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Big Data is one of the current buzzwords, but is it actually driving sales? While many executives in a new survey expect big data to impact sales, many also say sales reps are missing opportunities because they can’t keep up with information on customers and prospects.

The independent survey of more than 200 corporate and sales executives by CSO Insights for  Lattice Engines, which sells a big data analytics platform, found that putting big data to work can be a daunting task for most organizations.

“Big data needs to be a big deal for sales,” said Jim Dickie, managing partner, CSO Insights.

“The amount of prospect information out there today is a blessing and a curse for sales reps. Our research shows that there is a need for new tools to help reps find the needle in the haystack. Leading-edge sales teams are already taking advantage with solid returns.”

Top findings:

Sales reps are struggling to find the information they need to close deals 

• Eight-two percent of respondents feel sales reps are challenged by the amount of information available and the time it takes to research prospects before making a call.
• Sales reps may search as many as 15 different internal and external data sources including their CRM systems, Facebook, LinkedIn, search engines, Twitter and other business information providers to find crucial information on customers and prospects.
• In fact, 89 percent believe reps miss opportunities because they can’t keep up with prospect information.

Existing technologies are not designed for a social, big data world

• While 80 percent have implemented a CRM system, only 44 percent believe it is effective at helping them find internal information (what it was meant for), and nearly 80 percent find CRM ineffective at helping them find external company information.
• More than half of the companies surveyed do not have technology in place that has the capability to bring internal AND external information to reps, meaning they are relying on the reps to do the research themselves.
• Yet 90 percent of executives foresee great benefits to sales if data access and insights were delivered via a single technology system.

Sales executives expect significant impact to sales if they had Big Data for sales technology

• Although only 16 percent of companies have Big Data strategies for sales, 71 percent expect Big Data technology to have a significant impact on sales.
• More specifically, the majority of respondents said that if they had a single technology system in place to gather the necessary data and insight, they would expect an improvement in: prospecting effectiveness, the amount of time reps spend actually selling, lead to first meeting conversions, first call to presentation conversions and win rates of forecast deals.

To access the full report, see: http://pages.lattice-engines.com/csoinsights-report-impact-of-big-data-on-sales-performance.html

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Tags: big data, CSO Insights, Lattice Engine, sales, survey