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Top Five Data Discovery Applications for

Optimizing Sales Operations

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Patent InformationThis product is patented. One or more of the following patents may apply to the product sold herein: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,154,766, 6,173,310, 6,260,050, 6,263,051, 6,269,393, 6,279,033, 6,567,796, 6,587,547, 6,606,596, 6,658,093, 6,658,432, 6,662,195, 6,671,715, 6,691,100, 6,694,316, 6,697,808, 6,704,723, 6,741,980, 6,765,997, 6,768,788, 6,772,137, 6,788,768, 6,798,867, 6,801,910, 6,820,073, 6,829,334, 6,836,537, 6,850,603, 6,859,798, 6,873,693, 6,885,734, 6,940,953, 6,964,012, 6,977,992, 6,996,568, 6,996,569, 7,003,512, 7,010,518, 7,016,480, 7,020,251, 7,039,165, 7,082,422, 7,113,993, 7,127,403, 7,174,349, 7,181,417, 7,194,457, 7,197,461, 7,228,303, 7,260,577, 7,266,181, 7,272,212, 7,302,639, 7,324,942, 7,330,847, 7,340,040, 7,356,758, 7,356,840, 7,415,438, 7,428,302, 7,430,562, 7,440,898, 7,486,780, 7,509,671, 7,516,181, 7,559,048, 7,574,376, 7,617,201, 7,725,811, 7,801,967, 7,836,178, 7,861,161, 7,861,253, 7,881,443, 7,925,616, 7,945,584, 7,970,782, 8,005,870, 8,051,168, 8,051,369, 8,094,788, 8,130,918 and 8,296,287. Other patent applications are pending.

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Top Five Data Discovery Applications for Optimizing Sales Operations

A successful sales team is at the heart of every successful organization, with every salesperson responsible

for driving revenue, bringing in new business, and nurturing existing customer relationships.

Today, organizations have an unprecedented opportunity—a chance to arm their sales reps with

timely, relevant customer information. Access to this information gives salespeople the ability to

research prospects’ interests, personalize outreach, identify new opportunities, and get the information

they need to answer tough questions during face-to-face interactions.

To take advantage of this opportunity, organizations need powerful, easy-to-use analytics tools. Data

discovery is the perfect way to arm salespeople with quick, easy access to critical information and lets

them act on that information in near real time. Below are the top five data discovery applications that

sales teams can use to stay ahead of the competition.

While CRM applications can be a great way to store data, they lack the reporting and analytics

capabilities that salespeople need to make more informed and effective sales decisions. By layering

visual data discovery and dashboards on top of existing CRM systems like Salesforce.com, organizations

can blend data from multiple sources to get a comprehensive, cross-functional view of the sales process.

Data discovery applications make it easy for sales managers to obtain real-time visibility into sales

cycles and accurately forecast sales performance. CRM and other data can be loaded directly into an

intuitive analytics interface, giving management a live, visual representation of performance through

a wide array of charts, graphs, and visualizations. A key advantage of leveraging an analytics platform

for data discovery is the ability to blend information from disparate data sources, giving organizations

a 360-degree view of their customers and sales processes.

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Territory Planning and Quota Planning

Sales managers are responsible for the tedious but critical

process of planning territory assignments and distributing

quotas to sales reps. With a territory planning data discovery

application, managers can eliminate guesswork and provide

their sales teams with challenging but fair revenue targets.

The dashboard application highlighted above helps sales

managers optimize quota plans and realign territory

assignments so sales reps stay motivated and help meet

corporate revenue objectives. By leveraging data from CRM

tools like Salesforce.com and other enterprise data, the

dashboard gives decision-makers access to the most up-to-

date sales information. Managers can apply sophisticated

predictive analytics to KPIs defined by historical sales data, quota

attainment, and buying history of named accounts, so they can

make more accurate pipeline forecasts and better understand

their position for the upcoming sales period.

This application arms sales managers with the right information

to determine each territory’s potential and assign realistic

quotas. They also have the ability to perform what-if analyses

using threshold-based markers, helping them identify the

potential impact of adding new resources to a given territory.

Analyze a particular territory and review the current revenue streams per

region to maximize opportunity and align sales capacity.

Create realistic quotas based on accurate

territory evaluations.Perform what-if analysis and measure the changes

that occur over time.

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Pipeline Management

Sales reps often miss out on opportunities due to ineffective

utilization of internal, external, and social data. With a pipeline

management data discovery application, sales reps can

analyze new streams of information, including data from blogs,

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, in conjunction with corporate

CRM systems and customer directories.

The dashboard application highlighted above helps sales reps

visualize ever-changing pipelines, quotas, and won/lost deals, so

they can effectively identify leads and build a stronger sales pipeline.

Sales reps can easily connect to terabytes, even petabytes, of data

stored in big data sources like Hadoop, seamlessly blend with other

data sources, and perform predictive analytics in order to make more

accurate pipeline forecasts.

Gain better project insight by analyzing huge volume of data.

Access information from blogs, and social media sources. Make more accurate forecasts ib oipeline account.

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Prospect Analysis

Prospecting is one of the most difficult sales tasks. Targeting

prospects and starting conversations can often feel like the luck

of the draw. But it doesn’t have to be that way—the right data

discovery application can give salespeople the tools they need

to identify high-value prospects and determine which deals are

most likely to close.

Sales professionals who leverage data discovery applications

can drill down into their win-loss data to learn more about

target personas and adapt their sales pitch to resonate with

their audience. With greater visibility into their data, sales reps

can identify which prospects are likely to convert and shift their

focus to the most promising opportunities. And ad-hoc analysis

on a mobile device puts these insights in the hands of sales reps

when and where they need it.

Drill into win-loss data to arm sales teams with relevant

information and which leads go after.

Identify which prospects are

likely to convert.

Focus attention to the most

promising opportunities.

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Customer Insights

White space analysis allows sales executives to better

understand customer profiles and identify where they can

create new value for customers and the organization as a whole.

This powerful analytical tool helps identify products, services,

and other offerings that can be pitched to current customers

as upsell opportunities. White space analysis can ultimately

increase the number of opportunities and generate more

business for the organization.

Geospatial analytics and mapping capabilities give sales teams the

ability to visualize ongoing field activity, identify customer trends

across cities or countries, and take proactive action to better

support their accounts. By blending and analyzing data from ERP,

PSA, HRIS, CRM, and other sales systems, sales teams can get a

comprehensive view of sales activity at the region, territory, and

individual level. And sales teams can dig deeper into customer

data through interactive drilling within the application.

Blend and analyze data from CRM, ERP,

and other sales systems.

Monitor customer trends across regions.

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Sales Compensation

Compensation plans are an important driver of sales

performance and organizational success. Proper measurement

of performance and commensurate compensation reduces

turnover and helps retain high-performing sales reps. But many

organizations struggle to implement compensation plans

that successfully incentivize and reward their sales teams for

their performance. Often, this is due to a lack of data and the

administrative challenges associated with managing multiple,

complex compensation applications and plans.

An effective sales compensation dashboard places the answers

to these challenges at your fingertips. With data discovery, it

is easy to blend data from a variety of sources, consolidating

HR information and sales data. Managers are equipped with

everything they need to monitor sales performance, track

pipeline goals, and implement effective compensation plans.

Sales managers can access, explore, and analyze their team’s

performance and quota attainment with just a few clicks, and

can easily identify their top performers.

Monitor sales reps performance

and their quota attainment. Quickly determine the

top sales performers.

At a glance, view all the relevant information per sales rep to determine his/her compensation.

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MicroStrategy can help organizations optimize every aspect of their

sales operations with various applications for analytics, mobility, and

security, as listed below.

DIGITAL ID BADGE

Provide sales reps with faster access to all applications by replacing traditional passwords with an employee badge delivered via a location-aware smartphone app.

USHER/SECURITY

PIPELINE MANAGEMENT

Leverage predictive algorithms and historical sales data to make more accurate pipeline forecasts.

PROSPECT ANALYSIS

Analyze win-loss data to better understand buying trends and give sales teams the information they need to identify and focus on the most promising opportunities.

ANALYTICS

ANALYTICS

SALES REP ACTIVITY

Track which sales reps are available and nearby in case of a customer emergency. Easily monitor sales rep activity and instantly

communicate with teams around the world.

TASK MANAGEMENT

Help sales people streamline processes and perform quick administrative tasks on the go

with write-back to critical sales systems.

TRAINING

Integrate data from a wide range of sources and provide tools for sales reps to stay up to

date with new products, updates, marketing collateral, and other materials.

SALES PRODUCTIVITY

Support agile processes and accommodate rapidly changing schedules. Give sales people instant

insight into their accounts so they can quickly identify what customers to engage when last

minute cancellations occur.

SALES EXECUTIVE WORKBENCH

Provide sales executives with real-time visibility into the status of customers, opportunities, and the performance of their teams.

TERRITORY AND QUOTA PLANNING

Optimize quota plans and territory assignments to keep sales teams motivated and successful.

SALES COMPENSATION

Identify incentive programs that properly compensate employees based on performance metrics.

CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

Get a holistic view of customers, from communication records, to open or resolved issues, to account-speci�c needs. View white space

analysis to identify upsell or cross-sell opportunities.

SALES RENEWALS

Give sales reps and managers the ability to visualize customer health analytics, so they can identity at-risk accounts and increase e�orts to

protect and maintain them.

CRM ANALYTICS

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

FIELD ENABLEMENT

SALES REP

USHER/SECURITY

ANALYTICS

MOBILE

MOBILE

MOBILE

MOBILE

MOBILE

ANALYTICS

ANALYTICS

SALES MANAGER

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These five applications are great examples of the powerful

impact that data and analytics can have on an organization’s

sales processes and results. But they are only the beginning.

With MicroStrategy, organizations can quickly build and deploy

data discovery apps that can completely revolutionize the way

they sell.

All the applications showcased in this document were designed

and built using MicroStrategy Desktop. Try it out for yourself

when you build your next application.

To get started, download MicroStrategy Desktop for free,

at microstrategy.com/Desktop.