It’s 2012 and high time to revisit 9 predictions that Laurie Page and I made early in 2011. I thought it might be interesting to see how well we did.
We’ll be scoring our predictions like a 9-hole round using this point system:
- Hole-in-one (1) - when a prediction hits the nail on the head
- Birdie (3) - predictions that are in the area, but aren’t quite holes-in-one
- Bogey (5) - those that landed near the truth, but missed par
- Snowman (8) - those that just didn't come close
- No longer will the Inside Sales Rep be a “jack of all trades”. Roles will be clearly defined and measured based on specific desired outcomes.
Segmentation/specialization is still a hot topic. We are seeing some hesitance on the part of smaller organizations to specialize but, for those that have adopted the strategy, specialization often leads to dramatically increased productivity.
Score: Birdie - Data will become an integral component for predicting the likelihood of Inside Sales success. No longer will companies buy data from one vendor but rather they will create a network of data providers to deliver to them the specific information in their target markets.
I actually think this problem got worse last year. People will invest in everything but data. If you got something wrong 30% every time you tried it, wouldn’t you look for a better way? Well, at least 30% of your database is bad and your sales and marketing teams have to work with it … not good!
Score: Snowman