Webinar Wrapup – Does Your Sales Team Have Heart

by admin , June 29, 2007

Yesterday, Adam Dunford (VP Product Development) and I presented an answer to that very question through our webinar. The idea is that the performance of the sales team, how they think and feel about their products, services, and management team clearly impacts their efforts, success, and $$$. It is common sense that if the sales team is demoralized, win rates and pipelines are bound to suffer.

In response to that idea, Primary Intelligence has developed a product called Sales Confidence Index. The following description will help you understand the purpose of this system:

Consumer Confidence Index – The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is defined as the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of savings and spending Economists closely track consumer confidence because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity.

Sales Confidence Index – Companies closely track salesperson confidence because sales team efforts account for the economic activity of the firm. The confidence of the salesperson, loyalty, his or her competitiveness, confidence in the strategic direction, value delivery, and innovativeness measures the sales persons outlook over the next six months.

If you would like to watch a reply of the webinar, the recorded version is availablehere. If youre willing to watch that demo, talk to me about the possibility of the offer extended at the end of the presentation. (801-838-9600 x5050, cdalley@primary-intel.com)

Analytics in Competitive Intelligence: Stated Importance vs. Derived Importance

by admin , June 27, 2007

If your company uses market information to make decisions, you are almost certain to be familiar with the Of these items, how important was or Which of these would you consider to be first, second and third most important? These questions result in a measurement of stated importance, or those things that are easily identified and verbalized as important.

While these data are easy to generate and generally seem reasonable at face value, there is evidence to show that decisions based solely on stated importance are subject to important limitations. Those areas of your companys performance that are identified as most important often do not correlate well, if at all, with purchase decisions. Which means that your company can act on those performance areas identified as most important and yet, no measurable improvement be made from those efforts. In most companies, that is defined as poor ROI or a waste of money.

For example, through your research, you may identify a performance area with a relatively low performance score and might initially trigger discussion regarding ways to improve the performance. However, you wouldnt want to do much about it if it had a low correlation to overall increases in market share. For instance, lets consider this principle in a Win Loss setting. Suppose we had created an interview and included the measurement of professionalism of a sales force against a prospects likelihood of choosing a vendor. Whether the performance rating against the competition was positive or negative, it would be difficult for an executive to understand the impact that professionalism actually has on the companys sales win ratio. It would be impossible to know how much a change in performance would affect that win ratio. If it turns out that the correlation to the sales win rate is high, the decision to put emphasis on increasing professionalism would be very easy and relatively risk-free. If the correlation were low, resources could be assigned to improve other parts of the sales process.

There is much evidence to indicate that responses on importance scales can be affected by other factors that distort the accuracy of the response, for example the need to please, social demands, cognitive dissonance, and generic importance, among others. In the entertainment industry, for example, television viewers using such scales will continually rate the value of news and information above sex or escapism. However, would anyone wish to predict, based upon these data, whether the ratings of the program Seinfeld will be lower than those of The PBS News Hour? Thus, there is a much deeper level of insight to be gained from deriving the information from the respondents answers rather than taking them at face value.

The quadrant below shows how actual data from our win loss studies has plotted on stated importance and derived importance:

Legend
Stated importance is plotted on the Y-axis; it represents the average importance rating given by respondents for each influencers characteristic or attribute.
Derived importance is plotted on the X-axis; it is obtained by assessing the companys performance in each influencer and determining (through proprietary modeling techniques) the impact that each influencer had on the sales outcome. The higher the derived importance, the more impact that influencer has on the overall sales win ratio.

• Upper left quadrantDeclared important: This quadrant consists of items that are stated to be important, but which ultimately have little correlation to a respondents decision-making process.
• Upper right quadrantKey influencers: This quadrant reflects attributes that the respondent both states as being important and which prove to be highly influential at a derived level.
• Lower right quadrantHidden opportunities: This quadrant consists of attributes that the respondent cannot readily identify at a stated level, but which do impact overall satisfaction at a derived level.
• Lower left quadrantLimited impact: Attributes in this quadrant have both low stated importance and little influence on overall satisfaction.

Now, one caveat is in order here. Some performance areas may be ranked high in stated importance, but will be low in derived importance. This doesnt mean that a company can cut back efforts in the areas of stated importance. They still have an effect on the sales process. When an attribute has a high stated importance, the data are saying that this is a performance area that cant be neglected without adversely altering the win loss ratio, but significant improvement may not provide actual gains in the win loss ratio.

In the end, using the most sophisticated analytics tools to determine the key influencers will eventually provide the greatest strategic decision-making ability for your company. In so many cases, this approach has improved company performance so much more than gut feeling, reactive competitive intelligence programs, and stated importance measurements.

This is where Primary Intelligence makes its living; providing powerful predictive analytics to our clients in order to grow their market share. Perhaps, we should discuss how this might work for you. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)

Competitive Intelligence – Working Data for Sales Teams

by admin , June 25, 2007

Some say that knowledge is power. We at Primary Intelligence believe that the right kind of knowledge is exponentially powerful.

An example of our intelligence and feedback we provide is listed below. In this example, our client is Tenscon, a software solutions provider. Now, we have changed the names to maintain confidentiality, but our customer list includes companies such as Microsoft, Avaya, Symantec and EDS are the kinds that tend to do very good work with us.

The table below shows “Tenscon’s” competitive advantage against 4 competitors (Names have been changed to maintain confidentiality, but the results are real).

The results show some competitive advantages in the company and sales, but the product has some significant weaknesses against Sistemic and Howein Partners:

Overall, Tenscon had generally higher performance ratings than the competition, especially in the company and service drivers. However, several ratings for the sales team were lower than those of the competition as a whole, indicating that some improvement in these areas may be needed.

An analysis of the responses from clients yields the following key findings concerning Tenscons performance:

-Tenscon was seen as a strong and solid company, but was not generally seen as an innovator. As a senior vice president from Dillent explained, I dont think they showed as much innovation in their solution. I think they took a much more conservative approach, a much more introverted approach rather than an innovative approach. The CIO from ABC Aerolineas echoed this sentiment by saying, We have some applications that we expected to be technologically advanced, but what they offered us was delayed during the delivery process. By this I mean that some applications were not as innovative as we expected them to be.

-Some clients were concerned that Tenscon was not offering a unified solution, but rather a set of pre-packaged offerings. For instance, a respondent from ABC Aerolineas said that the initial Tenscon team did have a real understanding of our model, and they just trying to sell us stand-alone systems. This was the idea. The idea was a cost-effective strategy, and people from Tenscon did not understand our model, our strategy, the market, or our needs. They just about systems and stand-alone processes. A representative from Flentic Crendall explained, One of
complexities of [Tenscon] is it is five separate businesses that have been swept into one company. Its trying get them to work as one company with one approach. dont think that there was a perfect solution.

-While a majority (66 percent) of clients believed that Tenscon put the right people in front of them, there were some concerns that decision makers were not involved in the negotiation process. A vice president at JNPD expressed this sentiment, saying, As some of these things escalate, or we run across impasses, there might be opportunities in the future that if we were
able to talk directly to the true decision makers, then it might expedite the process. A senior vice president from Fiserv also said, It took a while to get the right representatives from the healthcare side and from the financial side [of Tenscon] to be on our team.

-Understanding the clients needs and business requirements was a theme throughout the interviews, and an area where respondents believed Tenscon could improve. Tenscons ratings in this area were slightly lower than the average for other bidding companies, indicating an area of advantage for Tenscons competitors. As the CIO of Coles Meyer explained, Sometimes I was worried [that they gave] affirmative answers without really understanding what the issues were. At
times I felt they didnt understand how big and complicated the work was going to be. Lets make the sale and then afterwards worry about how we are going to deliver it. There was a lack of business and delivery knowledge with the up front sales team. With other vendors we dont experience that.

If you have any ideas of how to make these data come to life in your organization, drop me a line. (801.838.9600 x5050, cdalley@primary-intel.com)

Webinar Wrap-up Putting Sales Intelligence into the Sales Force

by admin , June 22, 2007

Yesterday, I co-hosted a Webinar with Ron Sathoff, a member of the product development group. We appreciate the time that our attendees shared with us and hope that the presentation was beneficial.

The main takeaways were:

• The definition of sales intelligence
• Benefits and ROI of effective sales intelligence
• Obstacles to the adoption of sales intelligence by sales groups
• Examples of solutions that increase sales intelligence usage

If you are a practitioner of competitive intelligence, this Webinar was geared specifically to making sure that your company receives the biggest market gains from your efforts.

The Webinar can be downloaded here. The file may be a little large, but can be easily navigated once it is downloaded.

If you would like to receive an invitation to our Webinars in the future, please drop me a line at cdalley@primary-intel.com. Also, Im happy to explain any of the concepts presented if you would like to discuss.

What is Sales Intelligence?

by admin , June 20, 2007

Sometimes, it is interesting to try to classify different areas of research and intelligence to see how certain specialties have originated, evolved and grown into their own species, so to speak. This study of the origin of the species can provide intelligence practitioners with the ability to see how their efforts might support or interrelate with other disciplines.

So, lets define the top rung as general market research. The purpose of market research is to answer any question that might be of interest to a company. This is very broad and probably doesnt do justice to all of the value a skilled market research director can provide. But, the umbrella of market research covers the entire gamut of information collection.

A subset of general market research is competitive intelligence. Again, this can be a pretty broad area and it is concerned with gathering information and answering questions that are influenced by the presence of competitive forces.

A sibling to competitive intelligence is market intelligence. To me, this specialty works to understand the market, value proposition, opportunity and forces in play against your company and product which are not influenced by the competition.

Sales Intelligence sounds like it should be a sibling to competitive and market intelligence. It could be defined as the information that is used to help sales sell more. If you limit this type of information to sales data (stuff like contact name, phone number, email, etc) I guess you could say thats true. But, overall, I dont think this is the right approach.

To me, the definition of sales intelligence is:

This is a definition that is still evolving, so dont get too stuck on any particular point. Overall, sales intelligence seems less like a specific discipline and more like a purpose. In other words, bits of competitive intelligence, market intelligence, general market research, (branding, pricing, value, etc) can all be included in sales intelligence. If the information can be used to help sales people sell more, I think it can properly be classified as sales intelligence.

If a business exists to make money (and really, what other purpose does the business entity have?) as efficiently as possible, and the role of sales is to create the revenue streams as effectively as possible, then isnt sales intelligence potentially the most important information a company can generate?

There are so many research initiatives that clamor for budget. When deciding which efforts to support, give the proper amount of gravity to those project that will have a direct effect on a companys ability to sell more effectively in a market against the competitive landscape. Your company will benefit from this approach.

If you would like to help me refine the definition of Sales Intelligence, let me know. Send your suggestions to cdalley@primary-intel.com.

Competitive Intelligence, Analytics and Your Job

by admin , June 18, 2007

Where can analytics benefit a company in its competitive intelligence program? Can the application of analytics to specific performance areas (vs. the competition) provide a competitive advantage? Such areas include:

• Supply Chain
• Loyalty
• Pricing
• Human Capital
• Product and Service Quality
• Financial Performance
• Research and Development

While many of these areas would seem to be analysis of internal processes, these same techniques can be applied to outside influences as well, including the competitive landscape.

And, nobody has to apologize for categorizing the refinement of internal processes as competitive intelligence. If a company can gain a bigger competitive advantage by studying itself rather than the competition, why wouldnt you consider this method?

FUNCTION/DESCRIPTION/EXEMPLARS
Supply chain Simulate and optimize supply chain flows; reduce inventory and stock-outs. (Dell, Wal-Mart, Amazon)

Customer selection, loyalty, and service Identify customers with the greatest profit potential; increase likelihood that they will want the product or service offering; retain their loyalty. (Harrahs, Capital One, Barclays

Pricing Identify the price that will maximize yield, or profit. (Progressive, Marriott)

Human capital Select the best employees for particular tasks or jobs, at particular compensation levels. (New England Patriots, Oakland As, Boston Red Sox)

Product and service quality Detect quality problems early and minimize them. (Honda, Intel)

Financial performance Better understand the drivers of financial performance and the effects of nonfinancial factors. (MCI, Verizon)

Research and development Improve quality, efficacy and, where applicable, safety of products and services (Novartis, Amazon, Yahoo)

(Davenport, Thomas H. (2006), Competing on Analytics, Harvard Business Review, page 6)

Some competitive intelligence professionals are taking the lead in this area and expanding their skill set to include predictive analytics and advanced statistics. Others are still working on creating libraries of information and relying on gut feelings and intuition to provide direction to the company.

Watch for graduates to come out of school with advanced degrees in business analytics. They will be in very high demand in the near future. If you dont understand these concepts, you may be working for a dinosaur. If your company isnt a dinosaur, you may have to find a job working for one as the highly skilled analytics experts move in.

Sorry about the doom and gloom. But, thats where I see things heading. I recommend moving ahead of the curve and adding some additional analytic training to your repertoire.

Of course, Primary Intelligence stands ready to put predictive analytics into your Win Loss and Account Loyalty programs right now. If you have a couple of minutes, give me a call and Ill show you how. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)

Primary Intelligence Competitive Intelligence Newsletter 6/12/07

by admin , June 15, 2007

Were receiving good feedback on our newsletter. It is our hope to cover topics that will help companies sell more. Now.

The most recent issue is posted below. If you like the information, please forward it to a friend. That would be the biggest compliment of our work.

If you would like to be added to our subscription list, send me an email and I’ll make sure you are added for the next edition (cdalley@primary-intel.com)

Cover Story
Sales Teams: Making “Second Half Adjustments” to Win the 2007 Sales Game
By Tony Randall, Primary Intelligence Inc.These “dog days of summer” are actually more important than many sales teams may realize. Sure, we all want to take a break and head to the beach or the mountains to get recharged. And we will. But lest we forget that while you may be ignoring your current clients or targeted prospects, someone out there may be courting them in your absence. So, how do we prepare for that all important second half push. (For more, click here)

BlogCentral
Voice of the Customer Should Be Used to Collect Competitive Intelligence
You would be very surprised by how much your clients actually do know about your competitors. They may have purchased from you, but they have evaluated many other vendors over time… (For more, click here)

The A-List Archive
Why Did Overstock.com Choose Oracle over IBM?
Originally Published in 2004.
Executives at Overstock.com, an online retailer of discount and closeout merchandise, wanted to create a data strategy for the Company that would guide its future solution purchases. Vice President of Technology Shawn Schwegman said that Overstock.com did not look at any marketing materials and considered only the technology that potential vendors could provide. The Company evaluated IBM, MySQL (an open-source database solution), and Oracle.(For more, click here)

If you have feedback or comments, let me know. I am interested to know what you think about our publication. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)

Webinar: Putting Sales Intelligence into the Sales Force

by admin , June 14, 2007

Companies who use Sales Intelligence typically report an increase in market share and competitive performance by 10% or more. Yet, less than half of sales managers and reps claim to use sales intelligence of any kind.

Is your company taking the lead or are you falling behind your competitors in the use of this critical best practice?

How can your company go beyond general sales information to Sales Intelligence? Primary Intelligence would like to invite you to a Webinar on how to produce intelligence that actually makes a difference to both your marketing and sales personnel.

Through this presentation, Primary Intelligence will show:

• The difference between Sales Intelligence and sales information
• Why Sales doesn’t make full use of Sales Intelligence
• Benefits of a coordinated intelligence effort
• How to bring intelligence to the front line effectively
• How your front line can solve most of your Competitive Intelligence needs

Date: Thursday, June 21
Time 2 PM EST (11 AM PST)
Duration: 1 Hour

To Register, click here: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/141819788

Those that will most benefit from this discussion include:

• Sales and Marketing leaders
• Market research managers
• Market and Industry analysts
• Sales reps and account managers

You Know You Compete on Analytics When

by admin , June 13, 2007

1. You apply sophisticated information systems and rigorous analysis not only to your core capability but also to a range of functions as varied as marketing and human resources
2. Your senior executive team not only recognizes the importance of analytics capabilities but also makes their development and maintenance a primary focus.
3. You treat fact-based decision making not only as a best practice but also as part of the culture thats constantly emphasized and communicated by senior executives.
4. You hire not only people with analytics skills but a lot of people with the very best analytics skills-and consider them a key to your success.
5. You not only employ analytics in almost every function and department but also consider it so strategically important that you manage it at the enterprise level.
6. You not only are expert at number crunching but also invent proprietary metrics for use in key business processes.
7. You not only use copious data and in-house analysis but also share them with customers and suppliers.
8. You not only avidly consume data but also seize every opportunity to generate information, creating a test and learn culture base on numerous small experiments.
9. You not only have committed to competing on analytics but also have been building your capabilities for several years.
10. You not only emphasize the importance of analytics internally but also make quantitative capabilities part of your companys story, to be shared in the annual report and in discussions with financial analysts.
    (Davenport, Thomas H. (2006), Competing on Analytics, Harvard Business Review, page 9)

Using analytics in your competitive intelligence is a natural evolution, but also requires that the company evolve with you. Executive management has to respect the data, the findings and recommendations. Without this level of buy-in, you’ll have analytics with no audience. And, if a predictive model falls in the woods…

If your company is ready to introduce analytics to your competitive intelligence or if you want to take your program higher than it has gone in the past, let’s chat. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)

Analytics and Competitive Intelligence

by admin , June 11, 2007

Competitive Intelligence has always seemed much more of an art than a science. But, leading companies (Wal-Mart, Amazon, Dell, Harrahs, Marriott, Honda, MCI, Yahoo and the New England Patriots) have learned that swinging the exercise back toward science yields great dividends.

In many of these cases, these companies are using analytics to measure their own performance, systems, processes and personnel. For example:

One analytics competitor thats at the top of its game is Marriott International. Over the past 20 years, the corporation has honed to a science its system for establishing the optimal price for guest rooms (the key analytics process in hotels, known as revenue management). Today, its ambitions are far grander. Through its Total Hotel Optimization program, Marriott has expanded its quantitative expertise to areas such as conference facilities and catering, and made related tools available overt the Internet to property revenue managers and hotel owners. It has developed systems to optimize offerings to frequent customers and assess the likelihood of those customers defecting to competitors. The company has even created a revenue opportunity model, which computes actual revenue as a percentage of the optimum rates that could have been charged. That figure has grown from 83% to 91% as Marriotts revenue-management analytics has taken root throughout the enterprise. The word is out among property owners and franchisees: If you want to squeeze the most revenue from your inventory, Marriotts approach is the ticket. (Davenport, Thomas H. (2006), Competing on Analytics, Harvard Business Review, page 3)

Many of these companies are starting by turning their measurements and analytics on themselves. But, watch closely as analytics begin to be turned toward outside influences, including competitors.

Primary Intelligence is already at this point; using Win Loss and Account Retention data to power analytics. The result of these calculations is a clear and efficient path to increasing win and renewal rates at very high levels of confidence.

You can start to put these practices into place right now. Many companies perform some levels of segmentation or other analytics of revenue sources. Over the next couple of entries, Ill address specific areas where analytics should be applied.

And, if youre interested in this kind of stuff, lets chat. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)