The Winning With Data Book Report

Joseph Williams

Sales Force Management

Dr. Ricks

Winning with Data

Tuesday, October 3rd

The book Winning With Data, by Tomasz Tunguz, suggests that data is the key to creating a lasting and powerful competitive advantage in the business world. Tunguz starts by explaining how data has traditionally been used throughout history. Companies have typically used data to “look into the rear view mirror.” They used it to analyze past decisions, but have failed to use it to inform and guide their future actions. He argues that this is a mistake and suggests that the companies that are exhibiting extraordinary growth and profits are the companies that have created a truly data driven culture, allowing them to speed past the competition and become industry leaders. He offers a number of examples of companies who have “won with data.” Companies such as Google, Uber, Warby Parker, and The RealReal, are just some examples that Tunguz provides to propel his point forward and to teach the reader how to use data to motivate organizations and to drive results. He uses specific companies to explain to the reader the importance of concepts such as diminishing the “data breadline,” operationalizing data, brutal intellectual honesty, having data that is valid and actionable, and much more. By the end of the book the reader leaves with an understanding of the importance of data, and that when used correctly, it is a tool that companies can utilize to smash competition, increase profitability, and create strong company cultures.

In this day and age, information is everywhere. Vast amounts of data can be found at the click of a mouse, but just because data is available doesn’t mean that it is easily interpreted, correct, or useful. The right data needs to be interpreted and made available to those who need to access it. In order to create a data driven culture it is imperative that companies use data to support their business functions and make that data easily interpreted and accessible to everyone within the organization. When used correctly, organizations can create a data driven culture that thrives off of the power of information. In order to create a data driven culture in my sales force I would create a business defining equation, eliminate the data breadline by providing consistent, timely, and easy to interpret data, and I would encourage data driven action by operationalizing data to provide relevant and valid feedback.

Having a business equation is a great tool for organizations to use to help their members focus on activities that will improve organizational goals. Tunguz explains that when he worked for Google on the AdSense team one of his supervisors asked that they create a business equation. Every time a new project was discussed, Tunguz and his team members were asked to discuss where in the equation this new project fit. Would it impact revenue positively? Does the project create a significant enough change to make it worthwhile? Is it in line with the activities that we feel are important as an organization/department? By creating this equation, Tunguz and the AdSense team were able to better understand their priorities, and in turn estimate and project the impact that their actions would have based on the data that they plugged into the equation. Having this equation would be a powerful tool for a sales force as well. As discussed in chapter 5 of the textbook, it is important that sales people understand how their quotas are derived. Making an equation that shows what ingredients are used when creating sales quotas is how I would integrate this idea into my sales force. By making this equation a focal point, it would help my salespeople to understand how their sales quotas were created and it would allow them to prioritize their work in order to meet or exceed their quota. Sales people would easily be able understand why their quotas were set the way they were, and it would empower them to target organizational priorities. Sales people would be able to plug in numbers from data provided to them and see how those numbers affect sales, giving them the power to draw accurate and powerful conclusions without the need of an analyst.

In addition to creating a business equation, it is important for organizational members to have access to data that can easily be interpreted and that is uniform across all platforms. As Tunguz discussed in Winning With Data, often times organizational members are forced to make uninformed decisions based off of a guess or hunch. Members do this because of a “data breadline.” As Tunguz explains, data breadlines are created when only certain people in the organization are able to access and interpret data, typically the data annalists. Organizational members who want accesses to data are then forced to “line up” and wait for an available analyst to provide them with the information they need. When there are too many people in line and not enough analysts available to provide information, a “breadline” forms. Eventually organizational members get tired of waiting in line, and decide to find their own data or answer their own questions based off of intuition or instinct, leading to misinformed decisions. In order to mitigate this problem, in my sales force I would operationalize my data as Tunguz suggests. I would ensure that there was a centralized database that housed all of the data and was readily accessible to every sales person. The complicated computations would be done by the analysis, and then would be put into the system in a way that was easy to understand and interpret for all other organizational members. By giving my sales force the power of information, they would be able to make informed decisions about how they should proceed. For example, say my company used the Sales Force Composite technique for forecasting as discussed in Chapter 5. When asked to forecast their sales for the coming period, instead of just guessing based off how much they sold last period, they would have access to the database, which would allow them to consider other aspects and make a more accurate forecast. Members could then use this data in conjunction with the business equation to create a more accurate forecast. Because they would have immediate access to the information, nobody would have to wait around for answers or guess when those answers were not provided. This would result in the sales force feeling empowered and in control of their success, because they were provided the information they needed to make a sound decision. Later on when it is time for upper management to decide on final sales quotas, they will be able to make better decisions because a well-informed sales force provided them with estimations based on accurate and easily accessible data.

Having a business equation and easily accessible data is incredibly important, but without feedback, organizations may miss out on an opportunity to adapt in order to improve and grow. Feedback is vital to helping an organization change and adapt in real time in order to meet the needs of its environment. Tunguz gives a great example of this when he describes Warby Parker, an Internet based eyeglasses company. Warby parker set itself apart from the competition by being different. They operated totally online, created the home try on system for glasses, and used data to drive their business. Eventually they opened 13 stores, allowing customers to come try on glasses in house. After customers visited their store, they sent out customer satisfaction surveys. Once customers submitted the surveys, their responses were put into the Warby Parker database and relayed back to store managers. One store manager received the suggestion that hand sanitizer should be placed around the store to reduce germs. Because of this feedback, that particular manager was able to place sanitizer around the store the next day, solving the problem and improving customer satisfaction. By getting useful feedback in a timely manner, people in all levels of organizations are able to alter their business practices in order to reach full potential. In a sales force setting, operationalizing data in order to allow useful and timely feedback is crucial to improving and adapting to meet customer needs. For my sales force I would use customer surveys as well, to gauge customer satisfaction. As soon as surveys were completed they would be aggregated into the database and the results would be sent to the sales managers. From there, sales managers would be able to see what needed improvement. Maybe customers fell that sales people were ill prepared, or maybe a particular sales person did not look professional when he or she met with a client. As soon as the manager received this information, he would be able to address the problem and hopefully restore satisfaction and improve future customer relations. Having data quickly and efficiently available to the right people would allow my sales force to adapt their operations in real time in order to meet the needs of our customers.

In the book Winning with Data, Tomasz Tunguz opens the readers eyes to the opportunities that data can provide to businesses. He makes it clear that uniform, timely, accurate, and accessible data is the key to creating a lasting competitive advantage. He gives examples of companies that have won by creating a data driven culture and allows for the reader to understand how these examples can be applied to their own business problems. His ideas can be applied to the sales force setting as well. By creating a business equation, implementing practices and procedures that eliminate data breadlines, and encouraging data driven action through feedback, sales forces too can jump ahead of the competition and “win with data.”

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