Metrics Matter. How Sales Analytics Contribute to Mid Size Firms Performance

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1 Call Center/Telesales Effectiveness Insights 2005 State of the Marketplace Review Metrics Matter How Sales Analytics Contribute to Mid Size Firms Performance Jim Dickie Partner, CSO Insights Boulder, Colorado Barry Trailer Partner CSO Insights Corte Madera, California

2 Copyright 2010 CSO Insights All Rights Reserved. Terms & Conditions Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be produced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher except in the cases of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For additional information, contact CSO Insights, 4524 Northfield Court, Boulder, CO 80301, Phone: (303) , jim.dickie@csoinsights.com. The reader understands that the information and data used in preparation of this report were as accurate as possible at the time of preparation by the publisher. The publisher assumes no responsibility to update the information or publication. The publisher assumes that the readers will use the information contained in this publication for the purpose of informing themselves on the matters that form the subject of this publication. It is sold with the understanding that neither the authors nor those individuals interviewed are engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal or other expert advice is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any use to which the purchaser puts this information. All views expressed in this report are those of the individuals interviewed and do not necessarily reflect those of the companies or organizations they may be affiliated with, including CSO Insights, Insight Technology Group, or Sales Mastery. All trademarks are those of their respective companies.

3 Technology is the engine that drives change. Information is the fuel that feeds it. Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave Executive Summary Financial institutions that were too big to fail received massive bailout funds but firms too small to matter continue to be the engine that drives our economy and its recovery. When looking at these firms we ask two questions: Are these firms getting all the help they need to succeed? And are they leveraging all the resources available to help them excel? The answer to the first question is YES. The convergence of increasingly powerful low-cost computing power and more powerful Software as a Service (SaaS) applications means even the smallest firms have access to business intelligence (BI) tools once available only to the very largest companies. The answer to the second question, however, is only one in seven firms is doing so. This paper looks at mid-size companies (i.e., sales reps) and the impact on their sales performance by providing their managers timely/accurate metrics. The short version is that companies exceeding expectations in delivering these early alerts are arming their managers with actionable information that translates into significantly higher results including: 15% higher close rates of forecast opportunities; 14% higher revenue attainment; 20% more reps meeting or exceeding quota; 34% lower sales rep turnover; and Several times better performance in key areas when sales managers have timely metrics. Use of sales analytics is estimated to double in 2010; read on to find out why and the benefits to mid-size firms doing so. Note: source of data for all charts and tables presented is CSO Insights 2010 Sales Performance Optimization survey. CSO Insights CSOiCL

4 B.I. is B.S. Sophisticated analytical tools have been available to very large companies those with sufficient budget and IT staff to delve into the considerable details they accumulated on sales cycles, buyer behavior, financial data, and more. Examples of how such data can be converted into new/improved business opportunities would be actuary data insurance companies analyze to create new offerings; or travel/demand data that rental car companies use to adjust rates uniquely to every location, car model, etc. The result can be optimized sales and profitability. Smaller firms unable to afford large BI implementations hoped to make sales optimization gains by implementing CRM. However, when applied to sales pipelines and/or as an extension of CRM opportunity management capabilities, the resulting forecasts and insights were so far off the mark that they were essentially meaningless. The chart below shows the outcome of forecast deals (i.e., not pipeline but opportunities expected to be won) for midsize companies that had CRM implemented but did not deliver meaningful metrics. Outcome of Forecast Deals 50% 46% 40% 30% 20% 10% 33% 21% 0% Won Lost No Decision Forecast results for mid-size companies with CRM but without meaningful metrics. Chart 1 As can be seen in Chart 1, better forecast accuracy could be achieved simply by flipping a coin. While the result was a general disaffection for BI reflected in the title quote to this section. Setting the bar too low? Not every company implementing CRM and analytic tools suffered the same dismal fate. In our survey of more than 600 mid-size firms some reported results far different than the rest. We asked each of these firms to rate their ability to provide their sales managers CSO Insights CSOiCL

5 timely/accurate metrics. The possible answers were: Needs Improvement (40%), Meets Expectations (44%), Exceeds Expectations(15%), Do Not Know/Not Applicable (1%).The one in seven firms reporting that they Exceed Expectations in this capability also reported consistently better results in several important areas. However, it s especially interesting to note that those companies Meeting Expectations in providing their sales managers timely and accurate metrics, in many cases reported no better performance figures than those Needing Improvement. Indeed, in some areas these companies results were worse. Only companies Exceeding Expectations in this area had breakaway performance. Key performance results reported by companies based on their ability to deliver timely/accurate metrics. Provide Sales Managers Timely/Accurate Metrics Needs Improvement Meets Expectations Exceeds Expectations Outcome of Forecast Opportunities: Won/Lost/No Decision 47%/32%/21% 47%/32%/21% 54%/26%/20% Overall Revenue Plan Attainment 78% 78% 89% Reps Achieving Quota 45% 52% 54% Voluntary Turnover 11% 13% 8% Involuntary Turnover 14% 16% 11% Table 1 An eleven point gain in overall revenue plan attainment is significant in and of itself; and, of course, having another one in ten reps (9%) meeting/beating quota is desirable as well. Not only does this mean more revenue this year, it also means more revenue next year because these firms will also see one in ten reps (11%) staying in place rather than leaving the company. A rough rule of thumb is that the cost of replacing a sales rep (i.e., the amount of business lost with the underperforming rep, recruiting, hiring and training and the amount of business lost during the new rep s ramp-up period) equals one year s quota. That one extra rep you hang onto could save you $2.0Million (this year s weighted average quota). While it s always interesting to look at performance numbers, these are results. What about the practices driving these results? Specifically, are sales managers better able to manage/coach their reps or do these performance figures derive from some other source? The chart below shows that managers with timely/accurate metrics are much more effective in several key areas as seen in Chart 2 below. CSO Insights CSOiCL

6 Manager Abilities Based on Managers Having Timely/Accurate Metrics exceeds meets needs Managers effectively share best practices Mgrs proactively identify reps needing coaching Mgrs adapt sales process to market changes Mgrs and reps forecast accurately Hire Reps successful at hitting quota Sales managers abilities reported by companies based on deliver timely/accurate metrics. Chart 2 Sales managers are not the only ones benefitting from receiving these early alerts; their sales reps also are reported to perform much better (not surprising if they re proactively receiving needed coaching) in key areas as seen in Chart 3 below. Reps Abilities Based on Managers Having Timely/Accurate Metrics exceeds meets needs Reps Differentiate vs. Competition Reps effectively cross sell/up sell Reps Properly Qualify and Prioritize Opps Reps sell value/avoid discounting Sales reps abilities reported by companies based on deliver timely/accurate metrics. Chart 3 CSO Insights CSOiCL

7 We see three times as many reps performing the first three critical behaviors by firms exceeding expectations (with timely/accurate metrics) and twice as many in the critical area of avoiding discounting. In addition to savings from lower rep turnover, higher win rates, larger deal size (from cross-selling/up-selling), and better time management/deal qualification (see Table 2 below), every dollar of discount saved drops directly to your bottom line. CRM Metrics The past two years CSO Insights has been researching not only the adoption of CRM systems but also what we have labeled CRM 2.0 systems/applications. These are add-on point solutions that either augment basic CRM functionality (e.g., contact management, opportunity management, , calendar, etc.) or replace these functions with more robust targeted feature sets. All of today s recognized CRM systems (e.g., Microsoft, Oracle, salesforce.com, SAP, etc.) include manager dashboards for delivering metrics to sales managers. Even more basic CRM systems (e.g., AccPac, GoldMine, Saleslogix, etc.) offer reporting metrics in pre-defined or custom profiles. Is this enough? If the Meets Expectations groups performance numbers are somewhat alarming, they may be even more so when you realize 82% of these companies have implemented a CRM system with 60% of these firms reporting reasonably good user adoption (>76% reps use app in their daily workflow). It is only when a firm s ability to deliver timely/accurate metrics to its sales managers Exceeds Expectations that these significant performance gains are realized. How significant are these gains? Table 2 below summarizes key areas. Key performance results reported by companies based on their ability to deliver timely/accurate metrics. Provide Sales Managers Timely/Accurate Metrics AND Managers Proactively Identify Reps Needing Coaching Metrics & Proactive Coaching Needs Improvement Metrics & Proactive Coaching Exceeds Expectations % of Presentations leading to sale >50% 17% 25% % of Proposals leading to sale >75% 9% 25% % of Deals closing as Forecast >50% 19% 75% Table 2 In addition to all the advantages accrued earlier, Table 2 shows improved execution in areas that lead to improved final results. This is a key distinction to understand and capitalize upon. Quota and plan attainment, win rates and other favored metrics are all lagging indicators; that is, they re results. You can t manage results, since they re already history, you can only monitor them. CSO Insights CSOiCL

8 Conversely, earlier metrics such as hiring more successfully (i.e., more successful reps), proactively identifying reps needing additional coaching/mentoring before they wash out, and recognizing distinctions among reps/territories in success rates (such as those in Table 2) are leading indicators. And, as the label suggests, provide lead time to leverage and/or correct what s working/not working. Conclusion Having gotten to this point, the logical question is How to begin? Analytics fall under our label of CRM 2.0; that is, robust and powerful applications that take your CRM implementation and sales coaching/performance--to a new level. If you don t have your sales process defined, or have not yet implemented basic CRM, you ll want to get these two building blocks in place first. Once you ve done these, here are three more action items to get you started: Start Small. The powerful capabilities of the new generation of analytic applications may entice you to measure everything. After all, what gets measured gets managed, right? Not exactly. What gets measured gets reported and what you want reported are the items that provide the most leverage. These are not intuitively obvious and you should take some time figuring out what handful of metrics would really tell you the health of your business. Meaningful Metrics. Tracking prospect quality against your firm s Perfect Prospect Profile is a good place to start collecting valuable data. Lead follow up time by rep and region, cycle times moving opportunities along the pipeline, and milestones recording buyer evidence (actions the buyer takes to advance the sale) are all examples of metrics readily available with technology and much more difficult to gather without it. Analytic Capabilities. You can decide whether you need to pull and analyze data from multiple data sources (e.g., accounting, inventory, sales, etc.) or just one (CRM). Solutions are available either way; what you want is an application that will allow you to define business rules, historic trends and exception reporting with a minimum of administrative/set up effort. The discussion/debate about whether selling is a science or an art is really misdirected, in the same way that asking whether cooking is a science or an art. There is a good deal of personal creativity, energy and skill that goes into producing a great dish or meal. We would not be wrong to call it artistry. Yet recipes and cookbooks (collections of recipes) abound that detail proven methods (i.e., best practices) to minimize trial and error. This capturing of results and cataloging to identify trends and patterns of what works is the very essence of scientific method. The recipes don t diminish the cook s skill/abilities anymore than the skilled individual s abilities invalidate proven recipes. Documented sales processes, if properly put together from the experiences of your team members, are field-validated recipes that work. Your sales process then becomes the basis, the units by which an analytics engine can record CSO Insights CSOiCL

9 progress or lack of it among opportunities, individuals, regions, products and much more. The collected data then are interpreted and delivered as actionable information to managers, sales management, and provide individual coaching. There s an old saying: To make omelets you need to break a few eggs. This is true and suggests that recalcitrant reps may need to be brought (i.e.., dragged) into 21 st Century selling, not simply allowed to do what they ve always done. At the same time, there is no need to burn through a pallet of eggs with unnecessary trial and error and individual experimentation. Sales analytics in mid-size firms correlate with measurable results and significantly better performance in several key areas. In today s highly competitive, high speed, high payoff sales environment, you need to take advantage of every opportunity to stay in front of your peers. Analytics provide this edge; use them to stay in front of your peers. Toss this recipe for success out and you ll likely wind up with egg on your face. Note: source of data for all charts and tables presented is CSO Insights 2010 Sales Performance Optimization survey. About Birst This paper was sponsored by Birst, Inc. Birst brings the benefits of analytics, reporting and dashboards to a broad audience by making it affordable, fast, and easy to use. Birst s solutions include analytics for the sales organization, where improved insight can bring immediate bottom line results to a business. Find out why Birst won TDWI s Best Practices Award for Dashboards and Scorecards by visiting the website at About CSO Insights CSO Insights is a research firm that specializes in benchmarking how companies are leveraging people, process, technology, and knowledge to optimize the way they market and sell to customers. Over the past 16 years, CSO Insights sales effectiveness survey of over 10,000 sales effectiveness initiatives has become the benchmark for tracking the evolution of how the role of sales is changing, the challenges that are impacting sales performance, and most importantly, what companies are doing to address these issues. For more information on this research go to: Contact Laura Andrus for more information: Laura.Andrus@csoinsights.com or CSO Insights CSOiCL