Salesforce Report: Top Sales Teams are 3.5 Times More Likely to Use Sales Analytics

The famous management consultant Peter Drucker once said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” So it’s not surprising that when a sales team is winning, chances are that they’re using sales analytics. In fact, the recent State of Sales report from Salesforce reveals that top performing sales teams are 3.5 times more likely to leverage sales analytics than underperforming teams. This makes a lot of sense. After all, without understanding how reps’ activities impact your sales pipeline, it can be nearly impossible to help your team meet their goals.

Perhaps more interestingly, the Salesforce report shows that the quality of the analytics really matters. According to Salesforce, “Top teams are also 4.6x more likely than underperformers to rate their basic sales analytics capabilities as outstanding or very good.”

So what’s the takeaway here? Top performing sales teams don’t just use sales analytics. They are leveraging high-quality analytics that provide deep insight into opportunities for reps to generate more revenue.

If you’re looking to gain more insight into your sales team, here are some of the most important things to look for from sales analytics packages.

Go Beyond Just Tracking Activities

Activity metrics (e.g. calls or emails per day by rep) are important to track. You need to know how reps are spending their sales days. But it’s perhaps even more crucial to track efficiency. You could have one sales development rep that’s blasting through 100 calls a day, but not setting up any appointments. On the other hand, a rep that’s making half as many calls could be scheduling appointments left and right.

Real-Time Analytics

The best sales teams always have a real-time view of their sales team. With real-time analytics, managers can analyze and act upon data immediately. Real-time data means that sales managers can manage their teams in real time, and—when necessary—help reps change course before vital revenue gets left on the table.

Inbound and Outbound Dashboards

Often, inside sales teams separate reps into inbound and outbound-focused teams. Each team will require monitoring different metrics. As an example, for an outbound team, it’s important to monitor call connection rates. Whereas if you’re leading inbound reps, you’re going to want to assure that reps are getting back to inbound leads quickly enough. If you have sales reps that both make and take calls, be sure you’re tracking the right metrics to help both teams crush quota.

Salesforce Integration

If you’re using Salesforce, consider analytics packages that are natively built for Salesforce. As an example, our AppExchange packages can deliver dozens of actionable reports to your Salesforce org in minutes. Our customers are using our analytics packages to coach inbound and outbound sales teams to success.

For a look at the 7 most essential sales dashboards, be sure to check out our free eBook.