Big data is revolutionizing the way organizations sell and market their products and services to their clients. It’s the biggest game changer in business since the internet went mainstream.

Companies who use data analytics as part of their selling strategy fare better than those that don’t. Though you probably know that data analytics can substantially improve your selling—because you’ve heard it mentioned time and time again—you might be scratching your head trying to figure out how to put it into use, what to do with the data you gather, and how to improve your selling with it.

Use data analytics in the ways detailed below, and you’ll be sure to hit your sales targets and increase your profitability.

Lead Scoring

Getting new leads is the lifeblood of your career. But you know that not all leads turn into sales. There are big differences in relation to value. When selling, you want to focus your energy on the leads that are far enough down the sales funnel. You want to sell to the leads that are ready to buy.

With data analytics, you can score your leads by analyzing their shopping behaviours. You can prioritize the ones who are ready to buy right now so you don’t miss a selling opportunity while you’re wasting time on those who are still in the research stage of the buying cycle. This not only makes your selling more productive but it maximizes your chance of conversion by allowing you to capitalize on hot leads with real-time data.

Cross Selling

Data analytics can help you boost sales by alerting you to opportunities for cross selling. Predictive data can show you your existing and potential clients’ spending habits and previous purchases, as well as their site searches and interest for particular pages on your website, so you can jump in and cross sell additional products or services that they’ll be interested in. It allows you to make appropriate suggestions, which will lead to a higher chance of getting your clients to spend more money.

Nurturing Your Clients

The more you know about your clients, the easier selling becomes. When you understand what your clients are interested in, what their needs are, how they shop and make purchasing decisions, what platforms they use, and where they are in the sales funnel, you can use tailored and customized communications to nurture your clients and shorten the sales cycle, so you can increase your sales. In fact, when you use personalization when creating messages that are relevant to particular target audiences, your ROI can increase five to eight times over, while selling can increase by a solid ten percent.

Increase Customer Service

Knowing what your customers need before they tell you can help you increase your level of customer service. You can anticipate their current and future wants and needs and you have all of the relevant information you need in front of you, so you can effectively provide them with the solutions that they may or may not even know they need yet. When your customer service level increases, so does customer satisfaction. You can solidify relationships to turn one-time clients into long-term, loyal customers.

Take Advantage of Data Analytics

When you take advantage of data analytics, you can significantly improve your selling techniques. You can score leads, partake in effective cross selling, nurture your clients, and increase your level of customer service. Data analytics can help you build stronger relationships with your clients by giving you all of the information you need to sell to them in a more tailored and customized way, while increasing your conversion rates. When you leverage data in an intelligent way with effective data analytics, you can do better business. It’s just that simple.