New tech solutions are popping up all the time these days, which makes finding ones that have real business value feel like finding a needle in a haystack. Who should you believe?
Business leaders are hesitant to adopt new technology unless they’re convinced it’s a good investment of our time and money – as well they should be! If the chances of getting a return aren’t good, they shouldn’t bother.
But these days, executives and managers are experiencing increased pressure to make decisions faster and better than their competitors. Some form of technology has to be the answer – and the most successful leaders have stayed ahead of the curve by using predictive analytics.
What is predictive analytics?
The practice of analyzing your current and historical data to pick out patterns and use them to make accurate predictions for the future (i.e. forecasts).
There are a lot of great tools out there that can use data to tell you about the past, like Salesforce.com, but not so many that tell you about the future. And that’s what business leaders need most: forward-looking, predictive insight that will guide them to success.
For sales professionals, this usually means analyzing pipeline history – team or individual – to forecast for the upcoming selling period. Companies that want to improve their sales processes and make their sales team better and more efficient, while saving money in the longer term, invest in predictive analytics tools like InsightSquared.
What’s the business value?
Quantitative business value – Predictive analytics saves businesses money because they improve processes and increase sales and marketing effectiveness. It helps you identify and close new customers efficiently while reducing sales and marketing costs. In sales, quantitative value comes in the form of things like:
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More products/services sold to more new customers
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Fewer complaints
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Higher customer retention rates
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Savings due to fewer overall problems
Qualitative business value – Predictive analytics guides increased business opportunities and better overall decision-making. It solves complex business questions for you in a fraction of the time, which means leaders can make decisions more quickly. In sales, this translates to:
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Better understanding of target demographic
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Deeper understanding of the sales process
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Proactive opportunity risk management
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Improved sales coaching
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Increased employee happiness due to sense of control & better coaching
It “helps connect data to effective action by drawing reliable conclusions about current conditions and future events,” explains Gartner Research Director Gareth Herschel.
The impact predictive analytics has on your business depends on how deeply you use it in your organization. Do you use predictive analytics? How has it benefited your sales team?
