Sales Intelligence Software Explained: an Overview
Traditional sales cycles are longer than they used to be, especially for B2B sales. Consumers have now a wide array of tools to compare solutions and have access to a wealth of information thanks to the rise of the Internet. As companies have been forced to cut costs, sales forces have been asked to meet quotas. The most successful companies have implemented sales and marketing programmes to improve sales performance and the quantity and quantity of prospects.
What is Sales Intelligence?
Sales Intelligence (SI) refers to the technologies, applications, and practices for collecting, integrating, analysing and presenting relevant data about leads and prospects. Sales intelligence contextualizes sales opportunities by providing relevant information about your leads, including their industry, companies and position, and even contact information. This information is obtained by automatically parsing data available online, from social media like LinkedIn.
Usually, the information provided by this software can be integrated into your customer relationship management (CRM) solution. Relevant data and up-to-date information help sales teams understand the needs of leads and their position within the sales funnel.
Sales Intelligence v. Business Intelligence Solutions
Although some aspects of sales intelligence are similar to Business Intelligence (BI), sales intelligence is specifically designed to be used by salespeople and sales managers. Unlike Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and traditional Business Intelligence (BI) applications, Sales Intelligence provides real-time data analysis to deliver relevant and useful information and conclude a successful sale.
Who is Sales Intelligence Software for?
Sales Intelligence solutions are primarily designed for manufacturing, direct and indirect sales and wholesale companies. These are very competitive markets with high volumes and low margins. However, these solutions are becoming increasingly popular with all types of companies looking to increase their competitiveness.
Sales intelligence tools provide unique insights into customer buying behavior. By automatically analysing and evaluating data models, Sales Intelligence proactively identifies and distributes sales and cross-selling opportunities.
Sales intelligence can be used by sales reps to streamline each step of the sales process. They can:
- Boost lead generation: Sales Intelligence software can offer tools to match IP addresses to companies and employees. This way, it is possible to add their contact information to your CRM and start working on nurturing relevant leads.
- Assist with lead scoring: the information collected on your leads can help your sales team assess the likeliness of leads to turn into viable prospects. This enables them to focus on the leads with the most potential, and increase ROI.
- Give you insights to determine your ideal customer profile: these intelligence platforms provide detailed dashboards about your leads and their backgrounds. This data can help you determine who is the most receptive to your offering and define strategies to target the relevant customer profile, or persona.
- Help you clinch deals more efficiently: with relevant information and news, your sales reps can adapt their sales pitch and personalise their offer. This can influence decision makers positively. Qualified leads can then be turned into customers more easily.