Imagine you’re about to embark on a cross-country roadtrip with your family. You’ve been planning this adventure for the last six months and you can’t wait. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore—you’re going to see it all.
On the day of departure you pack your army of overstuffed suitcases into the trunk of your car, make sure the kids are buckled in tight, and then get behind the wheel. This is it! You turn the key in the ignition and pull out of the driveway, barely able to contain your excitement.
But as soon as you hit the freeway, you realize something is wrong…
Your car’s speedometer keeps jumping from 45 to 65 at random intervals and your fuel gauge is stuck on empty, even though you filled your tank last night. How are you supposed to drive across the country if you can’t tell how fast you’re going or how much gas you have?
If you actually found yourself in this situation, you’d have no choice but to take your car into the shop and postpone your trip until it’s fixed. You can’t drive without speed and fuel data.
But this is exactly what outside sales teams do on a regular basis. They build complex sales strategies, invest time and resources into prospecting, and do their best to close as many deals as possible—all without paying attention to the accuracy of their data.
This is a recipe for disaster, but don’t worry. In this blog post we’ll explain the value of accurate sales data and how SPOTIO can help you get (and maintain!) it.
The Problem Plaguing Outside Sales Teams
Let’s face it, most outside sales teams have a huge problem… Their data is inaccurate.
It’s not hard to see why. In order to keep accurate records, outside sales reps need a way to update their systems while they’re in the field. Without the opportunity to do so, important sales details are forgotten or misremembered.
Case in point: 79% of opportunity-related data gathered by sales reps is never entered in their CRMs, according to ESNA. This makes it harder for sellers to close future deals.
It also makes it more difficult for sales managers to properly direct their teams. Outdated or incomplete CRM details often lead to questionable decision-making processes, flawed forecasting procedures, and many other potential problems.
The Importance of Accurate, Real-Time Data
Accurate, real-time data is crucial to high-performing outside sales teams. Once you have it, you’ll experience plenty of benefits. Let’s talk about a few of them…
Higher Productivity
According to Zoominfo, inaccurate data wastes 27.3% of sales reps’ time. That translates to 546 hours per full-time seller every year—Yikes!
But when sales reps have accurate data at their disposal, they’ll know which of their prospects is most likely to buy and can focus their efforts on those specific individuals. This will lead to more closed deals in less time, i.e. more revenue for your company, quicker.
Better Customer Relationships
Accurate data can also improve your relationship with prospects and customers.
Think about it, would you buy from a sales rep who misspells your name in a follow-up email? Or doesn’t follow up at all (even though they said they would) after a meeting? Or sent you the same text message three times in a row before you could respond? Probably not…
All of these problems can happen because of bad data and they turn potential customers off. In fact, bad data costs 15-25% of revenue for most companies.
Better Reporting
When your data is up-to-date and accurate, you’ll be able to create sales reports you can actually rely on. The benefit of this is threefold:
- For Sales Reps: They’ll be able to understand what’s working and what isn’t. They can then use this information to improve their sales processes resulting in greater success, which will undoubtedly boost morale.
- For Sales Managers: They’ll gain insight into the activities their reps are doing and the effectiveness of each. This will allow them to make better decisions for their department and coach their teams to meet quota consistently.
- For Operations: They’ll be able to easily make sales forecasts and compare them to actual results. With this information, they can make better decisions that could have far-reaching effects on the rest of the company.
It’s important to note that sales data needs to be more than accurate, it needs to be real-time. It doesn’t do you much good to know that X sales tactic produced a 26% boost in conversions two years ago. Outside sales teams need to know what’s working right now.
The SPOTIO Solution to Data Inaccuracies
The question is, how do you eliminate data inaccuracies for your sales team?
You invest in SPOTIO, a field sales engagement software that’s specifically designed for outside sales and doesn’t require a degree in rocket science to operate.
Here’s what you’ll get when you do:
CRM Integrations
Your company’s CRM software is the hub of its sales data. Unfortunately, many CRMs are less than user-friendly—especially for outside sales reps trying to quickly update company records in between sales meetings.
That’s why SPOTIO’s intuitive mobile solution integrates with your system of record.
Sales Rep Mobility
SPOTIO can be used via mobile app, which means outside sales reps always have access to it, no matter where they happen to be. This makes it incredibly easy to keep CRM records up-to-date because sellers can easily update them in between sales meetings.
This feature also ensures real-time accuracy. Since CRM data can be updated immediately from the field, you can always be confident in the information on hand.
Automated Data Capture
CRM integrations and an easy-to-use mobile app are nice. But what really sets SPOTIO apart for outside sales teams is its automated data capture functionality.
Our solution will automatically log visits, sales calls made, and prospecting emails and texts sent by reps. It will then send these details to your CRM of choice. The result? Much more accurate data without reps having to enter it in themselves—which we all know they won’t do.
In fact, SPOTIO can boost rep productivity by as much as 46% because of all the tedious tasks that can be automated inside our system.
Complete Oversight
SPOTIO isn’t just for outside sales reps, it’s also for the people who manage them.
With our platform, sales managers get the oversight they need to better strategize, forecast with greater accuracy, and move their departments forward in a consistent manner.
For example, SPOTIO will allow you to easily track your reps in the field and access activity reports for each, receive email updates on team and individual progress, and even drum up healthy competition between team members with leaderboards.
Usable Information
Data is only valuable if you can use it. This is another area where SPOTIO excels.
Use the information our platform collects to create detailed customer customer maps that can be color-coded to specify prospect stage, result of last visit, and other data fields that you’ve deemed important inside your CRM of choice.
Wrapping Up
Accurate, real-time data is essential to the success of your outside sales team. Without it, you won’t be able to maintain peak productivity levels, develop better relationships with your target market, or properly report on your department’s progress.
SPOTIO was designed to give you the data you need via CRM software integrations, access to an intuitive mobile app, automated data capture features, and more.
Request a free demo of SPOTIO today and experience the power of our solution for yourself. We’re confident you’ll love the way it streamlines data collection and maintenance for your outside sales team, while allowing you to improve your efficiency.
