Companies using revenue intelligence tools are more than twice as likely to significantly exceed revenue goals

Business leaders are increasingly recognizing the need to go beyond Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to maximize their sales results. A Forrester Consulting study published today reveals that companies using revenue intelligence to supplement traditional CRM are more than twice as likely to significantly over-perform their sales goals as compared to companies lagging on adoption of revenue intelligence platforms.

The Forrester study, commissioned by Gong and entitled, “Navigate the Future of Selling with Revenue Intelligence,” is based on an online survey of 213 sales executives and decision-makers in North America. It looks at the state of B2B sales amid a range of behavior and demographic changes including B2B buyers preferring self-directed sales, the increasing importance of digital sales and behavioral shifts caused by COVID-19.

These changes in buyer behaviors are exposing shortcomings in widely used sales software and methodologies. “While CRM provides powerful capabilities and is a necessary tool for customer data management, many out-of-the-box solutions fail to consistently capture conversational insights, leaving significant context out of the conversation,” according to the study. “Organizations risk missing their sales targets when they attempt to capture and convert leads without timely and thorough customer insights that reveal buyers’ needs and preferences.”

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CRM typically relies on manually inputting, updating and analyzing data. This results in data that is often stale, distorted and limited – some 62 percent of study respondents say they have struggled with at least one of these challenges.

An overwhelming majority of study respondents – 83 percent – agree that revenue intelligence would be valuable or very valuable for their organizations, driving better customer loyalty and retention (91 percent agreeing), helping win new customers (89 percent) and improving the experience of their customers (85 percent). Revenue intelligence platforms provide an opportunity for sellers to “differentiate themselves through customer knowledge that is more timely, deeper, and more actionable,” concludes the Forrester study.

Revenue intelligence typically includes examining various customer touch-points – web conferences, phone calls, emails, texts, etc. – and provides an accurate, automated method of analyzing these interactions for insights and recommended next steps.

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“Going beyond CRM is key if you expect to survive and thrive in today’s sales environment,” said Stacey Justice, Vice President, Sales Strategy and Enablement at Workfront. “The revenue intelligence platform we’ve adopted has helped us deepen our relationships with customers, speed up sales cycles and grow revenue.”

“This study confirms what we see on an on-going basis,” said Amit Bendov, CEO of Gong. “CRM is just table stakes these days. What companies need now is AI-driven revenue intelligence that creates a full, accurate picture of what customers have done and are likely to do next. Sales organizations that rely on outdated information and gut feelings risk losing their markets to their revenue-intelligent competitors.”

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