How to use data to increase sales

Your company’s sales data is often valuable information that can become a powerful tool in your organisation’s development if used correctly. Sales data analysis, in particular, is crucial for companies that want to build new strategies to deliver services that meet customer needs, maximize their sales capacity and remain competitive.

Unfortunately, many businesses don’t use data to its full potential, missing out on excellent opportunities for growth. Very often, this happens because of common mistakes such as too much unfiltered information, incorrect data analysis or making decisions based on inaccurate information. The complexity of data can indeed be daunting, but if you use the right tools, rest assured that you’ll be able to turn raw information into actionable insights for your business, and the natural result will be increased sales.

Proper data analysis can be a revelation for your organization. However, to make a major impact on sales and profit, you should follow the right approach and tailor the analysis process to the specific strategies of your company’s reality. Here are some tips to help you make the most of the data:

Centralises information

Whether the information comes from CRM, sales forecasting or direct customer interactions, make sure the data is collected in a centralised form, otherwise your analysis of it will be incorrect and you will end up drawing the wrong conclusions. A real problem for most companies is that they hold a large volume of information from multiple sources, making it more difficult to standardise data. This can lead to an incomplete view of the situation, resulting in longer sales cycles, lower ROI and missed business opportunities.
To prevent this, make sure you use a solution that can import data from multiple sources and then track the same KPIs in your analytics processes. Simple analytics will help you figure out what’s holding you back from achieving the results you want and adjust your sales strategies accordingly with reduced budget efforts.

Identify missing data

To get the clearest picture of your sales data, you need to determine what data you are missing. One of the most common mistakes companies make is not identifying the missing information that completes the picture. If you find yourself in this situation, you may be missing important opportunities because you are not using all the relevant information for analysis.
Gaps in the analysed data can lead to wrong conclusions, which is why special attention should be paid to data aggregation options. In some situations, specialised training for sales teams may be needed so that they can collect the information correctly, which will lead to more effective sales strategies.

Use the data to adjust the message

Most analytics tools provide detailed information about your customers or audience in general, among which age, gender or geographic location are some of the most common and important. But these are just some of the demographics that will help you craft a better message for your marketing campaigns and sales offers.
Use certain demographics to refine your messaging and address the specific needs of your target audience, using language that is sure to reach your audience. By choosing the right message for each audience type, you’ll be able to respond to market trends, meet customer demands and increase sales.

Choose the right time

It’s very important to reach leads and customers with the right message, but it’s equally important to know when to approach them or make an offer.
Make sure you analyse information about past transactions, buying habits, prospects and other historical data so you can make accurate forecasts, identify sales patterns and influence buying decisions. Your sales department’s efforts will be more fruitful if you can offer products exactly when customers are ready to make a purchase, through promotional programs and customized offers.
Remember that a sale depends a lot on timing, so use data to adjust your approach and choose the right moment during customer interactions.

Choose the right viewing option

To get the most out of your data, you need to visualise it correctly. Raw data can be inconclusive or complicated to analyze, but if you choose the most appropriate dashboards and visual representations, the data will lead to the best business decisions. Centralised dashboards are a holistic approach that allows you to analyse the right KPIs, understand all the relevant details and see things more clearly. What’s more, they’re the ideal way to scale information to present to your management or team.

Thus, everyone in the company will have access to the same data and will be able to make informed strategic decisions that support the sales actions that are essential to the success of the business.