Selling to Banks Blog

High Quality Sales Intelligence: Part 2 - Five Objectives

Now that we have defined what high quality sales intelligence is, let's define its objectives. The value of sales intelligence lies in its ability to help salespeople increase sales pipeline with high quality leads, improve sales performance, increase win rates, shorten sales cycles and make quota.

In order to do these things, the objectives of high quality sales intelligence should be:

1. To help salespeople reach senior executives aka decision makers early in the sales cycle. This is very difficult to do as these people typically have gatekeepers, tight schedules, are very focused on their own specific issues and challenges, and have little time for salespeople. Whether it is by phone, email or mail, you can get that executive's attention by making sure to refer to their key business problems and ways your company can help address them;

2. To help in creating high quality leads. By helping the salesperson engage the senior executive on her/his most important business challenges, it leads to the building of a business relationship based on knowledge and professionalism the salesperson demonstrates. That salesperson will be in a position to ask all the right questions to determine if a valid qualified opportunity exists;

3.To increase win rates. A salesperson's winning percentage is often tied directly to how high in target accounts he/she establishes business relationships. The lower in the organizational chain you sell to, the less likely you are to win business;

4.To give the salesperson a competitive advantage. Knowledge is power and that applies to professional selling as well. By giving a salesperson knowledge about an executive, their background, interests, past achievements, and their view of critical business problems and challenges, puts that salesperson ahead of his competitors.

To illustrate, if the competitor met with an executive and asked: "Can you tell me your top 3 business challenges? and you instead asked: "I know your top 3 business challenges are X, Y & Z, which one is most important to you and why?" who do you think impresses that executive the most? Who gets invited to return and continue building the relationship?

5. To enable salespeople to align their product or service with the most pressing business challenges of senior executives. Hitting senior executives with all the features and benefits of your product falls on deaf ears; in fact, the most successful salespeople make sure to spend most of their time talking about the executive's problems and challenges and the ways in which they can help solve them.

Are there other objectives sales intelligence should support? Let me know.