How and Why Sales Intelligence Will Help You Close More Deals
Sales has always been a numbers game. But in today‘s hyper-competitive B2B landscape, working harder isn‘t enough to hit your number. To win more deals, modern sales teams need to work smarter – and that starts with sales intelligence.
What is Sales Intelligence?
Sales intelligence refers to the technologies, tools, data, and practices that help sales teams gain valuable insights about prospects and customers to improve prospecting, lead qualification, pipeline management, forecasting, and revenue growth.
By harnessing data on everything from firmographics to buying signals, sales intelligence empowers reps to:
- Identify their ideal target accounts and buyers
- Understand prospects‘ needs, challenges, intent and behavior
- Personalize outreach and interactions
- Engage leads at the perfect time and with the right message
- Prioritize the opportunities most likely to close
- Measure and optimize sales performance
In short, sales intelligence is all about leveraging information to sell more efficiently and effectively. And the impact can be game-changing.
The Benefits of Sales Intelligence
Still not convinced? Let‘s look at some of the key ways sales intelligence can benefit your sales organization.
1. Identify high-fit target accounts
One of the biggest advantages of sales intelligence is the ability to zero in on your ideal customer profile (ICP). By analyzing data points like technographics, buying signals, and current tech stack, you can quickly surface the companies most likely to need your solution.
For example, say you sell marketing automation software. With sales intelligence, you could build a target account list of companies that recently raised venture funding, use a competing product, and have a growing marketing team.
This level of targeting ensures reps spend their time on the prospects with the highest revenue potential. In fact, a study by the ABM Leadership Alliance found that organizations using account-based sales intelligence saw a 71% increase in average contract value.
2. Gain a deeper understanding of prospects
Detailed sales intelligence data provides a 360-degree view of potential buyers – their role, needs, behavior, and relationship with your company. These insights enable reps to hyper-personalize every touchpoint.
Imagine you‘re preparing for a disco call with a prospect. With sales intelligence, you could learn they recently downloaded a competitor‘s whitepaper, attended a webinar on a topic related to your category, and have a background in IT.
Armed with this context, you can tailor your talk track, anticipate their questions and concerns, and demonstrate your unique value. According to LinkedIn, 69% of sales professionals say trust is more important in closing deals than it was even a year ago. Building rapport starts with understanding.
3. Reach out at the perfect time
In addition to static data, sales intelligence platforms can alert you the moment a prospect takes a meaningful action. For example, you might get notified when a target account visits your website‘s pricing page, mentions your brand on social media, or has a leadership change.
This real-time sales intelligence empowers reps to engage leads while interest is high. A study by Lead Connect found that 78% of customers buy from the company that responds first.
Here‘s a real-world example. Using 6sense, a rep at Sage Intacct saw a surge in intent data from one of their top accounts. The company had recently opened a new funding round, and the CFO was actively researching financial software.
The rep reached out with a highly relevant message tied to the account‘s current challenges. By striking while the iron was hot, she quickly booked a meeting and restarted the conversation. The deal closed a month later.
4. Prioritize the hottest opportunities
Of course, not every hand-raiser is ready to buy. Sales intelligence helps reps quickly distinguish tire-kickers from serious prospects, so they can prioritize their efforts.
Lead scoring models powered by sales intelligence data can dynamically rank opportunities based on key attributes like company size, industry, intent signals, and engagement level. Reps can focus on the leads most likely to convert, without wasting time on those that aren‘t a good fit.
Research from Infer shows that companies using predictive lead scoring can increase conversion rates by 1.7X and average sales price by 14%.
5. Close more deals, faster
The ultimate goal of sales intelligence is to help your team win more business. By providing reps with the right information at the right time, these tools empower them to have more relevant, value-added conversations that accelerate pipeline.
With a deeper understanding of each prospect‘s needs and behavior, reps can tailor their demos, proposals, and negotiation tactics. And they can proactively surface and overcome objections before they derail deals.
The proof is in the results:
- Organizations using sales intelligence have a 76% higher close rate
- High-performing sales teams are 1.5X more likely to base forecasts on data-driven insights
- Reps spend 40% more time selling when they have access to sales intelligence
Key Sales Intelligence Data Points
Not all data is created equal. To get the most value from sales intelligence, focus on collecting and analyzing these essential data points:
| Data Type | Description | Example Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Contact Info | Key details like name, email, title, location for decision makers | Reach out to the right stakeholders at target accounts |
| Firmographics | Company info like industry, size, revenue, growth rate | Build lists of accounts that match your ICP |
| Technographics | Hardware and software a company uses | Identify prospects using a competing or complementary solution |
| Intent Data | Behavioral signals that indicate buying interest | Prioritize accounts actively researching your category |
| Engagement Data | History of a prospect‘s interactions with your brand | Personalize outreach based on prior touchpoints |
| Relationship Intelligence | Your team‘s network of connections to an account | Get a warm introduction through a shared contact |
Tips for Sales Intelligence Success
Investing in sales intelligence is a smart move, but to reap maximum ROI, you need the right strategy. Here are some expert tips to set your team up for success:
1. Develop an ideal customer profile
Sales intelligence is only useful if you know what you‘re looking for. Develop a detailed picture of your target buyer, including:
- Firmographics (company size, industry, location, etc.)
- Environmental factors (competitor customers, growing market, etc.)
- Pain points and challenges
- Typical buying process and criteria
Use this ICP as a guide for the types of data you collect and how you prioritize accounts.
2. Establish sales and marketing alignment
To be effective, sales intelligence must be a cross-functional initiative. Sales and marketing need to collaborate on key elements like:
- Lead scoring models
- Handoff and follow-up procedures
- Messaging and content strategy
- Goal-setting and KPIs
Alignment ensures a seamless experience for buyers, and prevents valuable insights and leads from falling through the cracks.
3. Integrate sales intelligence with your CRM
Sales intelligence is not just another tool for reps to juggle. To drive adoption and results, your sales intelligence solution must be integrated with your CRM and other core systems.
This puts data at reps‘ fingertips, right where they already work. They can view account insights, get lead recommendations, and even auto-populate data without disrupting their workflow.
As an added benefit, bi-directional syncing ensures both systems always have the most up-to-date information. No more duplicate records or stale intelligence.
4. Focus on data quality
Dirty data is worse than no data at all. Incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated information can lead reps down the wrong path and erode trust in your sales intelligence program.
Implement processes and tools to maintain data hygiene, such as:
- Standardizing data entry with drop-down fields and validation rules
- Regularly deduplicating records
- Enriching and refreshing data from trusted third-party sources
- Conducting periodic data audits
Many leading sales intelligence platforms now use AI and machine learning to automate data scrubbing tasks.
5. Provide training and enablement
A tool is only as good as the person using it. To drive consistent usage and results, you must train reps on how to interpret and act on sales intelligence insights.
Develop playbooks that outline things like:
- What data points indicate an ideal customer profile
- How and when to use different insights in the sales process
- Talk tracks and content for specific buying signals or intent themes
Reinforce best practices through coaching, role-playing, and regular refreshers. Make sales intelligence a core part of your enablement program.
6. Measure and optimize
Like any sales tactic, you must track the right metrics to gauge the success of your sales intelligence efforts. Key performance indicators (KPIs) to watch include:
- Percent of reps adopting the tool
- Number of targeted accounts identified
- Engagement and response rates
- Lead-to-opportunity and opportunity-to-close ratios
- Average deal size and velocity
- Revenue influenced and generated
Use this data to spot top performers, identify coaching opportunities, and iterate on your strategy. Regularly reassess your target metrics and sales intelligence technology investments based on results.
Top Sales Intelligence Software
The sales intelligence technology landscape is rapidly evolving. With dozens of options on the market, it can be hard to know where to start. Here‘s a comparison of some of the top sales intelligence platforms based on key buying criteria.
| Platform | Key Features | Integrations | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot Sales Hub | Lead scoring, sales analytics and forecasting, sales automation | Bi-directional HubSpot CRM sync, Gmail, Outlook | Free to $1600/mo | SMBs, inbound sellers |
| ZoomInfo | Visitor and intent tracking, contact and company data, org charts, Scoops alerts | Salesforce, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Marketo | $15K-$100K+/year | Enterprise sellers with large prospecting lists |
| Demandbase Sales Intelligence Cloud | Dynamic account targeting, engagement alerts, website personalization, ABM analytics | 6sense, Salesforce, Marketo, Drift, LinkedIn | Custom | Account-based sellers targeting enterprise & mid-market |
| LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Lead recommendations, InMail, CRM contacts, PointDrive sales content | Salesforce, Dynamics 365, HubSpot CRM | $79 to $125/user/mo | Social sellers, relationship-based prospecting |
| Clearbit | Prospect data enrichment, account scoring, website visitor tracking, Reveal API | Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, Segment | Free to $999+/mo | SMBs and mid-market companies across industries |
The right sales intelligence solution will depend on your company‘s size, sales motion, target market, and existing tech stack. Most providers offer a free trial period, so you can get hands-on experience before committing.
The Future of Sales Intelligence
As B2B buyers become more sophisticated and digitally-driven, sales intelligence will only grow in importance. Here are some of the top trends and predictions shaping the category:
- Consolidation will continue. There are currently dozens of sales intelligence vendors, but many experts predict the market will coalesce around a few key players through mergers and acquisitions. Gartner expects 75% of B2B sales organizations will merge sales intelligence into wider sales tech stacks by 2025.
- AI will power predictive insights. Forward-thinking sales orgs are already using AI and machine learning to analyze sales intelligence data and surface predictive insights. For example, which deals are most likely to close this month, or what messaging will resonate with a particular buyer. Two-thirds of high-performing sales teams currently use AI, vs just 37% of underperforming teams.
- Intent data will be table stakes. With buyers now doing the bulk of their research anonymously online, intent data that illuminates interests and behavior will become a must-have intelligence type. Forrester predicts that organizations using multiple intent sources will more than double by 2023.
- Data privacy concerns will grow. As regulations like GDPR and CCPA give individuals more control over their personal information, sales teams will need to be transparent about data collection practices. Zero and first-party data will become more valuable. Relationships and trust will matter more than ever.
- Sales intelligence will optimize the entire revenue engine. Traditionally, sales intelligence has been used for prospecting and opportunity management. But progressive companies will extend these insights across the entire customer lifecycle to inform account expansion, cross-sell motions, and retention strategies. SiriusDecisions finds that aligned organizations achieve 19% faster growth and 15% higher profitability.
Start Selling Smarter with Sales Intelligence
In today‘s sales landscape, knowledge isn‘t just power – it‘s profit. Sales intelligence arms your reps with the insights they need to connect with more prospects, build trust and credibility, and close more deals.
But the truth is:
- Most salespeople only spend 34% of their day **actually selling.
- Only 60% feel they have the data **needed to do their jobs effectively.
- A mere 28% of sales leaders **are confident in their team‘s ability to use sales intelligence.
In other words – there‘s massive opportunity on the table. Sales organizations that embrace sales intelligence will be well-positioned to outshine competitors and accelerate revenue growth.
So what are you waiting for? The time to level-up your sales intelligence game is now. Here‘s how to get started:
- Define your ideal customer profile and intelligence needs
- Assess your current data maturity and gaps
- Evaluate and select the right sales intelligence solutions for your business
- Develop processes for collecting, managing, activating and optimizing data
- Train and enable your sales team to adopt a data-driven operating model
- Measure, iterate, and scale your efforts
The B2B sales winners of tomorrow will be the ones who use data to work smarter, not just harder. Will you be one of them?
