Best Sales Intelligence Practices

This article contains some best practices to engage sales to share competitive intelligence information. It is a timeless topic that I have been researching in my 30 years as a competitive intelligence professional.

From Competitive Intelligence to Sales Enablement: Free Webinar

Join us (Ellen Naylor, Business Intelligence Source; Mitch Emerson, Compelligence; Dean Davison, Forrester Research) for a free 45 minute webinar, “From Competitive Intelligence Collection to Sales Enablement,” on April 22, 2014 at Noon Eastern US. Learn how to collect more effectively from your sales force; how to transform that data into competitive intelligence that Sales can tap into for each deal; and how to hold conversations with customers in ways that resonate with them and engage them to buy.

How to Incent Sales to Share Competitive Intelligence

The key to success in communication to and from sales is to understand your company’s sales culture, and what might be fun and engaging for them to be cooperative in sharing what they learn in a timely manner. Go to where sales is to get them to engage. Many sales people travel extensively, so they have time in the car or airplane to write, tape or text about what they’re learning. They also value information from their peers. Maybe you can facilitate more sharing among peers, even informally. In my experience it takes a couple of years to get sales information to flow. You have to earn their trust to build that relationship.