A Quick Introduction to Conversation Analytics for Sales

Research shows that consumers expect websites and apps to be eye-catching, cool to experience, and user-friendly, but they are unlikely to take note of any of those things unless they malfunction. These tech innovations aren’t meaningful to consumers if other more important customer service details like speed, convenience, and the right product information at the right time are not evident.

In a PwC study, 48% of American consumers point to friendly, welcoming service as the most important aspect of a successful customer service experience; fewer (32%) pointed to having the most up-to-date technology. In other words, we think we want the bells and whistles, but we actually want a real, friendly person to interact with. 

You’ll set your sales team up for success if you can find the sweet spot where technology complements, not hinders, the human element of the customer experience. Conversational Sales is a relatively new sales approach that blends relationship-building techniques with technology to enhance the sales process. 

Today, we’ll talk more about how Conversation Analytics can help you improve sales by enhancing the quality of your communication with leads and customers.

What is Conversation Analytics?

Conversation analytics is a critical part of the conversational sales process. It evaluates voice data from phone calls between a customer and a salesperson to learn more about customer behavior and the sales process. By reviewing actual sales calls, sales managers can better understand and target customers and coach the sales team on how to interact with them.

Special software that records calls and transcribes speech to text is required for conversation analytics. The software sorts the data, makes it searchable, and then presents the results, often in graphic form, so sales managers can measure and record critical KPIs. With those KPIs, leaders can efficiently score sales calls, spot coaching opportunities, and identify sales trends. 

Why is Conversation Analytics Valuable?

There are several benefits to using conversation analytics. Let’s review five of them.

1. Provides insights into sales call performance: Good conversation analytics software will help sales leaders flag and address potential issues with their team. By looking at specific KPIs for individual salespeople, managers can help individuals on their team identify their particular strengths and weaknesses. They can focus on what they need to improve, while celebrating the things that make them good sales professionals.  
2. Enables more robust call coaching: Companies using a sales coaching program achieve 28% higher conversion rates. Why? Because effective coaching arms your sales team with the tools and knowledge they need to make more engaging and successful sales calls. Conversation analytics give you the roadmap to do that. 
3. Helps improve your customer journey: The interactions offer actionable insights into the customer experience from both the customer and the salesperson's point of view. For example, you may learn about gaps in your messaging or missing steps in the sales journey. You may also learn which product details or benefits are most important to your customers. This is all critical information for both your sales and marketing teams. 
4. Allows your marketing and sales teams to evaluate the quality of leads: A conversation analytics tool can help you pinpoint the reasons for lost leads and address them as soon as possible, which can significantly reduce churn rate and turn customers' frustration into delight.
5. Understand your callers’ tone and emotional state: Conversation analytics pinpoints consumer behavior triggers like feelings, perceptions, and emotions by tagging specific phrases and keywords. This data helps you better understand your customers' points of view, leading to better customer interactions. 

How to Start with Conversation Analytics

Conversation analytics requires innovative software; in some cases, this may include artificial intelligence. 

Sales calls are recorded, analyzed, and tagged using speech recognition technology. The software identifies crucial keywords and phrases. Calldrip's sales coaching software uses embedded conversation analytics technology that records and analyzes each sales conversation, so the customized coaching tool is based on data. 

However, to fully optimize a conversation analytics strategy, you'll also need a champion responsible for leveraging the data and insights gleaned to maximize business results. While conversation analytics is conducive to personalized sales coaching, it is also a valuable marketing research tool that can help both the marketing and sales teams.  Your marketing team can use the information to attract more leads and improve lead qualification and evaluation. In contrast, your entire sales team can benefit from shared knowledge about what sales messages and tools work and what needs amending. 

If you've never collected and measured this kind of data before, use the first month or two to ensure that you understand how the data reflects your current marketing and sales process and set a baseline for KPIs. That will help you move forward confidently, knowing that the data you are collecting is relevant and actionable. 

Want to Learn More About Conversation Analytics?

While technology can be incredibly beneficial in business, it will never replace the salesperson/client relationship - after all, people buy from people. Human interaction matters. 82% of U.S. consumers say they want more of it in the future. 

Savvy sales managers leverage technology to enhance the customer experience. Calldrip's all-in-one Conversational Sales Enablement solution includes powerful conversation analytics software that includes call scorecards and built-in sales coaching tools. 

For more information, check out How to Build Coaching into Your Sales Process.