As more organizations move online and take to the cloud, they are introduced to a variety of consumer outlets that grant them a higher level of interaction and insight into the minds of their clients than ever before. Making the best use of these resources, however, may not be intuitive when it comes to marketing and lead generation. Businesses need to take the time to provide targeted sales coaching to ensure that personnel know how to handle social media opportunities correctly.

One of the biggest boosts to sales performance management is the ability to quickly and easily get a read on how well sales initiatives are going. This applies primarily to advertising campaigns and online content generation meant to draw interest to a brand, but it can also help track the response to client reviews and internal changes as the clientele sees them. As The Press Enterprise wrote, this can be done through social media metrics.

Focusing on the numbers
By tracking the changes in community activity, such as likes on a company's account or the number of viewers to corporate video communication, businesses can tell when their messages are strongest and begin to create a picture of the elements that give them the best response. This is an ideal scenario for driving better leads, creating word of mouth and providing sales associates with better opportunities to generate more revenue. As the source pointed out, people who are interested enough to click a 'like' button or subscribe to a feed are obviously already somewhat invested in what an organization sells or stands for. Sales coaching should encourage and instruct personnel on how to take the next step.

As the ways in which people can use social media continue to expand, so too can companies track more of these metrics. The depth of data consumers unknowingly generate for free on a daily basis creates a wellspring of vital corporate insight that organizations have long sought. These outlets include activity, interest and shopping statistics, as well as direct input as to what they want to buy and how they spend.

Making the best use of all these tools requires advanced sales performance management software and process monitoring. It also demands more thorough sales coaching to familiarize staff members with the kinds of resources they can now access and the best ways to make use of them. By tapping into the various rich channels of consumer data, be it public or corporate client-facing, organizations can give their sales professionals a substantial feedback and strategizing asset that can put them ahead of the competition.