Data is your key to sales success. Every kind of data you collect in your sales and marketing process is usable through sales reporting to improve the performance of your next campaign and your direct sales outreach. For example, just how you communicate with prospects very often makes an important difference. Sales reporting can show you the most effective way.
There are seven things your data should be telling you. A prospect’s preferred line of communication is one of them. It can make an important difference.
Who prefers what kind of contact?
In terms of your body of sales and marketing data and your ability to leverage it through sales reporting, we have looked at the WHO, the WHY and the WHERE. – HOW you go about sales is also fundamental. Tracking the effectiveness of your various modes of communication, the kind of contact to which your prospects are most receptive is a critical sales reporting role and informs your best approach for contact in the future.
Sales and marketing outreach uses a greater variety of modes of communication than ever before. You can be tracking all of them for optimal sales reporting.
- Phone calls
- Zoom calls
- In-person visits
- Conference meetings
Prospects respond to different modes of outreach differently, some much for favorably than others. Which lines of communication are the most effective for which prospects is a valuable insight for increasing sales. With a robust data stewardship process in place and advanced sales reporting capability you can leverage this insight to reach out to potential buyers only in the ways that each prefers.
Zoom calls may not have the same impact as in-person face-to-face meetings for a given prospect but may still be necessary due to availability or as part of a cadence across multiple modes of communication. Are you tracking all your modes of engagement with sales reporting in mind, in the same way as in-person visits? Can you see what kinds of communication or what sequences of contact across multiple modes are most effective? If you are not measuring whether you had a better impact virtually or in person, via email or on the phone, or how an advisor would prefer to communicate, you could be – and should be. Specialized sales reporting capability can turn this data into key insights.
If you include the right logic in your data collection and cleaning processes to make sure activities are appropriately tracked along with a robust data stewardship regime with sales reporting in mind, your data can point you to the most effective way of reaching out to every sales prospect.
Your inflow data combined with third-party data packs and marketing intelligence is critical to improving sales reporting and overall sales and marketing performance. The more complete and accurate your data the better. As the saying goes, “garbage in – garbage out”. True data accuracy and integrity are essential to sales reporting that results in understanding how best to approach prospects and increase AUM from your target markets.
