To fully harness the power of analytics, your team must be ready and willing to use it. To prepare team members to make data-driven decisions, you must start making changes within your organization. Here are three steps to get you there:

·      Have a champion for your data analytics. This means more than just finding someone who knows Excel. This person should get excited about data and be able to see patterns the company can act on immediately.

·      Give your salespeople the best tools to grow capacity, close rates and efficiency. There are plenty of leads for your salespeople to chase, but only a select few will bring a high return. Market data can be vital in finding your highest potential customers, or even higher potential in your current accounts. Make sure salespeople know how to use this data.

·      Focus on data-driven wins. When one of your young or inexperienced salespeople lands a large account using market data, use it as an example of how it can drive larger sales. Once your team has a few wins, the decision-making process will begin to favor data.

Subtle changes can improve your team's effectiveness. It’s easy to talk about new strategies and changes, but taking the time to implement them will make all the difference. Follow up on these changes to ensure their staying power, and celebrate the incremental improvements.