Salesforce.com just acquired Tableau Software for $15.7 Billion, well big deal you might say but what does it tell you about the value of sorting and using data and information on the results of  sales people . What does it tell you about the value of the data and information within your own business?

The first thing I look at when I work with companies who are struggling to grow is their capture of and use of data. On a project I worked last year I identified that over 70% of past customers had not been contacted within 12 months yet the sales people were out chasing unqualified prospects and failing badly with a sales wage bill of over $130,000 every month, sheer madness but certainly not unusual.

The first step in business development is establishing who will buy your product, who is your ideal customer. We use an established process to identify this but would not someone who has bought from you before be a good place to start and certainly better than trying to get in front of someone who does not know you, does not know your point of difference and is probably happy with the incumbent.

What is the cost to the business to have every sales people making up their own target list when you have the information sitting in your accounts and hopefully in your CRM?

The days of sales people sourcing their own prospect data without help or guidance from the company has come to an end, the days of companies realising the value of capturing every prospect and customer interaction and feeding that to the salesforce are here.

The traditional set and forget BDM model are deceased and buried this is the era of information and data to direct the BDM’s where they can win.

Mark Hood