Matt Heinz
President, Heinz Marketing
Sales Resources
Current Customers
State of Sales Spotlight - Trend #5
“Data is table stakes now. I mean, you can’t sell without data.”
Matt Heinz
President, Heinz Marketing
Led by Sales Ops, sales organizations increasingly use data for a range of tasks, such as sales planning and setting the sales strategy. LinkedIn’s Fifth annual State of Sales report, global edition, found the top five uses of data by sales orgs.
1. To assess performance
2. To evaluate patterns from closed-won business
3. To select industries to target
4. To select accounts to target
5. To evaluate patterns from closed-lost business
In a year upended by COVID-19, sales organizations adopted different metrics to measure the performance of their sales teams. Rather than quota, which was often impossible to reach during the pandemic, being the top priority, sales organizations wisely looked to metrics such as activity and customer satisfaction to gauge the performance of their teams.
Even in the midst of COVID, their focus is on more mature, longer-term priorities that align better with strategic company goals and sustainable business.
“I think this is a universal point: Everybody wants to know data, not about how a salesperson perceives the world, but how customers respond to what a salesperson did.”
Chris Kaufield
Chief Revenue Officer, Alitheon
Dive deeper into the stats that are shaping the future of sales.
For sales organizations, CRM is a key source of data. Overall, sellers are confident in the efficacy of this data.
in our survey say they are “very confident” in their CRM data.
But sellers are also keenly aware that any CRM data has a shelf life. Research shows that about 25% of buyers change roles every year. It’s crucial for sellers to stay on top of this data.
say they lost or delayed a deal in the last year because a key client stakeholder had changed jobs.
Percentage of survey respondents who identified these challenges
“Data informs every step we take. Predictive analytics are helping us to identify potential sales leads. Intent data and social listening are helping us to identify new opportunities. We are also using data for propensity scoring and lead scoring.”
Paul Lewis
Global Social, Digital Marketing, and Sales Enablement Lead, Pitney Bowes
Ready to dive into the report to explore how LinkedIn can help you ahead with these industry trends?