How to Improve Sales Performance

Sales performance – everyone looks at it, everyone has a view on it, and everyone wants the upwards swing! 

But, in reality, sales performance can be just like April weather in the UK.

You know what you’d like, and what seems reasonable, but that doesn’t mean t you won’t get all 4 seasons in one afternoon!

So to compensate for the unexpected thunderstorm, it makes sense to be extra vigilant around the elements you can control…especially when it comes to sales performance management and sales forecasting

After all….

When the outputs can’t be guaranteed, it makes sense to take extra care with the inputs

Whilst you can’t always completely avoid the sales dips, it makes sense to:

• Prepare for them just in case
• Know when they are heading your way
• Leave enough time between spotting them coming and having them land, to do something about it

What Does ‘Sales Performance’ Mean?

I know, how long is a piece of string!

You, just like my clients, will typically think about sales performance in terms of critical success metrics around the sales function and how they compare against your ideal model or forecast: typically, looking at outputs like:

• Revenue
• Number of customers
• Average spend per customer
• Cost of customer acquisition
• Conversion rates
• Live time value
• Churn / duration
• Repeat buys
• Referrals
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)

And variations of the above based on sales rep, sales region and product/service line, depending on how granular you need to get.

These sort of markers are time served, good indicators of performance and all easy to measure.

And all easily feeding factual conversations around growth, targets and stretch targets, and stability, predictability, scale, and general organisational health.

You might even have people makers – turnover, head count, engagement scores, commission claims (!), days sick…again, all good indicators of the general health, vitality and validity of the function – if you’re looking at this area specifically then check out 50 Areas of Improvement for Sales Reps

Measure the Right Numbers at the Right Time

So, in the round, that’s a lot of sales markers to measure ‘Sales Performance’…but, the biggest challenges I see is not with WHAT is being measured – but with WHEN it’s being measured, and the FREQUENCY of those measurements..

Sales performance should NOT be measured after the game has stopped playing.

Sales results are LAGGING FACTORS – you can’t change the score after the month end.

This is where most under-performing sales functions get it so wrong – they forget they can change the outcomes if the measure the right things at the right times.

Proactive Sales Performance | Changing the Results While the Game is Still Being Played!

Proactive sales performance focuses on looking at the leading critical success factors with the sales function.

I label this as

Things I can control and change while the game is still being played

I look at all the moving parts that happen up until the point that an order gets signed,

I split the list into three:

• Elements I have direct control – messaging, outbound activity, pipeline management, deal focus, pricing, pitching, sales skills, quantity of sales people, quality of interactions, sales coaching, engagement, pipeline volume – I can change these on a daily / hourly basis.
• Things I have tangential control – inbound leads, marketing strategy, marketing messaging – I can change these but I need to have conversations, gain agreement, maybe drum up a campaign, get some collateral. So it’s not that I have little control over these, it’s more that I have to factor in ‘time’ so control is lost to the time it take to make changes.
• Out of our hands – competitor strategy, market trends, political shenanigans, economy – basically the equivalent of something nasty drifting across the land – you take cover!

Your Very Own Sales Crystal Ball

FACT: the more control you have over the first grouping the less you need to worry about anything else. That’s your first gateway to risk mitigation.

Being able to measure, monitor and manage all the elements and metrics you can control means you can make changes in the moment you realise the ‘trend’ is off.

If sales performance dashboards and balances score cards are something you struggle with – let me know and I can help. These really are a game changer if you want to squeeze the best out of every sales day.

With the right performance metrics, looking at leading sales indicators, you can predict what’s going to happen days and weeks out.

This is such a gift.

Simply by reading the outputs and knowing the correlations….and reacting to it!

Sales Improvement Becomes Continuous Sales Improvement.

Which means sales growth is now hard baked into your sales culture, your sales DNA

There are 135 sales levers to help you do this! We cover them in our sales audits, it’s sales performance 101 when we look at the Morton Kyle Sales Audit.

In our Sales Audits we build sales dashboards to act as your crystal ball in terms of forecasting sales and dealing with factors that are likely to impact sales performance….before they cause you to derail and fall behind

So you have maximum control and insight to make the changes you need, when you need to make them!

Also, an audit is really good for sorting out a rubbish sales CRM / pipeline and converting it into a cash machine!

Managing Poor Sales Performance – Made Simple!

You know when you get in your car and you are comfortable, confident and competently able to move forward, because

• You’ve done this a million times before
• You have faith in your ability
• The car will do whatever you tell it to do…

Then I’m hear to give you the same sense of purpose and assurance when you’re working with your sales function…

So, here are a few suggestions you might also want to think about…

Number 1 – let the sales team do what they are good at.

Let the sales team do what you recruited them to do, and what they excel at.

If you want your sales rep to close deals, don’t have them do too much cold calling to book their own appointments as their core role.

Keep the main thing the main thing!

You wouldn’t expect a top level chef to wash the kitchen down at the end of the night, or have a major fashion designer order stationery…it’s not playing to their strengths and the truth is they’d be the most expensive cleaner and office junior imaginable.

It doesn’t happen.

Yet, it happens so frequently in sales teams – no-one is brilliant at everything! Keep the main skill set the main focus and power up in other areas.

Likewise – don’t have new sales reps also account manage the accounts they bring on!

It’s two totally different skill sets, reps rarely enjoy doing both CRITICAL tasks, so sooner rather than later you’ll find the rep has reverted to doing the job they love the most and the other function’s been left out in the cold. That’s a known risk and easily avoidable in proactive sales performance management.

PLUS – this is a classic case of why sales teams see such things as Peaks and Troughs in sales performance! It’s a killer with a fix – so take the medicine.

A slick sales operation has sales people selling 100% of the time.

Sales people don’t manage accounts – that’s for account managers.

Sales people don’t handle customer complaints – that’s for customer service

You get it so….I won’t go on

Number 2 – isolate every function in your sales pipeline if you want real sales performance clarity.

Who’s generating the leads?

Then, who’s contacting the customer to sell?

And, who’s managing the existing customer accounts?

Know this – Sales in a production line!

Sales teams have the responsibility for moving a prospect from cold to sold.

Sales is a supply chain.

The task of the sales team is to move a lead from marketing to finance (invoice) and operations (for delivery) .

Sales functions will work better when you keep this analogy, and view the sales function as part of something and not the start of something!

Think about the car manufacture production line – if the same guy that bolts the chassis is also running to the end of the line to polish the car before dispatch – well, guess how many cars get made and finished that day?

NONE!

It’s the same with your sales production line – when everybody does everything – nothing gets done! Or if it does, it gets done more slowly than it should, which means it’s also more costly.

Even worse – if you do have sales performance issues…it’s a much easier fix for you if every ‘task’ is separate, has metrics and is measured frequently.

Being able to quickly identify where the block in the sales pipeline is will help you avoid hitting a blocker, in the first place, and quickly fixing it once you’ve spotted it.

You wouldn’t use a hammer to screw in a nail, although you could get to the same result by banging it on the head hard enough – but do you really want to to be that kind of sales leader?

Having true clear transparency around every functional element in the sales production line with real time KPI’s and sales metrics can see your sales rocket.

And this doesn’t take months to set up, you can have your first draft dashboards back in less than 14 days using our Sales Insights Audits

It’s the fastest way to get your sales engine roaring.

Number 3 – monitor and manage your sales metrics religiously.

KPI’s at each of the gates in your sales process – keeping the production line in mind – will let you see where you’re wasting resources – that might be time, orders, leads, conversions or profits….or maybe all of these

Keeping a close eye on your key metrics is vital if you’re driving for optimum sales performance.

Sharing accountability with your sales function for watching their sales metrics and amending behaviours and actions accordingly is a brilliant way to build personal accountability, proactive sales performance management AND build team engagement

Sales is very scientific in that you can have a process of Continuous Sales Improvement – hour by hour, day by day, week by week…then all of a sudden you’ve had your best quarter yet because you’d isolated and monitored the critical friction points.

And, even better, it doesn’t all sit on the leader’s shoulders.

Sales Performance – Quick Summary

– Make sure your sales guys do what only your sales guys can do! Multitasking will kill your productivity and chances of success in a heart beat, because your sales people will never be your best administrators!

– Have a very transparent sales function process with key metrics at each stage because that’s the fastest way to see where your sales leakage is taking place.

– Never forget what the aim is – proactive sales performance management – to get the best sales results every single day – defined by stability, predictability, scale-ability and minimal risk – all whilst the month is still in play

And Finally:

– Know your numbers at each of the gates in the sales process because that way, if the sales results aren’t what you expect you can IMMEDIATELY see where the leak is…and that usually means a speedy fix first time.

If you’re looking for greater clarity around why you’re getting the sales results you are and what you can do to improve them then call/text to book a call to discuss what sales performance means in your team.  let’s see what your sales team are really capable of with proactive, accountable and engaged sales performance management – Carol – 0779 002 1885