Data visualization tools have become very useful for many businesses. Companies use data visualization for trend mapping, data contextualization and various forms of business optimization. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that global companies are projected to spend over $10.2 billion on data visualization technology within the next three years.
We mentioned that data visualization is great for content marketing, but there are more important benefits as well. One of the most overlooked benefits of data visualization for small businesses is that it helps with sales mapping. Companies can utilize data visualization tools to create heat maps of the best places to invest their sales resources.
What Are the Benefits of Using Data Visualization for Sales Mapping?
Sales territory mapping is often a complex process that relies on data visualization, it’s frequently challenging to monitor the changing economic conditions without outside influence, but big data technology can help teams remain organized and efficient. The software helps businesses track consumer data, improve territory development, and monitor changes and growth in an economic position. The specific benefits of mapping software are extensive. Some of the reasons companies use data visualization for sales mapping include:
- They can visualize where their customers are concentrated.
- They can identify the best places to focus their sales resources and measure the ROI accordingly.
- They can find new markets and identify the best places to erect new stores to reach them.
These data visualization benefits include the following advantages for businesses trying to improve their sales strategies. This is one of the many reasons that big data is the future of sales.
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Increasing Overall Productivity
A sales territory mapping application with sophisticated data visualization capabilities will help significantly increase productivity. You can use strict automation controls to create and maintain territories, which means that your salespeople can spend more time with customers and less time focusing on administrative tasks.
Sales mapping software also helps identify new potential customers and tracks the sales process of existing ones. With this management, sales teams can effectively target efforts and close more deals.
More Flexibility
Offering salespeople more flexibility to help them manage their territories is a critical aspect of mapping software. From their perspective, this is one of the biggest benefits of data visualization technology. Traditional territory management strategies require your sales team to stick with pre-determined boundaries that make optimization impossible. Sales territory mapping software allows the sales team to create their region using various factors. For instance, a sales team may use data visualization features to determine boundaries using buying habits, customer demographics, or competitor activity.
Customization using mapping software allows a team to target efforts and improve results. For example, Maptive is a third-party mapping software that will enable users to integrate real-time insights into their territory performance, making it easier to identify problems early on.
Better Analysis
A business that relies on sales territories should always generate revenue that understands well-defined boundaries. Sales territory mapping provides a comprehensive analysis of consumer data, offering businesses a chance to identify and optimize the territories for maximum efficiency overall.
Data visualization software also enables businesses to track results over time, bringing a level of fine-tuning to territories. It becomes a powerful tool for any business that relies on territories for revenue. Owners can ensure those territories are well-defined, effective, and efficient. These tools allow a comprehensive analysis of consumer and sales data. Overall, this functionality optimizes your territories and improves sales strategy.
Establishing a Sales Territory Plan
The process of creating a sales territory plan is complex, but there are several steps businesses can follow to minimize any problems:
Defining Your Goals
The first step in any sales territory plan should be defining goals. Determine what you’re trying to achieve with the territories. Are there specific market increases you’d like within a particular region?
After defining the goals, develop territories that align with them. To increase market share, creating territories to focus on specific customer segments or regions should remain a priority. When trying to drive product sales, creating territories focused on customers should remain the objective.
Know Your Clients
Always know the customers behind your business if you’d like to grow. Understand who your customer is, what they need, and what motivates them to purchase. Building territories should start with a basic plan for your consumer. If working with businesses, create territories surrounding industries or company size. If selling to consumers, look for specific demographics or regions.
Analyze All Data
Understanding the current sales performance is critical to identifying growth and improvement opportunities. Look at your sales data and establish where the most successful sales originate. Are there specific customer segments or regions where you’re underperforming? The primary goal is to determine where to focus efforts.
Spend a few minutes reviewing customer data too. Build an ideal customer and profile connected with them. Finally, look at your competitor’s data too. Learn who they’re selling to and what areas they’re targeting. Knowing your competition can help you establish new opportunities and minimize overlap.
Start Defining Your Territories with Data Visualization Tools
Designing your territories is the final step in planning, ensuring that all territories match specific goals. Territory boundaries can occur with several goals, whether you develop the regions to reach a customer type or geographic boundary.
This is one of the biggest advantages of using data visualization technology to grow your business. You can create heat maps of your customer clusters to better focus your resources.
Remember, there are no right and wrong ways of dividing the regions if they support your company goals and objectives. For example, setting a territory through customer type is ideal for anyone selling to businesses or a large customer base. Alternatively, segmenting your territories by potential value is an ideal approach for team members who want fair outcomes.
