Key Points for Improving Sales Efficiency Through Data Utilization and Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Is Wasted Time in Japanese Sales Activities Increasing?

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In recent years, companies across various industries have been working on DX in the sales sector. Through these initiatives, many companies have introduced various digital tools such as SFA and CRM to improve sales efficiency and achieve results...

However, survey results have been released that overturn this impression.

In the 4th "Survey on Awareness and Reality of Sales in Japan 2023" released by HubSpot Japan, Inc. in February 2023, it was found that "wasted time in Japanese sales activities" has increased by approximately 150 billion yen from the previous year's survey, reaching approximately 1 trillion yen.

Although the number of companies promoting DX is increasing, it is clear that many have yet to realize the efficiency improvements that are one of the primary objectives of these efforts.

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Factors Contributing to Low Sales Efficiency

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What exactly are the factors that lead to poor sales efficiency? Let's look at two patterns of waste and inefficiency that occur during sales activities.

Pattern 1: Wasted Effort Visiting Low-Probability Prospects Without Closing Deals

When customer data lacks useful information, relying on intuition to visit prospects often leads to wasted time. This results in inefficiency, as both travel time and meeting time are wasted.

Pattern 2: Cold Calling Customer Lists and Facing Constant Rejection

This is the traditional sales style of cold calling through a customer list without managing priorities or statuses, only to be repeatedly rejected. Beyond the waste of time, it also raises concerns about the mental well-being of the sales representatives.

Pattern 3: Sales Methods Are Individualized, Leading to Disjointed Efforts

Information on which approaches to specific customers led to successful deals is not shared among representatives or teams, leaving results to individual intuition. Because everyone is working independently, similar mistakes are repeated everywhere. This means that valuable success stories are being wasted.

Do any of these sound familiar to you?
There is one common factor shared by these examples: the failure to effectively utilize data within sales activities.

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Efficiency Through Data Utilization

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Many companies claim, "We have customer data and we use it for sales." However, that alone does not constitute effective data utilization. So, what exactly is data utilization?

What Is Data Utilization?

"Data utilization in sales" literally means conducting sales activities by leveraging collected data. It refers to making decisions or taking actions based on the numerical values derived from that data.

Instead of relying on intuition, sense, or experience as in traditional sales methods, you collect and analyze data to identify patterns and make informed decisions.
While the primary data handled is "customer data," "data related to sales activities," such as sales performance and timing of results, is also crucial.

Let us look at how data utilization works using the three patterns mentioned earlier.

[Pattern 1] Identify High-Probability Prospects Using Data to Increase Conversion Rates

If information that allows for probability assessment is accumulated in your customer data, you can follow those patterns to extract high-probability prospects and improve the conversion rate for each visit. For example, if conversion rates differ based on industry or company size, you can develop strategies such as focusing your approach on high-conversion segments.

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[Pattern 2] Narrow Down Targets and Prioritize Based on Data

If customer attributes and current statuses are managed as information, you can narrow down your targets and determine priorities based on data. Instead of approaching prospects blindly without a set order, you can contact them starting with those most likely to convert.

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[Pattern 3] Standardize Sales Methods Through Data for Horizontal Deployment

By visualizing and standardizing the methods of top-performing sales representatives through data accumulation and sharing them across the team, you can move away from reliance on individual talent and boost the performance of the entire team. Instead of leaving visit timing or talk scripts to individual intuition, you can digitize, accumulate, and share them.

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As shown, advancing data utilization makes it possible to conduct sales activities efficiently.

Although the concept of data utilization has permeated marketing first, the reality is that many companies have yet to implement it in their sales activities.
By seriously engaging in data utilization for sales activities now, you can stay one step ahead of your competitors.

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How to Begin Data Utilization

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When working to improve sales efficiency through data utilization, proceed with the following steps: 1. Collect Data
2. Organize Collected Data
3. Inform Relevant Personnel
4. Refine Through Operations

1. Collect Data

Start by gathering and centralizing customer data and information related to sales activities that are scattered across various locations. Deciding which items to manage as information is also crucial.

2. Organize Collected Data

While you can organize collected data using Excel or spreadsheets, if you are aiming for broad efficiency across the entire company or department, consider utilizing tools such as SFA.

3. Inform Relevant Personnel

Inform the staff on how to use the collected data and what tasks are required to continuously accumulate data (such as inputting into tools) to integrate data-driven sales operations.

4. Refine Through Operations

Once data is collected and tools are introduced, repeat the cycle of analysis and improvement through operations to maintain the PDCA cycle.

Introducing data utilization has specialized and complex aspects, such as data collection methods, tool implementation, and thorough staff training. Considering consultation with experts will likely increase the success rate of your implementation.

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Beware of Data Utilization Pitfalls

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Even after introducing DX tools like SFA, collecting and digitizing data, and inputting it into tools, many companies still fall into the following traps:

• Sales representatives are not taught how to use the data correctly.
• Data becomes unreliable over time due to missing information or duplicates.
• Data is not updated appropriately, becoming obsolete and unused.

☆-☆-☆ List Display End ☆-☆-☆ This is why, even with DX advancement, many still feel that "sales involves too much waste" or "it is not efficient."
To correctly link introduced tools to efficiency, it is not enough to simply collect and digitize data; it is essential for all stakeholders to share and practice the following: ☆-☆-☆ List Display Start ☆-☆-☆

• Effectively use collected data for sales activities.
• Maintain data quality.

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Effectively Use Collected Data for Sales Activities

It is vital to design in advance how to extract (filter) the collected data and how to approach prospects.
Otherwise, you may revert to inefficient sales activities, such as "calling every customer on the list indiscriminately."

In data utilization, how you segment the data is extremely important.
Decide firmly how to extract information from the vast amount of data. Designing this process also leads to the standardization of sales processes that tend to rely on individual talent.

Maintain Data Quality

Customer information is updated daily as sales activities progress. Information regarding "current status" is particularly important; if this information is not updated and falls through the cracks, accurate information will not reach the representatives, leading to wasteful sales activities.
Furthermore, issues like duplicates from double entry or missing fields can lower data quality, reduce trust in the data, and diminish the effectiveness of tool implementation.

Maintaining the quality of customer data is a crucial element for sales efficiency.
By keeping these points in mind, you can avoid the failure of "introducing a new tool but failing to utilize it effectively."

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Summary: Allocating Saved Time and Costs to Building Customer Trust

In this article, we explained the key points of data utilization to improve sales efficiency, the implementation steps, common pitfalls, and how to prevent them.

It is said that in today's purchasing environment, customers buy based not only on price or product/service content but also on "corporate trust." The HubSpot survey mentioned at the beginning also indicates that the most important factor in purchasing decisions is "being a trustworthy company."

The significance of increasing sales efficiency lies in the ability to allocate the saved time and costs to building trust with high-probability prospects. You can also use the saved time for "the next efficiency initiative."

Of course, it also helps in improving the health of sales representatives' working hours and mental well-being.
We encourage you to engage in data utilization to improve sales efficiency and create a next-generation sales style.