When creating a sales forecast, we recommend you combine your data from your potential sales with historical data and carefully estimate future revenue to account for differences in market conditions, as well as your business’s growth rate.
Sales data: How to analyze sales data and a sample Excel spreadsheet
Sales data is a term that includes a large array of metrics but, broadly speaking, if you can measure something in relation to the sales process, it’s viable sales data. Modern software like Cloud CRM solutions can help you collect this data, but it’s important to learn how to read this data to understand what it means for your business and where you can improve.
With such an expansive sales data definition, it can be hard to know where to focus your efforts—especially if you also have to spend time selling. Should you be monitoring the average time deals spend in your pipeline or the engagement rate of your automated email campaign? Would your sales forecast benefit more from an analysis of successful meeting rates or your average deal size?
With the right sales analysis tools, you’ll have a wealth of information and be able to spot trends that will empower you and your team and provide better sales forecasts and goals for the rest of the organization.
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Meet buyers where they are
| Capability | Description | Reference links |
|---|---|---|
| Know the exact customer to engage | Shorten the sales cycle with a single workspace that has everything that sellers need to engage the right customer, stay focused, maximize productivity. | Administrator: Configure the sales accelerator Seller: Prioritize your sales pipeline by using the work list |
| Complete the next best activity | Help sellers focus by giving them clear and achievable sales activities, prioritized through artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive scoring. | Administrator: Configure the sales accelerator Seller: Prioritize your sales pipeline by using the work list |
| Communicate with effective call techniques | Converse with empathy by employing AI-powered conversation intelligence to detect customer emotion, sentiment, and priorities. | Administrator: First-run setup experience for conversation intelligence Seller: View and understand call summary page |
| Connect across channels | Streamline selling with integrated multichannel communications such as, soft phone dialer, Microsoft Teams dialer, and email templates. | Administrator: – Integrate a sample softphone with Dynamics 365 Sales – Configure Microsoft Teams dialer – Set up enhanced email Seller: – Call a customer – Send email using the enhanced email experience |
| Meet and collaborate virtually | Provide coordinated virtual engagement with an enterprise collaboration hub that brings together colleagues, customers, and contextual customer data. | Administrator: Install and set up Microsoft Teams integration Seller: Basic Collaboration experience for Microsoft Teams integration with customer engagement apps in Dynamics 365 |
| Gather and act on customer feedback | See the customer’s point of view and improve sales engagement by incorporating survey insights from Dynamics 365 Customer Voice—included with Dynamics 365 Sales. | Dynamics 365 Customer Voice documentation |
Build relationships
| Capability | Description | Reference link |
|---|---|---|
| Get insights from LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Within a unified experience from Dynamics 365, view contextual LinkedIn profiles and insights as part of account, contact, lead, and opportunities records. | Administrator: Integrate LinkedIn Sales Navigator solutions for Dynamics 365 Sales Sales manager/Seller: How to sync LinkedIn leads by using Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms |
| Find new buyers | See recommended leads and discover mutual connections who can provide a warm introduction. | Administrator: – Integrate LinkedIn Sales Navigator solutions for Dynamics 365 Sales – Configure who knows whom Seller: -How to sync LinkedIn leads by using Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms – How to get introduced to a lead |
| Keep track of buyers | Within a unified experience from Dynamics 365 Sales, find out when contacts change jobs and visualize relationships between contacts with interactive org charts. | Administrator: Integrate LinkedIn Sales Navigator solutions for Dynamics 365 Sales Sales manager/Seller: How to sync LinkedIn leads by using Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms |
| Get a unified view of interactions | Use a comprehensive timeline across Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator to deliver consistent experiences. | Administrator: Integrate LinkedIn Sales Navigator solutions for Dynamics 365 Sales Sales manager/Seller: How to sync LinkedIn leads by using Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms |
| Identify customers who need attention | Track relationships with a single score based on signals from Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 that reveal relationship health and risks. | Administrator: Configure relationship analytics and health Seller: Use relationship analytics to gather KPIs |
| Know how to engage customers | Get proactive guidance on topics such as personalized talking points, internal relationships, icebreakers, and next best actions to move relationships forward. | Administrator: Configure talking points Seller: Know conversation starters for your customers |
Collaborate seamlessly
| Capability | Description | Reference link |
|---|---|---|
| Gain visibility into the right data | Access customer data and insights in Microsoft Teams to collaborate productively within the sales team. | Administrator: Install and set up Microsoft Teams integration Seller: Basic Collaboration experience for Microsoft Teams integration with customer engagement apps in Dynamics 365 |
| Communicate in context | Use embedded Microsoft Teams chats in Dynamics 365 for real-time collaboration within the sales team. | Administrator: Install and set up Microsoft Teams integration Seller: Enhanced Collaboration Experience with Microsoft Teams |
Sources:
https://www.pipedrive.com/en/blog/sales-data
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/sales/overview