There is a term in manufacturing called disintermediation, or a reduction in the use of intermediaries between producers and consumers. There is a constant push to improve the supply chain to be better, faster, and cheaper. If sales people want to keep their position between the producer and the consumer then they have to provide an immense amount of value on the 33% of the buying process not done online. It has already taken shape in the form of outside sales moving inside. InsideSales.com,conducted research revealing that inside sales is growing 300 percent faster than outside sales, with 42,400 non-retail inside sales jobs being created per year.

New sellers step into this headwind every day. The buyers have more industry knowledge and the web gives more credible information. The market moves just too fast without some sort of competitive edge. As a result, CSOInsights reports that sales leadership turns over every 2 years on average and it is little wonder.

However, there is one piece of information that is readily available, withstands sales and sales leadership turnover, and not in the public domain – your wins. Of course there is a customer page on your website but those are few are far between. The data that is most important and impacts the 33% of the buying process that is sales-facing is buried in your closed / won opportunities inside of your CRM.

There is a wealth of competitive, product, industry, and buyer information on almost every opportunity. How many times do we see congratulatory e-mails after a big deal is closed just loaded with details on how it was done? If that information is harnessed, curated, and disseminated to the salesperson during the sales process – then you are providing something that is unique.  And in sales, if it is unique and important to the buyer, then its a competitive edge.