4 Ways Finance Teams Can Fuel Sales with High Octane Data
Finance teams have enormous potential. Now, more than ever, the finance department exists at the center of every organization, and the CEO and business leaders look to finance for information and insight into how to run the business.
A highly crucial component of the finance leader’s success in managing these high stakes is a strong, data-inspired partnership with the credit team.
Credit and finance teams are uniquely positioned to utilize the data available to them to conduct predictive analyses to inform their decisions—which inevitably steer the direction of the organization as a whole. While their roles are becoming more complex, many finance and credit departments are growing leaner in response to increasing automation and global workflows. This puts finance teams in a bind to find ways to do more with less.
Finance and credit teams must find a way to work together to use the data available to them to empower sales and marketing to pursue the best opportunities for the business as well as avoid bad credit decisions. Our eBook, “Fueling the Revenue Engine,” delivers four strategies that finance teams should follow to fuel sales teams with high-octane data:
1. How to Go from Risk-Averse to Growth-Minded
As organizations are starting to look to finance leaders to drive revenue, they’re beginning to look at their customer data in a whole new light. When finance and sales teams collaborate on a customer data strategy, they can each combine their unique knowledge and insight to help the other succeed.
Before finance teams can shift toward more efficient and transparent processes, they’ll need to put new systems in place to support their team through this change. We recommend a 4-pronged approach:
- Analyze customer data to identify growth opportunities
- Segment data to show which customers pose good or bad risk
- Leverage automation to do more with smaller teams
- Make cross-functional collaboration a priority
2. Overcoming Data Bottlenecks to Spur Collaboration
Finance and credit departments have access to a wealth of information that sales professionals need to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. We provide four ways to make sure that data is flowing freely and is transparent across the organization to enable sales teams.
When sales teams have access to pre-approved credit lines, for example, they’re more empowered to drive new revenue. When they have access to data that shows them which companies and industries will drive the most strategic growth for the business, they’re more empowered to pursue the best deals and partnerships.
3. Implementing Data & Technology to Optimize Lean Teams
Finance teams need to rethink processes and invest in technology to increase efficiency. By replacing manual processes with automation, they can free up more of their team’s time and energy.
With data analytics and automation, for example, finance leaders can provide their teams with the flexibility they need to pursue strategic goals. Additionally, by increasing data transparency and collaborative efforts, finance organizations can contribute value even more meaningfully across the organization.
4. Using Customer Portfolio Segmentation to Drive Growth
When it comes to customer data, finance teams have arguably more insight than any other group within an organization. With this data, finance teams can develop a rich database of business insights and use customer portfolio segmentation to drive intelligent growth for the company.
For instance, if you choose to segment customers using their full credit limits, also look at the likelihood that they’ll stay in business. Then you can add things like their score for propensity to buy and customer satisfaction to gain insight into how your company can benefit from doing business with them in the long-term. When analyzing customers, make sure to first establish which metrics will best help your organization make the most informed decisions.
Partner with Marketing to Accelerate Revenue Growth
If a traditional enterprise growth journey were like a road trip, we might have found finance in the garage crunching numbers and checking the oil, while marketing drove the car to new, exciting places.
In order to accelerate revenue growth, the finance department also needs to be comfortable exchanging roles in the driver’s seat with marketing. The key to this collaboration is a relentless focus on customer data management. Check out the infographic to learn more.
4 Key Data Strategies for Fueling Revenue Growth
Unified Mission—It’s important to align on the right metrics and goals as a business prior to undergoing any efforts to become more data-inspired.
Segmentation—Customer segmentation might be the ultimate ticket to unifying marketing’s growth goals with finance’s desire for profitable ROI.
Structure—Having the right structure underlying your customer data can contribute to a firm foundation of flexible analytics and insights across the board.
Integration—Integrated analytics can help finance and marketing drive profitability as well as top-line revenue growth.
Download the eBook, Fueling the Revenue Engine, to read expert insights, case studies, and analysis on how finance and credit teams can partner to fuel revenue growth strategies within their organizations, despite economic uncertainty and growing complexity.