Observed both here and elsewhere, average sales quota attainments appear to be in an exorable decline. As I discussed in my recent Analyst Perspective, "The Art and Science of Sales from the 'Inside Out'," vendors of sales technology have reacted to this by adding a slew of new functionality including the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to be a game changer for sales. One can argue that this use of AI is still relatively immature having been generally available only since 2014, but...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Human Capital Management,
business intelligence,
Analytics,
Sales Performance Management,
candidate engagement,
sales enablement,
AI & Machine Learning
As I have discussed in my Analyst Perspective, The Art of Sales, from the Inside Out, the challenges facing direct sales leaders are not going away. Declining quota attainment, lack of visibility into deal health and difficulty in forecasting quarterly sales remain a challenge for sales leaders, resulting in a continuing reduction in duration of tenure.
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Analytics,
Sales Performance Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
sales enablement,
AI & Machine Learning
Digital commerce affects almost everyone’s lives. It is hard to remember a time when one could not sign on to a website like Amazon, order a product, pay for it and have it delivered to your front door within days, not weeks. Although catalogues have been around for a century or so, the digital-commerce revolution has changed the way we think about shopping for many of our everyday and special occasion products. Extend this to digital services, such as streaming videos or online games, and...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Customer Experience,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Product Information Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
Digital Commerce,
AI & Machine Learning
There is no doubt that the pandemic has accelerated the existing need for new technology that can help sales professionals do their jobs well in this quickly evolving market. In addition, market trends are driving the need for functionality that is aimed at the front-line sales professional and the manager, highlighting the demand for tools that can help arrest the decline in quota attainment, as well as helping salespeople supplement their traditional focus on sales quotas with activities such...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Analytics,
Internet of Things,
Sales Performance Management,
natural language processing,
sales enablement,
AI & Machine Learning
The current pandemic has disrupted many of the traditional sales methods used by field-sales organizations to engage, and sell to, buyers. In an effort to provide help, many vendors have recently announced new features that focus less on the management of sales organizations and more on tools to help salespeople sell. This has been coupled with a renewed interest in using data to help with the science, alongside the art, of selling, as referenced in my AP: The Art and Science of Sales from the...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Analytics,
Data,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management (SPM),
Digital Technology,
sales enablement,
sales engagement,
AI & Machine Learning
Ventana Research recently announced its 2021 research agenda for the Office of Sales, continuing the guidance we’ve offered for nearly two decades to help organizations realize optimal value from applying technology to improve business outcomes. Chief sales and revenue officers are experts in their respective fields but may not have the guidance needed to employ technology effectively. As we look to 2021, we are focusing on the entire selling and buying journey and the applications that...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Analytics,
Internet of Things,
Data,
Sales Performance Management,
Digital Technology,
Digital Commerce,
mobile computing,
Subscription Management,
extended reality,
intelligent sales,
partner management,
AI & Machine Learning
Although historically there has been a hard divide between what are colloquially called “Inside and Field Sales,” changes over the last 10 years have narrowed the distinction. The pandemic has only accelerated the path to unifying sales activities commonly performed to engage buyers and customers. Characterized by a very disciplined and controlled endeavor, inside sales teams have been heavier users of technology. This has enabled more productive engagement including emails and calls, as well...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
embedded analytics,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Collaboration,
Internet of Things,
Sales Performance Management (SPM),
natural language processing,
intelligent sales,
sales enablement,
AI & Machine Learning
The last decade has seen exponential growth amongst subscription-based business models. Pioneered in the B2C market with cloud-based SaaS offerings, the last decade has seen exponential growth in the share of the economy that is now subscription based. Increasingly, this modern business model is permeating throughout more traditional style industries and companies. But regardless of whether a company is natively subscription based, or is transitioning, maintaining this growth requires...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Customer Experience,
Office of Finance,
Voice of the Customer,
business intelligence,
embedded analytics,
Analytics,
Collaboration,
Internet of Things,
Contact Center,
Product Information Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
Digital Commerce,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
natural language processing,
robotic finance,
revenue and lease accounting,
agent management,
intelligent sales,
sales enablement,
subcription management,
AI & Machine Learning
Subscription-based business models have seen exponential growth over the last decade. The growth of this recurring revenue business model, where a subscriber commits to repeatedly pay for a good or device for a fixed or indefinite timeline, has been caused by the shift from the one-time selling of physical products to selling digital services on a subscription basis. The first phase of this transformation was led by “digitally native” organizations, typically B2C, that have only ever offered...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
Customer Experience,
Office of Finance,
Voice of the Customer,
embedded analytics,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Collaboration,
Internet of Things,
Contact Center,
Product Information Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
Digital Commerce,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
natural language processing,
robotic finance,
revenue and lease accounting,
Subscription Management,
agent management,
intelligent sales,
sales enablement,
AI & Machine Learning
I’m very excited to announce to my network as well as the ever-expanding Ventana Research community that I’m now directing Ventana Research’s Office of Sales practice. The focus is to guide and educate sales and business professionals on the selling applications and technology including digital commerce, price and revenue management, product information management, sales enablement, sales performance management and subscription management. While these are the main topics of our Office of Sales...
Read More
Topics:
Sales,
embedded analytics,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Collaboration,
Data,
Product Information Management,
Sales Performance Management (SPM),
Digital Technology,
Work and Resource Management,
Digital Commerce,
Conversational Computing,
collaborative computing,
mobile computing,
intelligent sales,
sales enablement,
AI & Machine Learning