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. ...

Internally, you are familiar with the Expected Close Date (sometimes simply referred to as Close Date) that sales reps keep updated. Sometimes a sales team can have difficulty keeping these dates accurate; perhaps simply because of the volume of deals occurring, or because predicting the future is hard! ...

Working with sales leaders who struggle with understanding the true state of the deals in their pipeline is an every day occurrence for my team and I.  Many rely on information from their sales reps through phone calls, emails and meetings to gage how individual deals are progressing along combined with hours of digging through CRM data. ...

TopOPPS' forecasting methodology has a singular, core belief: People are different, and there is no one-size fits all.  We can stop flying blind through the quarter if our forecasts worked for each rep.  ...

The world's filled with sales advice. Some great, some harmful, mostly outdated or 'nice'. ...

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  When I train sales manager to use TopOPPS, many want to focus on how to use TopOPPS for their one-on-one meeting with their sales reps.  It’s my experience that sales managers fall into two general camps when it comes to prepping for their one-on-ones: managers will spend time in their CRM gathering data or managers will not prep for their meetings and “wing it”.The first group will spend time in multiple CRM reports to get a better understanding of how their rep is performing while the second group will learn how their rep is performing only in their meeting. ...

A modern approach to consistency in the sales process. A sure-fire method to extend the sales cycle, add confusion to the forecast, and lose more deals is to have an inconsistent sales process. ...

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