A Field Guide to Data-Driven Sales Enablement: A playbook featuring articles by 18 leading industry executives

By Baker Communications, Inc.

This field guide is your roadmap for implementing Data-Driven Sales Enablement in your sales organization. By using data to improve sales processes, you can tackle the three major challenges of sales turnover, low quota achievement, and time to proficiency, as well as drive better results.

Just like physicians use lab work, MRIs, X-Rays, and other tools to diagnose your health problems and recommend paths to wellness, this book will show you how to obtain and use data to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of individual sellers and sales teams to inform decisions on hiring, onboarding, training, and coaching your team to world-class performance. With 18 industry experts to guide you, and 30 contributors overall, this guide is a collaboration of thought leaders on how to build a world-class sales team.

This field guide includes a step-by-step plan, best practices for using technology, data analytics, and sales assessments, and covers everything from the basics to the latest technologies and techniques. Whether you're a sales leader looking to drive change or a sales professional looking to improve, this field guide has the insights and guidance you need to succeed.

With its practical approach and comprehensive coverage, "A Field Guide to Data-Driven Sales Enablement" is an absolute must-have for anyone looking to make an impact in the sales industry. Whether your goal is to boost sales performance, reduce turnover rates, or achieve better results, this field guide will help you reach your goals and drive success in your sales organization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350911879

Book preview

Chapter I:

Introduction

Think about it: what do you do when you have an injury or illness? You visit the doctor, and they ask you questions to understand your needs and concerns. They then prescribe a specific treatment plan to solve your issue. Imagine if your doctor said, let’s try everything and see what works. That wouldn’t be very helpful, would it?

The same goes for sales rep development in the workplace. We often take a let’s try everything and see what sticks approach to learning and development. We send sellers to training courses and expect them to come back miraculously competent, but the reality is only 10% of what they learn is retained and applied.¹ And our more senior sellers add, That was a big waste of my time! I already knew most of the stuff in that course!

But what if we approached employee development like a doctor’s visit? What if we diagnosed our employees’ specific skill gaps and provided targeted training to bridge those gaps? The impact on the bottom line, as well as employee efficiency and effectiveness, would be tremendous.

That's where data comes in. Data are the fundamental building blocks for successful employee development. In this field guide, we’re going to explore the importance of using data to become more effective in our ability to make better hires, improve their onboarding experience, provide precise and personalized training, and learn where coaching can provide maximum payback.

A. Why Data Matters in Sales

Data is becoming increasingly crucial for businesses of all sizes to drive growth and success. In the sales world, data is essential for helping teams better understand their customers and make informed decisions. By using data instead of ‘opinion’ to inform and improve sales processes, your organization can stay ahead of the competition and achieve great results.

B. The Three Major Challenges in Sales

Sales organizations often face significant obstacles that can impact their success. The first challenge is the high turnover rate of 34.7%, which can lead to a loss of knowledge, decreased morale, and reduced productivity.²

The second challenge is a low quota attainment rate of 43%, which measures the success of sales teams in hitting their targets.³ When a large percentage of teams are missing their quotas, it could be a sign of problems with sales processes, techniques, or the ability to engage with prospects and close