Tweet

Tracking & Diagnosing Sales Performance

Written by: Peter Rowe

Article Overview: One of my clients was recently wrestling with a common business challenge - a contracted professional salesperson who was not delivering results. She was uncertain about the correctness of insisting on a report of his activities because her initial request had been met with, "I don't have time for that. I'm busy getting out there seeing people. What do you want: Sales or reports?" Like most "half truths" this one caused her some angst: She did want sales; activities were not what she was paying for - but the arrangement wasn't working, and she could not see why.

Tracking & Diagnosing Sales Performance



Results vs Activity

One of my clients was recently wrestling with a common business challenge - a contracted professional salesperson who was not delivering results. She was uncertain about the correctness of insisting on a report of his activities because her initial request had been met with, "I don't have time for that. I'm busy getting out there seeing people. What do you want: Sales or reports?"

Like most "half truths" this one caused her some angst: She did want sales; activities were not what she was paying for - but the arrangement wasn't working, and she could not see why.

The answer is simple once you think it through: As a business manager, you pay people to produce results, and that's exactly where the focus of both parties should be - in this case, on sales. The only time that "activity" becomes relevant is when you are faced with a lack of results, and need to diagnose the source of the problem, with a view to correcting it.

There is little point in tracking a person's activities if their results are in the upper range of what you expect, pay for or believe possible (unless, of course, you want to learn what they are doing right so that you can keep improving, copy or systematise their process).

But, if results are below par, then you need to be tracking activities in order to be able to diagnose the point in the sales process at which things are going off track. Otherwise you are faced with the diagnosis of, "Sales aren't working" which means that the problem is somewhere in the process, but God only knows where, and that correction is going to be haphazard or time consuming or both!

Diagnosing Sales Performance

If sales (results) are below budget, you need the basic numbers on all of their activities in order to be able to identify the source of the problem as, for example:

• Too few prospects (laziness or lack of information on how to do this)
• Too low a conversion of prospects to presentations (look at the presentation process):
• If they don't have a systematic process then it's obvious they have not optimised this and you have found a likely candidate for repair.
• If they have one, ask them to role-play this to you to identify points at which they are failing, then put in specific correction
• Too few proposals/quotations submitted (lack of time/task management systems)
• Too few proposals accepted ie sales. (Check the proposal process, content, delivery, etc).

If you don't have at least these details of activity, you don't have the information you need to identify the points at which to correct an unsatisfactory outcome.

If you have a satisfactory outcome, you don't need to track the activity if it makes another "job" and particularly if it gets in the way of productivity (ie producing MORE results).

It might be an idea, here, to give a moment's thought to any unsatisfactory performance points in your own business, and to think about how you could apply measures of activity to begin the correction process.

How About Your Time?

A similar rule applies to our individual management of our time (those who use our Time Management System will know exactly what I mean here). You don't have to track 100% of your time - unless you are looking for a better experience of your day, in which case tracking it all is just part of the diagnostic step.

Once you have worked out where the time goes - and if you're satisfied with your use of it - then you can relax the process to track just the bits you want.

But, if it stops working, and you start to feel stressed or dissatisfied with your productivity at any time, then go back to tracking it all again, tracing what you do, understanding that, adjusting anything you are unhappy with, and only then go back to tracking only the stuff you want.

©2003-2007 ProfiTune Business Systems Pty Ltd. Feel free to use our library articles but only in their entirety, with links intact.

Related Articles
  Performance Metrics
  Tracking Software - Small Business Owner Financing Tool
  Activity/Activity/Activity
  Tracking Autoresponder Responses
  Feeling Beautifully Connected in My Isolation

Article Tags: business, business challenge, initial request, productivity, professional salesperson, results, sales, sales performance, salesperson



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
ARTICLE: Performance coaching in the workplace - To create lasting performance change it is necessary to first understand the positive and negative influence that a person’s personal behaviors has on their execution and what impact these have on their ability to achieve success. Only when we fully understand a person’s behavioral patterns and create positive self-managing coaching strategies can we assist a person to create lasting performance change. The vast majority of employers believe coaching can deliver significant benefits to both individuals and organizations. The majority of employers plan to increase the use of coaching over the next few years, according to a new survey by the Institute of Personnel and Development. Nearly nine out of ten interviewed companies expect their managers and supervisors to deliver performance coaching as part of their day-to-day work. In another large industry-wide study it was found that most managers reported that they were confident in their ability to coach. However, the study also showed that the managers’ actual skills levels as coaches were typically poor. As a consequence they were not nearly as effective in their coaching as they believe themselves to be. Often times, they believed that coaching consisted of just providing 1-to-1 instructional feedback to their staff members on what to do in a given situation to perform better. Many recent studies have shown that technical skills only represent at best 20% of the contribution into our performance. The remaining 80% comes from our ability to choose or make a decision, assertiveness, commitment to grow, ability to concentrate, honesty, optimism, persistence, ability to perform well under stress and so on. These traits are commonly called our soft skills or attitude. Few managers understand just how deeply rooted their own behavior patterns are, let alone how to positively change them in other people. Performance coaching is frequently confused with other types of coaching, such as Executive coaching and Life coaching. Performance coaching is a form of Directive coaching. Executive coaching and Life coaching are both forms of Non-directive coaching. Directive coaching is usually more suitable for a manager who sometimes acts as a coach. Performance coaching in the workplace has developed immensely from what it was only 4 years ago. To choose the right coach will make a huge difference. You also better make sure to know what you want. If your coach knows what (s)he is doing – you will get on your way to get it! [i:38tu5pgr]- Peter J Karlsson[/i:38tu5pgr]
Re: From $0.30 to $300 / Day on Google AdSense Part 1 - How To M - HI Evan, Look forward to hearing more. I like the point that you brought out with "testing." Google has some amazing tools that can help website owners track everything. From Google Adsense reporting to Google Analytic to Google Conversion and most recently Google Goal Tracking. Between all of those tools a website owner should know exactly what type of traffic is converting & making them money and what type of traffic is not. I even use Google PPC to estimate organic search engine traffic! Website owners would do well to follow your lead and create a base, and then test off that base in regards to advertising. Jeff
Hello From Marietta GA! - Hello All! My name is Tim Naylor and I am in Direct Sales! I am glad I have found EC's sites and I hope to learn and share a lot!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How to Handle the “I Am Not Interested” Objection

Good News Travels Fast

Are You Fulfilled

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.