About This Episode

Left brain, right brain, engineer brain, sales brain. 

This isn’t a Dr Seuss book title, but it is something offbeat and wonderful that you should definitely take a look at. 

Have you seen this meme?

The 2 sides of the brain, according to scientists and researchers much more informed on this subject than I, assign 2 somewhat opposing approaches to each side. When someone can tap into both approaches is when the magic happens. 

Enter Ben Salzman and Kyle Williams from Dogpatch Advisors

With engineering mindsets and some impressive industry experience, Ben and Kyle have developed a modern sales framework that is shaping the future of prospecting.

We’re talking flying cars stuff here, people.

In this COVID climate, we are seeing people double down on their current customer base, budgets being cut, and a necessary fluid approach to operations as a whole is emerging. 

Your sales teams need to be sharper than ever.

Data science on a tangible level

In the office, out of the office, wherever your sales reps are based these days, 

A day in the life goes something like this:

Check emails. Calls, calls, calls. Meetings. Research. Calls. Data entry. Email. Calls, calls, calls. Planning. Meetings. Calls. Emails. Social. Networking. Research. Repeat. 

Sound about right? 

Having access to scientifically mined data that works for them allows them to sell at a more efficient and higher level and cuts out a lot of the time suck chores that pre CRM and data science demanded. 

This is even more beneficial in upselling and cross-selling. You have the data on hand, Mine it and dig into your existing customer base!

Your customer base is 10,000 or more deep? No problem. Totally scalable.

What kind of data is going to benefit sales?

Why should your sales teams only be focused on open rates, or reply rates when you most likely have a plethora of marketing insights on hand that can broaden and deepen their knowledge base? 

Enabling a flow of information between sales and the rest of the organization allows them to bring an arsenal of information to their outbound efforts.  

Here are some places to loop sales in:

Product and user interviews

When your sales team has access to this kind of data, they have a better understanding of the customer experience.

Ad performance

Having a glimpse into ad performance can inform your sales teams about what works, and maybe more importantly, what doesn’t.

Social media insights

Taking a look at social analytics can help prepare sales for some aspects of the sales cycle, such as ideas for subject lines and discovery call content

Hyper informed outbound efforts 

Dogpatch has developed an approach to scale up manual selling styles, by digging into the data and categorizing prospects into tiers.

Digging into the data reveals all different kinds of useful nuances.

The beautiful thing about bringing data science into the fold is how customizable it is. 

Here’s a hypothetical. Maybe your team sells furniture to public schools.

Let’s see what that team’s efforts could look like: 

All of the public record data that can help inform sales can be fed into the program, like what the class structure for that building will be in the coming year, or what the sales cycle for desks is for example. 

Public schools have intricate monetary channels, and many have to access bonds in the government space to fund purchases. 

Go ahead and plug that information in as well, and mine the data for a list of the buildings that are going to need to furnish classrooms, and will have the bond funding for that purchase. 

While you are at it, generate an email based on the data you collected last quarter about subject lines, and time it with marketings big push on xyz date. 

Boom. 

Connecting departments and ramping up sales with solid data to inform decision making can take outbound from zero-90 in the clock of a button. 

Using data science to uncover rep behaviors.

All of the data science techniques that can be applied to understand the customer experience more efficiently can be turned inward to examine your reps behaviors. 

• Which email campaign was the most effective? 
• Are they tapping into all of the CRM bells and whistles?
• Should reps streamline their calls to spend more time on social?

Analyzing the behaviors of customers, as well as your team, can reveal patterns that can contribute to:

• A more organized work flow. 
• Highly informed decision making 
• Which actions to set into motion, when

And so much more! 

The possibilities are truly endless, and Ben and Kyle at Dogpatch are doing an incredible job pushing the science forward. 

For more engaging sales conversations, subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or on our website.