Back on Valentine’s Day, Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers reported for spring training, which got me thinking. I’m a huge baseball fan, and always make time to go to at least a few Brewers games each season, while I listen to and watch hundreds more. I’m excited about the possibility for Andrew Susac, who came over to Milwaukee from the San Francisco Giants last year, to win the starting catcher’s role.
Imagine what it’s like to be given your shot to make a major-league roster. Everything you do is being watched closely by your fellow players, coaches, and management. The choices you make daily are a risk, and knowing what to do in each situation is critical – what pitch to recommend, whether to try to throw out a base stealer, picking up on opposing hitters’ tendencies. It takes a lot of preparation and work.
Just like professional baseball players, modern sales teams are under huge pressure to perform. Producing on deadline, hunting for new leads, presenting, making cold calls and sending emails. Figuring out the best use of their time on any given day can be a real challenge. Without the right intelligence, this can boil down to guesswork. They need more and better information on leads and prospects, and they expect Marketing to supply it. But what’s the best way to gather this kind of detail in a timely fashion, and make it accurate enough to be actionable? The tools you use today won’t cut it.
Continue reading The Automation Advantage: Do You Know Who’s Visiting Your Website?
