Data Analytics is a Top Priority
Over the last 5 years, the topic of Data Science and Data Analytics has become a top issue for the C-Suite in both large and not-so-large corporations. Historically, these technologies were typically adopted by the manufacturing and operation groups. Rarely have sales and marketing groups been able to adopt Data Analytics.
Recently, however, research shows that over 90% of all corporations are utilizing a Customer Relation Management system (CRM) and over 55% of B2B corporations are utilizing a Marketing Automation Platform (MAP)1.. This proliferation of tools now puts sales and marketing in the spotlight in terms of data acquisition, creation, and accumulation.
Sales & Marketing Data Analytics
If you are willing to analyze the details of all this data, you will unlock the ability to understand your buyer’s journey through your sales system, as well as your lead’s journey through your marketing system. Furthermore, you can connect these systems to unlock a new understanding of your customer’s lifecycle, from lead creation through won/loss. By embracing Data Analytics, sales and marketing gain this tremendous opportunity.
A customer of ours once said, “Data is the New Bacon.” If you believe in the power of bacon, it is time to embrace Data Analytics and become “Best-in-Class”.
Questions This Blog Post Answers
This blog provides a sustainable framework to achieve the goal of becoming “Best-in-Class”, which will result in superior returns and competitive advantage over your competition. In order to outline this framework, we must answer a few basic questions first.
- What is the definition of “Best-in-Class”?
- Why should you care about “Best-in-Class”?
- How do you achieve “Best-in-Class”?
What does that this really mean to be “Best-in-Class” in Sales & Marketing Data Analytics?
To help define this, we looked to some online dictionaries and research groups to offer a few definitions.
- Business Dictionary – defines “Best-in-Class” as the highest current performance level in an industry.
- Gartner Group – defines “Best-in-Class” as the superior product within a category of hardware or software.
- Aberdeen Group – defines “Best-in-Class” as those with superior results, generally in the top 20% of the topic being studied.
For the purposes of this blog, we align our definition of “Best-in-Class” Sales & Marketing Data Analytics with the Aberdeen Group. Specifically, “Best-in-Class” represents companies that are in the top 20% as measured by revenue growth and profitability growth.
Why should you care about becoming and staying Best-In-Class?
The Aberdeen Group (May 2017) published a report on Approachable Analytics.
- The “Best-in-Class” companies (top 20%) adopting approachable analytics achieved 20% customer growth and a 15% profit increase.
- The “Rest-in-Class” companies (next 80%) achieved 7% customer growth and a 6% profit increase.
The case for “Best-in-Class” is very clear, a superior revenue growth rate of 13% and an improved profit increase of 8% vs. the “Rest-in-Class”. The report clearly states, either you embrace the opportunity or your competition will. This will result in your company becoming a member of the “Rest-in-Class” club, which is not attractive.
How do you become “Best-in-Class” in Sales & Marketing Data Analytics?
The pathway starts by complementing your existing systems with Predictive Analytics and Prescriptive Analytics (Optimization). This pathway takes your company on a journey from data Hindsight and Insight to using data to provide business Foresight. This means first that you understand what is going to happen in your business if you maintain the current course of action. Second, it provides an actionable plan to achieve a desired business outcome in the most effective way. This is where Optimization comes into the game. The combination of these two capabilities sets the foundation to create Predictable and Repeatable Revenue.
According to Gartner Group, achieving Predictive and Prescription Analytics will provide the highest value to your company. It will provide the framework for you to become “Best-in-Class”. Unfortunately, with high value comes the high difficulty. You may consider augmenting your current CRM and MAP with a third-party analytics platform.
Where do you fall on this spectrum?
Conclusion
Now that you have a framework for the key components of achieving a “Best-in-Class” Data Analytics capability, the biggest challenge is implementing these capabilities. This blog provides the framework to get started and in the blog’s to follow we will detail the steps and benefits that can be achieved for Sales and Marketing when deploying a “Best-in-Class” solution.
At ORM we are experts in Predictive Analytics and Prescriptive Analytics (Optimization). Through our easy to deploy and use Optimized Sales & Marketing platform, we make it easy for you to become “Best-in-Class”. Achieving this goal will provide your company with superior growth and earnings. If you have questions or would like more information on how your company can take advantage of these capabilities, let us know at info@orm-tech.com.
1. “25 marketing automation stats for 2016” (sessioncam.com) and “15 Mind Blowing Stats About Marketing Automation” (CMO.com).
