Sales analysis is crucial for software marketers, as it helps them adjust their strategies and increase sales. Before becoming a communication giant, Slack meticulously analyzed their sales data to understand user adoption patterns. By tracking how different team sizes and industries used their product, they refined their marketing strategy and product features.

Businesses that incorporate thorough sales analysis typically experience a 15–20% rise in sales productivity. Through analysis of the sales performance, for example, marketers understand important factors that affect sales. This includes what influences the conversions, what possible blockages there could be, and how to best move leads through the pipeline.

In this article, we will define the concepts of sales assessment. This article will delve deeper into the various types of sales assessment, elucidate its advantages, and demonstrate how to utilize it effectively for a successful sales evaluation.

What is Sales Analysis?

Sales analysis is an organized approach to the assessment of sales records to provide a better understanding of a firm’s sales performance, trends, and tendencies. For instance, it helps companies determine the conditions that lead to successful sales. It also increases the economic efficiency of the selling process by identifying areas needing improvement in the sales data.

From the perspective of software marketing, sales analysis involves the collection, organization, and analysis of all available marketing data to understand consumer behavior toward these products, their sales performance, and the effectiveness of various channels’ promotions.

Types of Sales Analysis

Understanding the various branches of the sales analysis is the first step toward maximizing its effectiveness for software marketers. Some of them are listed below.

#1 Sales Performance Analysis

Sales performance analysis focuses on assessing how well the sales department or a specific product is doing within a defined period. It helps to understand and measure the performance through metrics such as conversion rates, average deal sizes, and win/loss ratios. Software companies’ sales analysis helps them understand what types of features or approaches to marketing are most effective for which customers.

#2 Sales Pipeline Analysis/Funnel Analysis

Salesforce built its entire CRM around understanding sales funnel dynamics. By analyzing where leads stall and drop off, they created features that help sales teams visualize and optimize their pipelines.

This type of analysis focuses on tracking how leads progress through each stage of your sales process. By examining this flow, you can pinpoint where prospects tend to stall and identify opportunities to streamline the journey. This type of analysis is also helpful when trying to gauge how customers act. Additionally, it assists in pinpointing the stages in the process where assistance is required to encourage leads, thereby simplifying the process of converting them into customers.

#3 Product Sales Analysis

Microsoft’s Xbox team uses product sales analysis to understand which game features, genres, and price points resonate most with different player demographics. This allows them to guide game developers and marketing strategies.

We conduct this type of analysis to understand how well each software product is performing in sales. It enables marketers to assess the best-performing products, their most appealing features, if any version of the product sells more than the rest, etc. Such analysis is crucial for software marketers, as it aids them in marketing the most sought-after items and planning their next steps toward product development.

#4 Sales Trends Analysis

Sales trend analysis focuses on the sales history of the market. The aim of looking at this history is to discover a pattern of how sales have occurred over time for the specific market. For instance, if sales are found to reach a peak within certain specific quarters, software marketers can appropriately plan their campaigning strategies for these periods when such trends are expected. Such analysis enables software marketers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their market environment. This keeps them on the alert to make the necessary changes in their positions.

Benefits of Sales Analysis

Thorough sales analysis provides numerous benefits to a software marketing strategy. From strategic planning to tactical adjustments, the insights gained through the analysis of sales data have a direct impact on your bottom line.

Key Benefits of Sales Analysis:

• Improved Forecasting: Studies have demonstrated that organizations leveraging predictive analytics have achieved remarkably accurate future revenue predictions, with accuracy rates reaching as high as 82%. This allows the accurate analysis of future sales trends. With this, marketers can strategize more efficiently.
• Better Targeting: Precision targeting can increase marketing ROI by 15-20%. It pinpoints customer segments of high value and bases marketing efforts on these locations for better lead quality and conversion.
• Informed Decision Making: McKinsey Global Institute research findings indicate that data-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, 6 times more likely to retain clients, and 19 times more likely to achieve profitability. Data-backed insights help marketers make smarter decisions related to resource allocations and shifts in strategy.
• Increased Efficiency: Software marketers will understand what worked best to trim the process and avoid wasted effort.
• Optimized Sales Funnel and Pipeline: Sales funnel analysis, coupled with sales pipeline analysis, enables the removal of bottlenecks and helps smooth the buyer’s journey.
• Data-Driven Performance Evaluation: A study in sales performance analysis provides a clear insight into team and individual performances. Focused coaching and support can further remodel this.

These benefits serve as a solid foundation for improvement, making sales analysis an indispensable tool in your marketing toolkit.

Steps on How to Carry Out Sales Analysis

You must adhere to a systematic process that collects, organizes, and interprets data in order to fully harness the power of this analysis. Here are the steps to conduct an effective analysis of sales:

#1 Define Your Objectives and Scope

One must understand the goals of the analysis before delving into the data. Having certain objectives defined makes the process easier and ensures that your focus is on highly relevant data. Ask yourself some questions at the beginning, like:

• What is it precisely that I want to find out, for instance, about customer preferences, the performance of a certain product, or sales teams’ efficiency?
• Which decisions will this analysis support?
• How often will I have to do this analysis to stay current?

For example, customer behavior, pattern of purchase, and satisfaction metrics would be crucial if the goal was to improve customer retention. The definition of objectives, then, acts as a guide in selecting appropriate metrics and types of analysis.

#2 Collect Relevant Sales Data

After defining your objectives, the next step would be to collect all the necessary sales data for analysis. Accuracy and consistency in data become of vital importance during this stage. Why? Any inaccurate or insufficient data could potentially result in erroneous inferences.

• Data Source: Trustworthy sources should provide the data. It could be from CRM systems, financial databases, customer feedback platforms, and web analytics.
• Data Types: Include both quantitative (for example, sales figures and conversion rates) and qualitative data such as customer reviews and feedback regarding the sales representatives. Both types will provide a comprehensive multi-angle analysis.
• Historical Data: Gather the historical data against which the current performance can be measured. This would further enrich your analysis, as it would showcase the trend and seasonality of your data.
• Real-time Data: Where possible, include real-time data to capture the latest trends. This is particularly crucial if your company handles a significant number of transactions and frequently observes altered patterns.

It is vital that the information be clean, consistent, and updated for accurate analysis.

#3 Segment the Data for Targeted Insight

Tesla segments its sales data not just by geography but by customer types: early adopters, tech enthusiasts, environmentally conscious consumers, and luxury car buyers. This allows for hyper-targeted marketing.

Segmentation is a process of dividing data into groups according to predetermined criteria. In this way, one can learn in much greater detail how customers behave about any particular product or service. Common bases of segmentation include:

• Customer Demographics: Customer demographics include age, location, industry, and company size.
• Product Type: Features, categories, or versions
• Sales Channels: The performance of various channels, including online and offline, is crucial.
• Geography: Regional sales differences are important, particularly for a global company.

For instance, if you believe that your younger customers are more likely to purchase a specific software product, this information should assist you in crafting messages specifically for that target market.

#4 Review and Adapt Strategies with Insights

Sales analysis is a continuous process. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically review and consolidate the insights from your analysis report.

• Realign Marketing Strategies: Increase spending or targeting in areas where certain demographics or channels showed up as performing well.
• Optimize the Sales Process: To address bottlenecks in the sales pipeline, implement specific process changes.
• Improve Customer Retention: Apply knowledge about retention to help create better loyalty programs, customer service, and product updates.
• Test and Iterate: Make small modifications, measure the effects of the change, and then make further adjustments as needed. This technique of ongoing optimization will allow your sales process to stay effective and flexible, responding to constantly shifting market dynamics.

How We Can Help

North South Tech transforms your sales data into clear, actionable growth strategies. We’ve refined our approach to sales analysis through years of hands-on experience with software companies, using data to illuminate the path forward. Our analysis pinpoints your highest-performing products, reveals hidden market opportunities, and streamlines your sales pipeline.

We don’t just process numbers; we decode the story behind customer behaviors and market trends, giving you the insights needed to make confident decisions. Companies using data-driven sales analysis see up to a 20% boost in productivity, and we’re here to help you achieve similar results.

Turn your sales data into a competitive advantage. Book a discovery session to see how North South Tech’s sales analysis services can amplify your growth.