Whether you’re explicitly talking about big data or not, most organisations today know that making sense of the vast volume of information they collect is a key challenge. From product development to HR, finance to legal – data is the key to making sense of what has happened and planning for what may happen.

Sales analytics and KPIs are particularly important – after all, how efficiently you’re selling has a direct impact on the business bottom line. But, as always, the data is vast. Where do you begin?

Here are three key ideas from Prodware – the top three sales analytics you must consider.

1)    Lead conversion rate 

An obvious one, perhaps, but because it straddles both sales and marketing it’s remarkable how many businesses neglect it as it falls between two stools. Transparent lead conversion rates are vital not only for adjusting marketing campaigns accordingly but also for sales forecasting, pipeline management and performance coaching. It’s also critical that lead conversion rates are segmented properly, for quick comparisons between marketing channels, sales team members, sectors and ultimately return on investment and your cost per opportunity ratios.

2)     Lead > customer time 

This can vary from hours to months or even years, depending on the sector you’re working in and the product or service you’re selling. But every enterprise experiences some variation in the time taken to turn a contact into a customer, and accurate analysis of this variation is crucial for making accurate revenue and profit predictions and managing your sales pipeline proactively.

3)    Sales Activity ratio

Exactly how much effort is required by each sales professional to complete a sales cycle? How many calls, emails, site visits? And, both prior to and alongside those, how much marketing activity was required to ‘warm’ the target from an initial contact into a customer? Again, this is critical for calculating ROI, as well as the individual ability level of each salesperson, the effectiveness of different types of activity plus it supports resource planning.

Measuring these three analytics accurately and intelligently depends on an accurate and intelligent CRM system, like Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which, with its 2015 release, delivers a host of sophisticated features enabling greater visibility and analysis of your sales and marketing activities. ‘Sales hierarchies’ mean that sales data can be managed and reported on ‘in a way that maps onto your business’, with ‘real-time territory and forecasting data at your fingertips’. In other words, Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers sales analytics that are mapped directly onto the structure of your business, with key information displayed on easy-to-read tiles. Visibility and transparency is at its core.

Prodware, as a Microsoft Gold Partner, is expertly placed to advise on the implementation and ongoing use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM – contact us today to start the conversation and drive sales performance