FACTFUL: Data driven in farming and hunting

FACTFUL: Data driven in farming and hunting

“That’s old hat” said the Head of Sales. The Unlock 2020 meet of TU Engineering’ was getting hot.

The team was considering strategies to make the most of the restart in the economy. That’s when the idea of fixing targets per existing Customer came up. And someone predictably said it costs five times as much to attract a new Customer than to keep an existing one. The point the Territory Manager was making was – In these uncertain markets let’s tap our existing Customers first before prospecting new ones”

“How do you know?” the Sales Head shot back, not being able to hold back his frustration. “Am sick of such generic motherhood statements! I have said this in so many contexts.. Today it is about farming. In any context, Guys, there is no way you can get my buy-in without knowing your facts”.

“Where are the hard facts on who and what percentage of our Customers come back to us? First off, do we even have an idea where we stand with our top 20 accounts? I can off hand give you a list of 10 data points on which you must assess your key accounts for their potential to offer you further business” The Sales Head went on to list them:

1. Value of our sales to the Customer
2. Our share in Customer’s total purchases
3. Trendline of our share – Up/Down/Flat
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4. How stable or fluctuating has our sales been over last few years
5. Width of our product line (or mix) bought by the Customer
6. Our product-wise share with the Customer in comparison with other vendors.
7. Factors driving Customer’s buying frequency
8. Which levels / roles matter in Customer’s organization for our type of supplies
9. How many of the decision makers and influencers do we know well
10. Our position with the Customer - Are we the main supplier? Or are we one of ‘x’ number of approved vendors? Are we on the Customer’s list for sending all enquiries? Does the Customer use our engineering specs jargon? This could be a be a measure of intimacy.

Please map our top 20 clients against these data points. We are in a crisis.. And we can’t waste time and effort shooting in the dark. Let’s get some data on the table first”.

Top-of-the-charts salespeople are wizards in living by the Deming credo of “In God We Trust, The Rest Bring Data”. They consistently gather intelligence on the buyer behavior and their industry dynamics, and quickly leverage the inferences that emerge in coming up with action plans, to achieve their farming and hunting objectives.