Nightly Pipeline Summary

Last month, we helped you answer the question “What’s due to close next and which of those opps demand my attention?” by adding a list of upcoming deals in your personal pipeline to your nightly email.

This month, we added a summary of your personal pipeline to answer key questions like “What’s the total value of my pipeline?” and “What’s my forecast looking like for this month?”

Your InsightSquared administrator can enable this email update in the Email Settings screen.

Choose your own Cohort

Sometimes you want to analyze a group of opportunities based on when they were created. Sometimes you want to analyze them based on when they closed. We do our best to pick the right grouping for the analysis.

Now you can define a custom criteria for analyzing a specific set of opps. With our newest tab in the Pipeline History report you can answer questions like “What happened to the opps with a demo in Q4?” or “What was our performance for opps with prospecting meetings last month vs. this month?”

Contact support today to set up this latest report!

RIP, Internet Explorer 8

With Microsoft’s official release of Internet Explorer 10 last November, we are following Google’s lead in continuing support for only the two most recent major versions of the platform. This means that while IE8 still works today for InsightSquared, we will not officially support it and we do not recommend it.

Internet Explorer 8 predates Microsoft’s full support of Javascript, the technology used for our charts — and indeed most of the interactivity on the Web today. Microsoft dramatically improved their Javascript support in IE9 and IE10. Thus, InsightSquared will feel much faster simply by upgrading from IE8 to a later version of IE or another modern browser likeFirefox, Chrome or Safari.

Choose your Trending Comparison

Reports like Bookings Trend and Lead Trajectory allow you to answer questions like “How are we doing this month relative to this same day for an average month?”

But what is really an “average” month? For stable or seasonal businesses, an average month might be calculated using a full year of data. Other fast-growth businesses might want to simply compare against the last two months.

Now for these types of reports, you can define your time period for calculating your average. Contact support to modify your settings today!

Marketing improvements: Here, There and Everywhere!

• Want to know the ROI on your marketing campaigns? You can do that now in Campaigns if you’ve set up your campaign cost in SFDC 
• A fresh take on Lead Submissions by Employee so it is more consistent with Lead Submissions over time
• Pipeline Contribution, now broken down by lead source

Quick Hits

• Filtering is now easier to use with a text input box when you have long lists of filters
• Scheduled email reports now are a bit smarter on the weekends. They now send emails on weekends as long as the date range of the report is greater than one day.
• Emailed reports now display checkboxes so they’re a bit easier to understand
• Activity Goals are easier to set. Try them out if you haven’t already set up activity goals!
• Scheduled Revenue now has two new tabs to help you compare product revenue over time
• Reports that rely on a snapshot of your opportunity values like Inflow/Outflow and Sales Funnel by Value are now improved with more granular data

1. Boasting about your product – Buyers don’t want to hear reps rave about how superior their product is. Within the first minute of connecting with a prospect, reps should show why the product is great for THEM.

2. Bombarding your potential buyer with too much information - If your reps are doing most of the talking during your sales pitch, they’re doing it all wrong. Reps should be doing most of the listening so the buyer feels that their needs are understood and their pain points being spoken to.

3. A lack of planning - Before making any sales call, your reps should ensure that they have enough background information about the potential buyer or company. If you don’t know enough about the prospective customer, you won’t be able to make a personal connection or effectively communicate how your product can help them.

4. An unclear or nonexistent message - If your reps can’t articulate your objective within the first minute of their sales call, they will either hear crickets or a dead line. Get the message out as clearly and concisely as possible.

5. Poor sales management - If reps aren’t receiving adequate coaching or feedback from their sales manager, they won’t know how they’re performing. Additionally, without regular sales coaching, they won’t know what mistakes they’re making and, subsequently, will not be able to learn from them.

6. Failure to explain the next step - If the sales call went great and the potential buyer is genuinely interested, it is critical that your reps clearly outline the next steps in the buying process. The prospect is not likely to spend a great deal of time and effort researching the next steps they will have to take – it’s the rep’s responsibility to do the work for them and make these next steps abundantly clear.

7. Out of touch with reality - While reps shouldn’t instantly give up if the sales call isn’t going well, they also shouldn’t waste their time giving a pitch to buyers that are NOT qualified or interested. The best sales managers use sales pipeline reports to help reps prioritize the right opportunities to work on.

8. No confidence - If reps don’t sound confident in their product, the prospective buyers will not have faith in it either. A lack of confidence can be easily discerned over the telephone so help build your reps’ confidence in their own abilities, as well as your products.

9. Reading from a manual - If your reps are reading from a script, they will be handicapped from the get-go.  It is patently obvious to potential buyers when you’re reading lines from a manual, which can hinder efforts to make a personal connection over the phone.

10. Lack of Sincerity - It is obvious to the buyer when reps are being insincere or disingenuous by making unrealistic promises about what your product has to offer. Instead, offer rational fact-based reasons why you can help them.

While there are numerous mistakes that sales reps regularly make during calls, these are among the most critical sales call killers to avoid at all costs.  Feel free to share and comment with your own thoughts on what egregious errors kill sales call performances.

This week marks the 50th annual celebration of National Small Business Week, officially recognized by the President of the United States to highlight the important contributions made by the entrepreneurs, startup founders and small business owners of America. There are more than 28 million small businesses in the country, and more than half of all American workers either own or work for a small business. Small businesses are also on the forefront of the recent employment positive momentum, as they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year. Clearly, small businesses represent a critical element of the American company, and InsightSquared couldn’t be prouder to support these companies.

“Small businesses are the backbone of the economy,” our CEO Frederick Shilmover said in a recent interview. “We are not a ‘big data’ company. All our customers have small – but challenging – data to work with.”

One of our most important company goals is to disrupt the pre-existing Business Intelligence and sales analytics market – one that primarily relies on expensive legacy solutions – and level the playing field for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Many small businesses can’t afford expensive and complicated BI platforms, putting them at a competitive disadvantage behind larger companies who leverage the actionable insights extracted from using the costly BI software.

The pre-existing market for BI specifically targeted larger enterprises with massive sales forces, blithely ignoring the small business that has only 2 sales reps. The prevailing thought was that with so few sales reps running such a small sales operation, there were very few actionable insights that could even be derived from conducting substantial in-depth analysis and reporting. Eventually, small businesses tired of this archaic form of thinking and sought out a solution that could give them a fighting chance against big enterprises.

That’s where InsightSquared comes in. Our product is an affordable, out-of-the-box solution designed precisely with small business owners in mind. These entrepreneurs might not have the resources or economies of scale to justify expensive legacy BI platforms, nor the time and expertise to devote to in-depth sales reporting and analysis. By using InsightSquared, they can gain access to the same reporting and sales analytics capabilities for Salesforce.com, without having to make costly investments of valuable company resources or a sales manager’s time. They can even take advantage of our growing number of free applications – including a Sales Funnel Report and a Sales Grader – to see where they need to devote the most effort and resources to improve their sales operations.

“InsightSquared is an innovator who brings the power of traditional enterprise-class business intelligence platforms to the small and mid-market businesses,” said Court Cunningham, the CEO of Yodle and a member of InsightSquared’s Board of Directors. “They are fundamentally levelling the playing field by offering a business analytics product that is truly simple and affordable.”

Don’t get left behind the competition just because you are currently competing on a playing field that is not level. Celebrate National Small Business Week by taking YOUR small business to the cutting-edge of sales analytics and reporting, and start bridging the gap between small and large businesses.

Sales Cycle by Won/Lost

Comparing your average sales cycles of winning opportunities against losing ones is a powerful tool and one of the most critical sales analytics for sales managers to study. With this report, managers can get a concrete idea of how winning and losing opportunities behave differently. They can then use that information to guide reps on working with future opportunities.

For example, the report below suggests that winning opportunities typically spent an average of only 2 days in the demo stage. If a specific opportunity has languished in that stage for more than 2 weeks now, the historical data suggests that it is very unlikely to close. Sales managers should then instruct the rep working on that opportunity to reprioritize and focus his or her efforts on converting other opportunities that represent a greater likelihood of converting. 

Lost reasons by opportunity

Your sales reps should be logging a reason in your CRM for every lost opportunity. This will give you a broad overview of why seemingly interested buyers are not purchasing your product or service. If price comes up as a lost reason regularly, perhaps your product team needs to rethink its pricing strategy.

Where this information can come in handy when attempting to identify buyers early is grouping similar scenarios or like-minded companies together. If timing is a regular issue among your prospective customers, keep this in mind when selling to startups or newer companies – they might simply not be ready at that particular stage of their development to handle your product or services. If problems of speaking with the right authority figure crop up consistently, instruct your reps to dedicate more effort and be more persistent in locating these right authority figures, while also being quicker to sever connections with contacts who have no buying power.

Filtered Sales Funnel

Breaking down your sales funnel into various specific filters can provide a wealth of actionable sales analytics insights for sales managers. Consider looking at your sales funnel by industry type and average size of opportunities, for instance. If your sales funnel for a certain industry or market segment reveals that 90% of all opportunities are lost before the second stage, then you can be fairly certain that an opportunity that has advanced past the opening stage is very likely to convert. Similarly, if the information in the sales funnel report suggests that opportunities that are worth more in value tend to take a longer time in the sales cycle, you can afford to be more patient with these opportunities.

It’s important to use these various reports in conjunction with each other. The Sales Cycle by Won/Lost report might suggest one thing that is then countered by the sales funnel broken down by size of deals. If the former report notes that opportunities with long sales cycles are less likely to close and the latter one suggests that long sales cycles are acceptable for opportunities with large selling prices, sales managers need to carefully consider both. They can then use those actionable insights to produce the most accurate sales forecasts and help their sales reps separate buyers from non-buyers earlier on in the selling process.

Whichever sales analytics you ultimately opt to focus on, the truth is that identifying buyers early can prevent reps from wasting a great deal of time on the wrong effort. Sales managers will appreciate having more accurate sales forecasts and a more productive sales team that consistently delivers higher conversion rates on their opportunities.

1. People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy! (Click to Tweet)

2. I have a business brand, a personal brand, and a social brand. All of which are interconnected. All of which are mature. All of which provide value messages. All of which create attraction. All of which generate leads. All of which make sales. (Click to Tweet)

3. The more a prospective customer clicks on you and your stuff, the easier it is for them to make a buying decision in your favor. (Click to Tweet)

4. Quality performance (and quality service) starts with a positive attitude. (Click to Tweet)

5. There is no one key to leadership. You need a fat set of keys that includes BOTH authority and influence. And anyone who tells you differently is trying to exert their influence, without an ounce of authority. (Click to Tweet)

6. The difference between motivation and inspiration is that motivation must constantly be injected. Inspiration lasts a lifetime. Great leaders can instill both. (Click to Tweet)

7. If leaders are to be followed, it starts with clarity of message. (Click to Tweet) 

8. Great leaders are not just respected; they’re also measured. They have the responsibility to achieve, and their effectiveness is measured against their charged tasks and goals. (Click to Tweet) 

9. All great leaders have encountered, withstood, endured, and recovered from defeat – much wiser, and much more steadfast of purpose. (Click to Tweet) 

10. Persuasion occurs when trust and confidence meet belief, risk tolerance, and safety. (Click to Tweet) 

11. Wake up and write. It doesn’t matter what it is, just write whatever comes to mind. Don’t force yourself to do it, just let words flow. As you think, capture your words. (Click to Tweet) 

12. Identify your NOW feeling and state of mind. What’s up? Happy? Sad? Afraid? Mad? It’s important that your mind at least be in “neutral” before you start the thinking process, and the more the needle leans toward happy and positive, the more productive and rewarding the thinking time will be. (Click to Tweet)

13. The key to mastering any kind of sales is switching statements about you – how great you are, and what you do – to statements about them. (Click to Tweet) 

14. Don’t let your thoughts get away. Rather than dwell on them, write down the key words so you don’t forget. Thoughts are fleeting. If you wait one minute and then go back to it, it’s gone. (Click to Tweet) 

15. After you listen to a strategy or sales technique, try to use it within the hour.  Listening followed by doing leads to mastery. (Click to Tweet)

16. Your ability to look someone in the eye as you speak to them is a tell-tale sign of your own self-respect and self-belief.  (Click to Tweet) 

17. Sales is sales. It’s not who you’re calling on, or what you’re selling.  It’s how you present yourself. (Click to Tweet) 

18. Making the sale is a gateway to a relationship. (Click to Tweet)

19. You don’t earn loyalty in a day; you earn loyalty day by day. (Click to Tweet)

20. The best way to find new business is to talk to old business. (Click to Tweet)

Typically, these events are a great opportunity to learn about best practices, industry benchmarks, and new technology to help inside sales teams and sales management executives perform at a top level.  However, during an afternoon breakout session, an attendee raised their hand and asked the following question:

“I have 4 sales managers, but one of them is just way too analytical. He’s always looking at numbers and analyzing them. How do I fix that?”

A chill went up and down my spine.

It was a painful reminder of how far we still have to go in educating our market. While top performing teams and Fortune 500 companies have long been using analytics to drive improvement, many sales teams at small and medium size firms (the exact market we serve) still look at analytical sales managers as if they wore a Scarlet Letter on their suits. As a result, those skeptics are seeing that their bookings are lagging and their company’s growth stagnating.

Analytics are not a sales management ailment that needs to be cured, nor are they the wave of the future in running your business. You can go back to 1908 when the Guinness Brewery in Dublin secured a competitive advantage by running their process by the numbers. It was a secret at the time, but many high-schoolers now learn about it under the name “Student’s T Distribution”

Many of our colleagues at the AA-ISP this week already know this. Steve Richard and the Vorsight team constantly preach the value of analytics to improve your sales process, all the way down to an analytic call scoring method to help coach your reps. Ken Krogue from InsideSales gave a presentation that highlighted many industry benchmarks, with supporting data indicating that companies who exceed these benchmarks outperform others on financial metrics as well. Bob Perkins ran a session on “Metrics that Matter,” encouraging people to dig deeper and identify a narrow list of meaningful numbers to run your sales team by. Analytics are definitely a prevalent theme among industry leaders, with hundreds of other examples we could go on and on about.

Yet, hearing the question on “fixing” your analytical sales manager reminded me that not everyone is there yet. Some still view analytics as a forbidden and taboo Scarlet Letter. At InsightSquared, we’re excited about the idea of leading the charge and bringing data into every Board Room, team meeting, and rep email inbox. We still have a lot of work to get there, but as our company keeps growing, and teams run by sales managers who are “too analytical” keep exceeding their numbers (and outperforming the competition), the numbers will speak for themselves. They always do.

“Inside sales is quickly becoming the preferred way of conducting professional sales,” said Dave Elkington, CEO and Founder of InsideSales.com. “Innovations in remote professional sales are the future. Those who are participating in the Inside Sales Virtual Summit understand these principles and are key players in the sales space.”

Our CEO Frederick Shilmover will also be speaking at the event, joining a distinguished list of 62 sales experts and 11 sales authors who will be holding (virtual) court and sharing their expertise. Here is the full list of speakers:

• David Elkington – CEO & Founder, InsideSales.com

• Guy Kawasaki – Author, Venture Capitalist, Technologist

• Mark Roberge – SVP Sales & Services, Hubspot

• Matt Dixon – Author, The Challenger Sale

• Jim Steele – Chief Customer Officer, Salesforce.com

• Yusuf Tayob – Partner & Global Lead – Sales Enablement, Accenture

• Jeffrey Gitomer – Author, Little Red Book of Selling

• Jill Konrath – Author, Snap Selling, Selling to BIG Companies

• Mike Bosworth – Author, Solution Selling

• Barry Trailer – Co-Founder, CSO Insights

• Liz Gelb-O’Connor – VP Inside Sales Strategy & Growth, ADP

• Jon Miller – VP Marketing, Marketo

• Aaron Ross – Author, Predictable Revenue

• Josh James – CEO, Domo

• Brian Frank – Global Head of Sales Operations, LinkedIn

• Anneke Seley – Founder, Reality Works Group (formerly Phone Works)

• Bob Perkins – Founder, American Association of Inside Sales Professionals

• Kraig Kleeman - Author, The Must React System

• Trish Bertuzzi – President & Chief Strategist , The Bridge Group

• Art Sobczak – Founder, Business by Phone Inc.

• Tim Ash – Author, Landing Page Optimization

• Siva Devaki – CEO & Founder, Mansa Systems

• Kevin Gaither – VP Inside Sales, uSamp

• Jill Rowley – Social Selling Evangelism & Enablement, Oracle

• Jamie Shanks – Partner, Sales for Life

• Craig Elias – Creator, Trigger Event Selling

• Mark Organ – CEO, Influitive

• Donal Daly – CEO and Founder, The TAS Group

• Matt Heinz – President, Heinz Marketing

• Mike Smalls – CEO & Founder, Hoopla

• Sam Richter – Author, Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling

• Bryan Kreuzberger – Founder, Breakthrough Email

• Mick Hollison - CMO, InsideSales.com

• Lori Richardson – CEO & Founder, Score More Sales

• Michael Pedone – Founder, SalesBuzz

• Erik Charles – Principal Incentives Strategist, Xactly

• Brian Kardon – CMO, Lattice Engines

• Mike Puglia – VP of Marketing, TimeTrade

• Richard Brasser – CEO, rFactr

• Atri Chatterjee – CMO, Act-On Software

• Dave Hibbard – Co-Author, Soar Selling

• Steve Richard – Co-Founder, Vorsight

• Pete Gracey – President, AG Salesworks

• Josiane Feigon – President, TeleSmart Communications

• James Rogers – CMO, OneSource Information Services

• Dustin Grosse – CMO, DocuSign

• Gary Milwit – SVP Sales, Stone Street Capital

• John Wall – Host, Marketing Over Coffee

• Mike Agron – Author, WebinarReady

• Giles House – CMO, CallidusCloud

• Gabriel Padva – Founder, 30,000 FT Strategies

• Brandt “Bubba” Page – CEO & Founder, Launch Leads

• Kurt Shaver – Founder, The Sales Foundry

• Jason Garoutte – CMO and GM, Mintigo

• Lars Leckie – Venture Capitalist, Hummer Winblad

• Ken Krogue – President & Founder, InsideSales.com

These various authors, experts and highly successful sales professionals will be sharing their wisdom on such topics as “Does Big Data Know Your Next Customer Before You Do?” “Create Predictable, Scalable Sales Revenue” “Effective On-Boarding: The Foundation of Success” “Always Be Coaching” and “Social Selling: Leverage the Power,” among many others. Attendees can choose to virtually visit speakers in a variety of different fields – Inside Sales, Business, Marketing, Social, Sales, Salesforce.com and InsideSales.com.

Attendees at the virtual expo center will also have the option of watching on-demand or recorded sessions. More than 15,000 of the top C-level executives and sales leaders are expected to attend the FREE event. Don’t miss out on your chance to be part of a Guinness World Record-Breaking event and be surrounded by some of the best and brightest in the industry.