The Real ROI of Sales Acceleration Technology
In the sales industry, we count wins in dollars and cents. That’s what matters more than anything else.
Any solution we adopt must increase revenue. If it doesn’t, then it’s as useful as a polka dot bikini at a black tie event.
To understand how sales acceleration technology can fuel your organization’s revenue growth, we need to step back and understand which key metrics directly impact revenue.
They are:
- Volume of attempts
- Contact rate
- Conversion rate
- Deal Size
Any successful salesperson or sales team has been good at one or more of these things.
It’s just math. Well … math may be an overstatement — it’s barely arithmetic — but this is the formula that drives sales results. People who are successful are normally employing one or more of the following approaches individually or concurrently.
For example, we all know sales reps who come in early, stay late or skip lunch in order to increase the number of calls they make every day. That’s because they know if they can place more calls, they’ll contact more leads, close more deals and, ultimately, make more money.
Those who use science or art to increase their chances of getting a prospect on the phone know their increased contact rates directly correlate with more money.
Others have mastered closing more deals or bigger deals than everyone else on the team.
An increase in any of these metrics, keeping the others constant, will result in increased revenue.
And these metrics determine the output of your sales efforts.
Some of these metrics can be changed in very short order while others will take some time.
If I’m trying to focus on hitting numbers this quarter, I’m going to gravitate toward a metric that can be quickly augmented, like contact rate or the number of dials.
If I had more time on my hands and wanted long-term solutions, I would look to improve deal sizes and conversion rates.
The following is a simple example to illustrate the impact of improvements to each of the metrics in our sales effort formula.
Let’s say that right now, each of my reps is making 75 dials a day. They have a contact rate of 18%, a conversion rate of 0.5%, and an average deal size of $2,500.
With these numbers, I would only be reaching about $169 in revenue per rep each day. That’s barely enough to cover a rep’s daily salary.
This is where the technology comes in. If I can find a solution that’ll help me increase my outputs, I can expect a much better return.
The table above shows that even with marginal increases to each metric, I can achieve a substantial increase in overall revenue.
How sales acceleration technology impacts each metric
This is where the benefits of data science are evident.
Sales acceleration technology is designed to improve these metrics. While there are individual solutions meant to address specific metrics, in order to get the best results, you need a sales acceleration platform with technologies that address every metric in the formula.
For example, sales technology that incorporates a prescriptive dialer will increase sales rep productivity, leading to a greater volume of dials. However, when a prescriptive dialer is integrated into a sales acceleration platform powered by predictive analytics, your sales team has access to data-driven insights that will improve all your metrics.
By speaking with the right prospects at the right time, you’ll see increases in dials, contact rates, conversions and average deal sizes.
Create value with process
Value is not created by technology. Value is created by process.
The importance of technology comes in supporting good process. When you identify the right process, you can add and layer in the technology to help you stay on track and gain greater visibility and accountability.
Finally, value is measured in dollars and cents. The only metrics that ultimately matter are those that drive your revenue.
When shopping for sales acceleration technology, make sure you select a data-driven solution that focuses on hitting all of the metrics that drive revenue, not just one or two.
Want to learn how your reps can improve their sales prospecting with sales acceleration technology? Download the free ebook below.
Free eBook: Cold Calling and Sales Prospecting: A Day in the Life of a Top-Performing Sales Rep
In this eBook, we invite you to tour a day in the life of a top performing rep to see how your team can achieve top performance.
Image credit: Simon Cunningham
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