A sales team is like the wheels of a bicycle— the smoother, the better. Having well-oiled wheels will make the business reach greater heights. If not, thousands of dollars can go in vain on missed opportunities. Revenue uncertainty and sales inefficiencies are the common roadblocks suffered by the sales team, especially in revenue management, and one of the biggest challenge of any sales team is its predictability. Teams with well-laid out processes and performance indicators rarely forecast why a deal may or may not close. But a bigger, and more hidden, challenge still is the psychological wellbeing of sales people affecting their sales performance every day.
Using effective AI technology can improve sales by a considerable margin because of its ability to look at not only the hard numbers but also the latent behaviors. However, global sales have been a bit slow in adopting AI technologies. A recent Salesforce State of Sales report reveals that only 46 percent of sellers have access to client and prospect data insights. Usability of data and lack of awareness are the two main reasons that stop organizations from leveraging AI. A good analytical strategy and roadmap from the leadership can directly strike at the heart of these problems.
Enter SalesChoice – an easy-to-install app on Salesforce offering a range of functions across the sales cycle for growth acceleration. The key focus at SalesChoice is data completeness – managing real-time datasets to forecast revenue with various filters for any given period – and a comprehensive performance tracking suite that allows managers to track their daily activities— including tracing the frequency, recency and volume of the opportunities or accounts. Elaborating on the seamless process, Founder and CEO, Dr. Cindy Gordon explains, “We break down the predictions for each sales opportunity, and a list of drivers, thereby giving the control back to the sales team with timely insights. Further, we cap it with a self-auditing feature which openly and transparently tracks the accuracy of SalesChoice predictions compared to the actual win/loss outcomes.” This passion for data and problem solving comes with years of expertise serving leading multinational companies. The company has won numerous accolades over the years, such as the Corporate Excellence Award for Outstanding AI Sales Analytics Platform in 2021, the Mindbridge AI Impact Leader of the Year award in 2019, and the Canadian Digital Transformation Award for AI Disruption in 2018.”
Going down the behavioral analysis route, SalesChoice has also recently augmented its offering with Mood Insights, which reveals in real-time how happy or sad employees are feeling and why. The app also allows them to share more context, which often reveals the true state of the workforce and potential business risks that can be nipped in the bud. The user experience is purposefully simple and short, allowing for maximum adoption and visibility by establishing an effective communication channel from the frontline workforce to the executives. It can be customized, much the same as the SalesChoice Insight Engine, thanks to the company’s expertise in its Data science-as-a-service offering—a one-stop solution for every analytics need, right from IT modernization to solving custom and complex use cases. Malay Upadhyay, the company’s Chief Customer Experience Officer and author of the AI Management series explains, “The idea is to help reveal gaps between the current and desired state of data and processes. To achieve this, we engage multiple functions to weave together the data and processes, audit existing solutions, envision a comprehensive end state, build out custom AI models, and even exceed what the organization had previously thought achievable.”
“THE KEY FOCUS AND VISION AT SALESCHOICE IS TO BRING THE HUMANITY BACK INTO SALES, WHICH MEANS MERGING SALES PROCESS BEST PRACTICES WITH THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF THE SALES TEAM TO MAXIMIZE AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVITY.”
However, Dr. Gordon, who has also authored fourteen books on the industry expertise, cautions her customers that AI is not there to make decisions but to empower and guide them towards a more robust, objectively informed and accurate decision making. “AI can reveal the rationale behind its insights. Users need that to make informed decisions and avoid blindly following AI. And that’s the key difference,” she adds. In one instance, a tier-I American courier and logistics company, with an expanding global footprint, was facing its biggest upheavals during the pandemic. The team struggled to manage the immense demand volumes, supply chain disruption and altered industrial mixes. Integrating SalesChoice has helped them achieve record-breaking revenue goals and maximize profitability by predicting margins in real-time without relying on revenue or cost data. In addition, the organization improved its customer relationship, resulting in millions of dollars in increased returns.
The pandemic has brought two fundamental changes to the industry. First is rendering some of the historical realities of business obsolete and secondly, inducing remote working culture. The changes have pushed organizations to use advanced analytics and process automation for effective sales and revenue management. One of the hidden gems at SalesChoice is Data Completeness – managing real-time datasets to forecast revenue with various filters for any given period – and a comprehensive performance tracking suite that allows managers to track their daily activities.”As the rising competition starts to push organizations to hunt for a one-stop-shop to satisfy their revenue management and correlated needs, SalesChoice is well positioned to deliver.
