Gathering Data for Sales Intelligence

When it comes to closing deals and making sales, it’s best practice to make use of as much information as possible. Unfortunately, this is something that many businesses struggle with for one reason or another. More often than not, it’s down to them not having sufficient time or resources to gather a large amount of data. 

Even if the opposite was true, obtaining the most up-to-date information possible would certainly prove to be an uphill battle in most cases. Consequently, remaining one step ahead of competitors is something that can be difficult to achieve, particularly if your business fails to be price-competitive.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way, as the gathering of data and processing of information has become increasingly automated as the years have gone by. This is made possible thanks to the introduction of software which automatically gathers a large amount of data – removing the need for constant human intervention which usually takes up far too much time and resources.

In the following article, we’ll take a closer look at how gathering data for sales intelligence can help you to gain better insights into your customer base, make better business decisions, and achieve optimal pricing levels throughout the year.

What is sales intelligence?

As defined by Kompass, sales intelligence is when a business ‘uses big data to pick up on cues that will help you contact the right target at the right time’. When utilising this data, you stand a far better chance of developing a marketing and sales strategy that will resonate with your prospective customers, while increasing the efficiency of your sales over time.

Put simply, sales intelligence can be described as a way of allowing a business to gain a deeper understanding of several aspects of their sales process. This includes such things as which prospects they are selling to, how well their campaigns are performing and who they are reaching, among many other factors. 

The problem is that gaining access to this data was for many years an incredibly difficult task when performed manually. But in recent times, the introduction of sales intelligence tools has increasingly automated the process which means that it’s now far simpler to make use of valuable information that can help you to implement an effective sales strategy within your team.

With the global market for sales intelligence expected to grow to $3.4 billion by 2024, it’s clear that businesses are catching onto just how useful sales intelligence can be. With that in mind, a tool that can help you to gather high-quality data is a proxy – something that will be looked at in more detail in the next section.

Utilising proxies for sales intelligence

As most salespeople will agree, the process of discovering in-depth information regarding prospects is incredibly time-consuming. So, in an effort to simplify things and gain the attention of potential customers, it’s important to think outside of the box. The perfect way to do just that is by utilising a proxy – a tool which enables you to obtain the most up-to-date information possible quickly and easily.

Invaluable nowadays, proxy servers effectively unlock the key to real-time data which you can use to adjust your marketing & sales approaches accordingly. In doing so, this enables you to retain as much custom as possible and direct traffic to your website in an increasingly competitive e-commerce market.

The most valuable form of real-time information available nowadays is undoubtedly pricing. Having this information at your disposal enables you to keep tabs on the prices that your competitors are charging through a process known as price scraping. This is an effective way to stay as competitive as possible by adjusting your discounts, promos, and pricing strategy to fall in line with those of rival businesses.

Having this data to hand also usually pays dividends when it comes to gaining a competitive advantage. This is because thousands, if not millions of price changes occur each day, which is something that would be incredibly difficult to keep up with without the use of technology.

Thankfully, using a proxy helps to address this issue by providing you with the most up-to-date information possible in a safe and secure manner. It does just that by ensuring that any potentially malicious websites cannot harm your company devices, and you can perform research with increased privacy – competitors will only be able to see the IP address of the proxy server, as opposed to your usual one.

Choosing a proxy for sales intelligence

As you’ll probably already be aware, many industries in the e-commerce market have become increasingly dynamic and competitive in the recent years. This is the reason why many companies across the globe are choosing to use proxies in an effort to make better and more accurate business decisions.

However, what is important is to find a solution that will be the most useful and relevant for your business. You can do just that by analysing the different proxy options at your disposal, which includes the following:

• Web Scraper API

• Residential proxies

• Datacenter proxies

When it comes to achieving optimal sales intelligence, E-Commerce Scraper API (part of Web Scraper API) is often the most effective solution, as it acts as an automated tool which streamlines the process of gathering competitor information and is also the perfect way to adjust your pricing strategy quickly and easily. 

And if you would like to broaden your horizons even further and take a deep dive into the world of proxy providers, we invite you to check out a great proxy provider review site Proxyway which offers a ton of information. And we can’t help but mention that Oxylabs won Proxyway’s 2021 Proxy Service Awards as the best premium proxy provider!

Final thoughts

Overall, it would be appropriate to suggest that having a deep understanding of the topics and products that your customers are interested in is of paramount importance in the current day and age. This is highlighted by the fact that consumers are just one click away from choosing one of your competitors, so it’s important to move quickly nowadays.

Thankfully, gathering large amounts of useful, up-to-date information is now easier than ever – all thanks to proxies which can be used to your advantage in terms of sales intelligence. Along the way, you’ll be able to save your business plenty of time, effort, and resources, at the same as gaining an edge over your competitors.

If you would like to find out more about gathering sales intelligence, contact our sales team by clicking here!