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6 Essentials of Data-Driven Selling

By: Lee Wilson

12/1/2008

How is this so? The reason for this diversity involves a subtle interplay between the specific market dynamics in a territory and the talents of the reps themselves. Consider two cases:

  • The focus in a state might be on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education; in addition, the rep might be most comfortable talking with department heads in high schools.
  • Another territory might be dealing with an influx of ESL students; the rep is passionate about reading and relates well with elementary school principals.

In the first territory your high school science products would do well, in the second your primary literacy products would come out on top. You probably already know this from working with the reps. But, do you know how to help them use the demographics of their particular target market to help them find accounts they have overlooked? That is the heart of DDS. Compared to the hand grenade toss of cold calling, DDS is sniper fire

What follows are six essentials that will help you shape a winning datadriven selling initiative.

1. You have (or can buy) all the data you need.

Most companies have all the information they need to initiate a DDS project. The data comes from your accounting system (sales history), your customer database, your territory structure, and one of the databases of market demographics (from QED, MDR and the like). Your goal should be linking each territory's sales history to its market demographics. You want to see clearly where you have been successful and where you could be successful.

You do not need a high-end datamining system to do this. A set of well designed Excel spreadsheets or a simple Access or Filemaker database can accomplish much of what you need to do. That said, having a CRM (customer relationship management program) helps enormously, as many of the reports you need are built in. But don't let the lack of a CRM hold you back.

Data-driven sales should be a coaching initiative to support a more productive dialogue between reps and their managers

It is essential to have a strong analyst in sales operations, someone who is comfortable working with large data sets and who believes in sharing data. DDS initiatives can fail because the skill set to weave the data together isn't there or because sales ops/ finance tries to hold on too tightly to the information. (If you are your own sales analyst-- that is, you're an independent rep-- see sidebar "DDS For Independent Reps", for guidance on doing DDS on your own.) A practical suggestion: Key all the data to zip codes. This allows you to reconfigure territories as needed and then look at the sales history in the new configuration. If the sales are linked to a territory name or a rep, this kind of correlation isn't possible. Ideally, when you are designing territories, you should be able to look back at several years of data to address the impact that one monster sale (or loss) can have on a territory.

2. It's not about the data-- it's about the conversation.

The spirit with which you approach a DDS project will make all the difference in how it is perceived by reps. Your goal is to take the conversation up a level from the personal. You are not discussing a rep's shortcomings; you are talking about the data. Since this kind of dialogue is less threatening, you end up having deeper conversations about market dynamics. The insights that emerge do change rep behavior-- indirectly.

For efficiency, some companies' start a DDS project with the lowest performers. The problem with this approach is that the program is immediately tagged as a remedial punishment to be avoided.

The best approach is to structure the conversation as a coaching initiative, a way the company can support more productive dialogue between reps and their managers. In order to make clear this objective, the reports have to be available for all reps. Managers should be encouraged to walk every rep through the data.

It may make sense to roll out your DDS initiative in one or two regions first to work the kinks out. If you do, the regional selections should be based on the skills and mind-set of the managers, not the sales performance of the regions. You want to start with managers who are comfortable with data and who are particularly good at the coaching aspect of their job. A couple of early wins are essential to any product roll-out to sales, and a DDS project isn't any different.