-on. Compared to traditional business intelligence reporting, RO&I technology eliminates the need to filter through unnecessary data by taking a comprehensive look at past purchase interactions such as buy-cycle patterns, seasonality, one-time purchases or unstable buying behavior. With instantaneous insights into when the purchase volume of certain subproducts declines, sales reps can remain vigilant in securing repeated purchases.
RO&I solutions’ advanced data also creates idealized customer profiles based on previous buying activity. New customers are identified and targeted based on these profiles, which include customer spending patterns, total spending and the variety of products purchased.
The software plays matchmaker until customers are identified with the closest profile, which guides sales reps directly to growth actions. This leads to increases in total sales and thereby increases company revenue by improving customer relationships.
Leaning on RO&I Solutions for Long-Term Business Goals
Immediate revenue growth is a top priority for any business, but RO&I provides businesses and their sales teams with more than a quick fix to outdated spreadsheets and product recommendations. By adopting a RO&I solution, a company positions itself on the edge of innovation in a digital economy. With rapid changes in inventory, pricing and demand, companies must be armed with the technology to stay ahead of the competition.
The world continues to become more connected, and the proliferation of products, channels and competition requires technologically-driven solutions. An upcoming generational shift in the workforce will also rely heavily on new technologies to expedite traditional processes.
RO&I solutions assist sales reps and their teams derive important insights from customer and transaction history and create more time for strategic work. The speed and accuracy of RO&I insights will allow businesses to collaborate in an inter-departmental environment and succeed over the long haul.
