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Ever thought about the mountain of data floating around in your organization — and felt frustrated that you’re leaving money on the table? If only you could get your arms around it, you could propel your sales team’s performance and business growth. Now, imagine having a dream team of sales analysts solely focused on transforming complex data into actionable insights for your brands. With their expertise, you can spot emerging trends before your competitors get wind of them, understand your customers on a deeper level, respond to fluctuating market changes on a dime and iron out any inefficiencies in your strategy.
Sales analysts are very much like the engineers behind a high-performance sports car. When your analysts are firing on all cylinders, you’re not just keeping up with market changes; you’re setting the pace and leading the race. In fact, companies with advanced analytics capabilities are five and a half times more likely to make faster decisions than their peers.
But how do you start building a team that truly delivers insights that drive growth? Buckle up, because we’re about to explore the strategies, tools and training that will put you in the fast lane. Here are a few key things we have our clients consider:
- Boost Efficiency: Streamline processes and eliminate redundancy to increase productivity and deliver results faster. Standardize reporting to help in comparing data and tracking progress over time.
- Ensure Data Storytelling: Equip your analysts with compelling storytelling techniques to turn complex data into persuasive, easy-to-understand narratives. Doing so can have a significant impact on both internal stakeholders and external partners.
- Invest in Specialized Training: Specialized training is akin to having a top-tier pit crew. Ensure that every component of your engine is finely tuned. Build and nurture your team, putting in place an ongoing, structured career development plan that includes tailored education, cross-functional projects and mentorship programs. Not only will you boost retention; you’ll also create true subject matter experts delivering high-value insights.
- Automate and Optimize: Implement cutting-edge tools that free your team to focus on strategic, high-impact analysis. To ensure optimal tool usage, make sure you’re up to date on current best practices.
- Sharpen Shopper-Centric Insights: Up your team’s ability to harness omnichannel data and shopper behavior insights to craft winning strategies that resonate with consumers. This will increase your sales team’s understanding of the shopper journey, improve targeting and, ultimately, drive higher conversion rates.
- Foster Curiosity Over Comfort: Foster a mindset of curiosity and continuous improvement within your team, encouraging team members to feel comfortable in challenging the status quo. By challenging assumptions, your team will uncover opportunities competitors may overlook, giving you a competitive advantage.
Now, I know some have had to make do for years without having top-tier analytics support. But that no longer flies in today’s dynamic environment. Without it, you’re definitely behind the eight-ball. I can tell you, we’ve seen many CPG companies who’ve taken this on quickly uncover hidden opportunities to drive significant results. Quick example: A leading manufacturer recently engaged us to drive change on their sales analytics team. Inefficiencies and lack of experience were severely slowing identification of critical insights — leading to missed opportunities and the underperformance of their key brands. By modernizing their weekly reporting systems and providing targeted training to upscale their analytics staff, they were able to quickly identify root cause issues and set a strong path forward to significant performance recovery and future sales growth.
Again, building a world-class sales analyst team is like assembling a high-performance sports car. It requires the right combination of strategic processes, advanced tools and specialized training to reach peak performance. Start by evaluating your current setup and identifying areas for improvement. Invest in the right technology and training to empower your team. If needed, enlist partners who have real-world consumer goods experience and understand the unique challenges and opportunities within your category. Remember, your analysts can be the driving force behind your sales strategy — equipping them with the best resources will propel your growth. So I ask, are you ready to transform your sales team into a high-performance powerhouse to shift your strategy into overdrive?
Jason Reiser is president of Market Performance Group, marketperformancegroup.com.
