NEW DATA GROWS GROWTH

A seed supplier gave a newly created data set to an ad agency engaged to develop growth strategies. The data contained three years of multi-channel sales history they expected to give new insights about their customers and market sales performance.

Situation:

A seed supplier gave a newly created data set to an ad agency engaged to develop growth strategies. The data contained three years of multi-channel sales history they expected to give new insights about their customers and market sales performance. However, neither company had analysis expertise immediately available to deliver two main objectives:

  • Turn the raw data into growth-driving strategic insights.

  • Create a new approach to set and manage sales goals.

Insights:

The database of sales to distributors and end-user customers could help the company understand purchase behaviors across channels and sales territories and provide new information to guide sales management and product development. Project priorities included:

  • Assess the overall data quality.

  • Develop an approach to segment and quantify distributor behaviors.

  • Develop county-level market share analysis.

  • Design sales representative-friendly reporting capability.

Outcomes:

After four months, the company received a new sales planning and management tool to increase sales, better understand customers and improve data quality to support ongoing analysis.

  • Sales opportunity analysis and customer behavior maps presented in Tableau supported flexible reporting and analysis.

  • Distributor partners were profiled for growth planning based on quantitative and qualitative analysis.

  • The data set was “cleansed” after significant inconsistencies were identified.