High Performing Sales Teams 4x More Likely to Use Predictive Analytics Posted on : Oct 20 - 2015

These and many other insights are from the 2015 State of Sales Report (free, no opt-in) published this week by Salesforce Research. Interviews were conducted in early 2015, generating 2,372 responses from full-time global sales leaders in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, U.K., France, Germany, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Vendors who produce research occasionally slant the methodology of their studies for maximum sales impact. Salesforces’ methodology in this study is aimed more at impartiality than self-endorsement. The study’s respondents includes customers, contacts and third-party panelists and provides useful insights on global analytics adoption.

Key take-aways include the following:

57% of high performance sales teams rely on sales analytics, compared to 16% of underperforming counterparts.  A high performing sales organization is on average 3.5X more likely to use analytics daily in their prospecting and selling efforts.

Salesforce Research predicts there will be a 58% increase in sales analytics use from 2015 to 2016. 74% of sales leaders are currently using or piloting/planning to use sales analytics in the next 12 – 18 months according to the study. The following graphic profiles sales analytics use:

High performance sales organizations are 4x more likely to use predictive analytics. The following graphic illustrates the differences in high- and underperforming sales organizations’ use of analytics, In addition to predictive analytics, offer management and customer insights are relied on up to 4x more by high-performing sales organizations.

Predictive analytics, price rules engine and sales coaching tools are predicted to have the highest growth with B2B sales teams in the next 12 – 18 months.  Customer insights, sales analytics, competitive intelligence, sales collaboration tools and sales coaching tools are projected to be the most adopted in the near term. The following graphic provides a breakout of technologies B2B sales teams are using today and anticipate piloting in the future along with growth rates by technology category. View More