"Find a tool that presents your data in an easy to read dashboard" - That's it. That is the worse advice we've heard when it comes to picking out a sales forecasting tool. The reason is because a dashboard will never solve your true problem. If you're a sales manager with an underperforming sales team or a disorganized sales pipeline, you can look at dashboards all day and not have the information that you need to be successful. ...

Data analysis is nothing new to the sales world. Ever since CRMs, sales teams have found ways to improve their performance by studying their historical data. The introduction of big data and business intelligence tools only catalyzed the need for sales people to have the ability to make sense of their data without completely relying on a sales operations team. ...

As a sales manager, you strive to always get the most out of your team. You find ways to promote their strengths and give them resources to work on their areas for improvement. However, as a sales manager, you want to make sure that you are making the most of your time when it comes to making your reps better. CSO Insights found that only 33% of a sales rep's time is spent actively selling. Imagine how much better your reps could perform if they could get that addition 67% back. What if we told you that you don't need to focus on a bunch of things and that just spending your time on 3 crucial components could significantly improve your sales reps performance? ...

CRMs may be one of the most frustrating and yet crucial components for running a successful sales team. Without a CRM, information about your sales process would be dispersed, unorganized, and incomplete.A world without a CRM would be difficult for sales reps to keep track of how a deal is going and would force them to work fewer deals, much slower. However, using a CRM requires a lot of resources. You must pay for the licenses and the implementation, then you must take time away from your usual revenue-driving behaviors to make sure the CRM is properly set up to your liking, then you must make sure everyone is trained and using it, and then you have to take more time to analyze the data you now have because you have a CRM. So even after going through all of the necessary steps to make sure you CRM works, it is frustrating to realize that your CRM is still very limiting! Here's how to know if your sales CRM is enough. ...

So you've got a meeting with your sales manager coming up soon and you already know what the topic of discussion is going to be- your below average win rate. We all know the feeling, "how am I supposed to know why marketing doesn't provide me better leads?" Well before you drop that excuse, we'd ...

The key to a successful sales team is having a team of high performing sales reps. However, as a new sales manager, you know that managing a team of reps can seem to be much harder than you anticipated. Don't stress about it too much because through our journies of managing sales teams we have discovered that they are really 3 key ingredients needed to be a high-level sales manager. ...

  In a study by Gartner, they reported that "business intelligence and analytics [have] been cited as the number 1 priority for CIOs for the past three years running." In fact, it is projected that 35% of all organizations will have a prescriptive analytics solution by 2020. With these two industries projected to grow exponentially in the near future, it can be surprising that many sales team don't fully understand the difference between the two and why they are both important. ...

It is commonly reported that a good sales rep has a win rate around 35% and anything significantly under that indicates a problem. So if you are under that magic number or even just too close for comfort, how do you improve? There's no cliffhanger here, the best way to solve your win rate problems is to focus on sales coaching and sales process. You probably already knew that but are you doing the specific things to make sure your sales coaching and sales processes are on par to make your sales organization best-in-class? ...

Here at TopOPPS, we LOVE predictive analytics. It shapes the way we operate and we see the benefits that it provides our sales team, every day. In fact, it is the core of what we do and what we help other sales teams do too! Predictive analytics helps us manage our deals, identify holes in our pipeline, and produce accurate sales forecasts quarter after quarter. However, while predictive analytics is everywhere, it is still an early addition to the sales world. In a 2014 Inc.com article titled 'Love or Hate It, Why Predictive Analytics Is The Next Big Thing', Mick Hollison argued that "the most valuable use of predictive analytics is in marketing and sales" so it's a shame that more sales teams don't utilize its benefits. We obviously chose to love predictive analytics and so we want to share why we do and why you should too. ...

It often seems like the prevailing method of growing revenue is to just add more deals to what your reps already have. This can be detrimental since transitioning to new deals restarts the clock on deal cycle times and leaves a bunch of undecided deals hanging around your pipeline. Besides if you don't currently have a win rate of at least 35%, more deals definitely won't solve your problems.  ...

  In a sales environment where the Rolodex is replaced by the CRM and sales processes are becoming more and more automated, sales coaching is in a position where it needs to adapt to the times. Current research by CSO Insights suggest that millions of dollars are being lost due to a lack of formal sales coaching. As buyers continue to control the buying process, and sales reps need to always be on top of their pipeline, sales coaching must be able to quickly pin point certain areas for improvement so that coaching sessions can be time-efficient but also very effective. ...

In their 2015 report, 'Predictive Analytics Are Transforming B2B Selling', Gartner analysts stated "during the past four years, predictive analytics technologies have emerged as viable options for IT leaders and B2B sales leaders." However, among the crowded field of all the new types of sales technologies now available, predictive analytics tools have been vying to establish what makes them different and why they are crucial to fast-growing companies of all sizes. ...

  In the world of sales performance and management, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of KPIs you can use to track your sales team's success. Many of the choices of which sales KPIs you should be tracking depend on the industry your company is in and what type of sales team you work with. ...

So you're probably thinking "Why do I need to buy my sales team MORE tools for the already expensive CRM that they already have?" Trust me, I completely understand your frustration. While you don't NEED to get more tools, you should strongly consider it. CRMs are great for collecting and storing an abundance of information about your current and prospective customers. However, when it comes to using that data for a strategic advantage or to gain valuable insights into your prospects buying jouney and intent, CRMs can be cumbersome and time-inefficient. So it's definitely worth your time and money to consider investing in solutions that will upgrade your CRM's capabilities. So take a deep breath and just know that once you beef up your CRM with some advanced sales tools, you're life and your sales team will be much better off.  ...

See why Gartner recognized TopOPPS in the Gartner CRM Vendor Guide, 2016! ...

Khristian Gutierrez is the Chief Business Development Officer at Passport located in Charlotte, North Carolina. ...

TopOPPS Wins Top Service Provider of the Year Award in Predicitve Analytics at AA-ISP Leadership Summit  ...

Typically about 50% of sales organizations fail to meet their sales quota and as our good friend Kevin O’Leary says “stop the madness!” Research by Aberdeen and CSO Insights shows that world-class sales organizations achieve quota at a higher rate by having these three things, pipeline visibility, regular coaching, and reduced CRM admin time for sales reps. ...

Today, there’s a tool for everything. Technology is helping us find deals faster, and expediting necessary steps of the sales process so they close quicker. Most of them integrate into your CRM where you can access the information. Even still, you may need to be a Salesforce guru in order to piece it all together and there is no way everyone feels 100% confident that all the technology ties together seamlessly. Sales Stack Glue ...

Sales reps and sales executives both found TopOPPS’ opportunity specific updates very intuitive. Sales managers and sales executives thought the reporting within TopOPPS quickly and easily provides them with significant pipeline visibility. ...