Technology is emerging as a key factor in deciding whether companies will post big quarterly gains or losses, according to a study.
The study found that the sales landscape has changed dramatically over the years with the rise of mobile and social technologies, with high performing sales teams more likely to use technology, especially analytics and mobile.
The survey on more than 2,300 sales leaders worldwide, by cloud computing company Salesforce, found that high performing sales teams use data to make more informed, behavior-based decisions to drive sales.
Sales teams also use analytics to crunch data such as revenue by quarter, year-over-year sales rep productivity and opportunity conversion rates to know the trends and pin point focus areas.
The study also found that the high-performing sales teams are 3.5 times more likely to use sales analytics compared to under-performing teams.
Salesforce Sales Cloud executive vice president Mike Rosenbaum said: "Technology is rapidly becoming the difference between big quarters and big misses.
"The companies who deliver strong sales results not only use modern CRM platforms to gain critical insight into all the customer touchpoints, but are also deploying newer technologies like sales analytics to sell smarter and mobile to respond anytime, anywhere."
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Among the companies surveyed, 19% are now using predictive analytics which analyses historical and current data to help in forward looking predictions, while the adoption of the technology is expected to grow by 135% in 12-18 months.
With the growth in the use of mobile devices and app, sales teams are also adopting mobile apps in their sales process, starting from lead management to sales forecasting.
Among those surveyed, 60% of high-performing sales teams now use or are planning to use a mobile sales app, while in comparison only 9% of the under-performing sales teams use mobile apps.
The survey found that that the use of mobile sales apps is expected more than double in the next two years, growing by 125%.
More than half of the high performing companies plan to deliver sales to customers directly through mobile apps in next two years, while 83% of all sales teams are currently using or planning to use wearables in some form in two years.
Technology drives the sales process of high performing sales teams, three times more compared to under-performers, while high-performing teams twice more likely to adopt technology compared to moderate and under-performing teams.
