Conversation intelligence software has quickly progressed from “nice to have” to an essential piece of the sales tech stack. Most teams who have tried conversation intelligence quickly understand how it enables sales reps to spend more time selling and helps them close deals faster.
But for sales teams that haven’t experienced conversation intelligence firsthand, it can be hard to understand why so many reps consider it crucial.
If you’re just starting out with conversation intelligence, or trying to figure out what all the fuss is about, we’ve collected four ways that conversation intelligence software can speed up the velocity of your deals.
What is Conversation Intelligence Software?
Conversation intelligence software records, transcribes, and analyzes the content of sales calls, virtual meetings, and video conferences.
After a call or video meeting is done, conversation intelligence software can analyze the substance of the meeting and surface key insights for colleagues to share — the kind of intelligence that previously required human note-taking and memo-writing.
A prime example is Chorus, the best-in-class conversation intelligence software tool offered by ZoomInfo.
4 Ways Conversation Intelligence Software Helps Close Deals
1. Reduce the Onboarding Slog
Onboarding can be a major drag. Sales reps arrive at a new company and immediately want to start selling, but it can often take them weeks to hit their stride. Including conversation intelligence software in a sales team’s onboarding process can expedite the time it takes to gain institutional knowledge and start closing deals.
By having reps review “best practice” playlists on a variety of topics, sales leaders can have confidence that their team is starting off on the right foot. And when the team adds calls to onboarding playlists, they are more likely to analyze their own calls for potential improvements.
2. Embrace Team Selling
Sales teams that tackle deals collectively see a lot more success than reps who go it alone. In fact, team selling can more than triple the likelihood of winning a deal. In the past, however, team selling has presented challenges. First, how do you keep everyone on the same page across dozens of meetings, emails, calls, and messages?
Conversation intelligence software transforms team selling by creating a trustworthy record of every touchpoint within a deal. That means reps can easily include team members and subject matter experts without having to get them up to speed through soul-sucking status meetings. And most importantly, the prospect can avoid feeling like they are starting over every time a new person joins the deal.
3. Easily Identify Deal Risks
Every rep knows to listen closely when a prospect mentions topics like pricing or competitors. But it can be difficult, if not impossible, to remember all the additional context and nuance of every sales call. For example, it can actually be good if a prospect mentions a competitor in an early stage meeting. In fact, our research found that five to six mentions of a competitor actually correlates with a higher win rate than only three mentions.
Conversation intelligence software frees reps from tallying every time a competitor appears in a call — they can maintain focus on the prospect and review the call afterward. This creates a better experience for the prospect and a better understanding of what the rep needs to do to keep the deal moving forward.
4. Level Up Your Skills
A dynamic sales coaching program can improve win rates by nearly 28%. Unfortunately, it can be tough to make coaching a priority. With conversation intelligence, coaching opportunities no longer require leaders to sit in on calls. Proactive reps can use conversation intelligence software to tag specific moments for which they’d like feedback, or compare their objection handling approach to the top performers on their team.
Reps can also watch for other important signals, including:
- Is the rep speaking too much on a call?
- Are they overusing filler words?
- Are they spending too much time on slides and not enough time on demo?
- Did they establish actionable next steps at the end of the call?
Dig Deeper into Conversation Intelligence Insights
Ready to dig deeper into the insights that conversation intelligence can deliver to your sales team? Check out our State of Conversation Intelligence report to find out more about the power of data insights for your sales team’s calls, meetings, and more.