10 Recession-Proof Ways to Improve EBITDA: How to Improve Your Sales Win Rates

# Revenue

# Sales Strategy

# Value Creation

# Data

# Technology

# Analytics

Actionable Strategies to Close More Deals and Boost Your Bottom Line

Heather Holst-Knudsen

Improving the likelihood of deals closing is critical to getting more output from your sales team(s). Doing it effectively is one part process and one part technology…and data is at the center of both.

By fine-tuning your approach and tailoring your communications for each prospect, you can effectively boost your deal conversion rates to grow your revenue.

Most importantly, put predictive and prescriptive data analytics powered by AI and machine-learning into the hands of all your revenue-critical employees so you can identify deal risk and opportunities in time to make an impact. According to our study of over 100 CEOs, CROs and other executives, 8 in 10 companies are not effectively using predictive analytics to mitigate risks with pipeline traction and velocity. 34% of companies are not doing it at all. Ironically, data is one of the biggest assets of all companies who participated in this study: digital information, media and events organizations, in addition to marketing service providers.

If your competitors are using these methods and you’re not, your company is at a disadvantage. The tools exist to make it happen.

Here are some other important considerations to close more deals:

Tip #1: Adopt conversational intelligence tools to understand customer intent and interests at different stages of the sales process. Connect to predictive analytics and dashboards to identify opportunity and risk.

‍ Tip #2: Dissect objections from prospects, and ensure they are well documented for each account in your CRM. Standardize and carefully manage objection responses, with solid training for your team. Using your data platform, when objections are identified, immediately deal-storm with revenue-critical members of the team to craft the next step of the deal plan. Put metrics in place to measure impact on that deal.

‍ Tip #3: Closely examine wins and losses, and debrief with your sales teams and take action on what’s working and what’s not. Using predictive analytics, create algorithms that identify the potential loss ahead of time to help mitigate and turn into a win.

Tip #4: Personalize communications to each account and, when efficient, every stakeholder. In partnership with marketing and using a unified view of the customer, develop a continuous improvement strategy where prospect and customer communication is constantly tailored using what’s working and getting rid of what’s not.

Want to jumpstart your revenue?

Our Revenue Acceleration solutions will help you extract more value from current operations while planning for the future. We’ll help you get set up to use predictive and prescriptive analytics to identify deal risk before it happens, with our platform, Insightify. We deliver a rapid time to value, with quick wins and a continuous cycle of improvement – a Flywheel effect.

‍Look out for other topics we are covering in this series.

Reducing Customer Churn

Improving Pricing Power

Managing Discounting and Value-Add

Increasing Expansion and Cross-Sell

Identifying and Eliminating Revenue Leakage

Tightening up Sales Cycles

Aligning Revenue Critical Teams

Developing Leading KPIs for Growth

Using Predictive Analytics to Control the Business

Each topic should be part of your operating plan and will have short and long-term benefits — as long as the words "sustainable and scalable growth" are embedded into the discussion.

About the Author

Heather Holst-Knudsen is a distinguished figure and expert in the events, media, marketing and technology sectors. Using her extensive experience, she guides clients in adapting to structural economic and market changes, seizing the chance to innovate and evolve. She specializes in digital and data disruption and opportunity, exploring how these overarching factors can impact revenue growth, customer-centricity, operational efficiency, profit margins, and the overall valuation of companies in both public and private markets.

Her journey began at her family business, Thomas Publishing Company, where she honed her skills. She further expanded her expertise by holding positions at early industry giants Miller Freeman, Reed Elsevier, and IDG. Returning to Thomas Publishing, Heather founded and spearheaded Manufacturing Enterprise Communications, an integrated media portfolio connecting buyers and sellers in the manufacturing and technology sectors. Starting in 2015 and spanning the next seven years, she leveraged her expertise as a revenue and business leader in various SaaS businesses, including Feathr, Gleanin, Brella and Edflex.

Heather is deeply passionate about digital innovation, data monetization, and AI and how these strategies fuel revenue growth, profitability, and company valuation. To serve and create value for clients in these areas, she launched H2K Labs, dedicated to generating and leveraging value through data for media, business information, events, and adjacent technology and service markets.

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