Managing Sales Activity for Success
Managing Sales Activity for Success
Too often in sales, the only feedback given to salespeople ties to their results. Certainly, results are important, and they are ultimately the measurement of achievement. Unfortunately, results are not something that can be managed. Results are history – they have already happened. Activity is what is happening, or what is about to happen. Clearly, then, activity becomes the manageable part of the sales force.
In most industries, sales activity can be broken down into a few categories:
Prospects are researched, gathered, and qualified.
Initial contacts are made to qualified prospects, in person or by phone.
Discovery is conducted to assess the prospect’s needs.
Recommendations of product or service are made in order to address the needs.
Proposals are offered to place a value (price) on the recommended service.
Closing is the process of getting a decision from the prospect.
Follow Up processes are conducted, after each won or lost sale.
Most businesses have a need for each of these activities to be performed by salespeople in a given amount of time (day/week/month/year). In order to get the most out of your team, it’s essential that target quantities of each of these activities are put on paper for each given amount of time, and each salesperson’s quantities of activities reviewed against the target.
To decide on targets, you first have to gain an understanding of the time taken by each activity (or group of activities). Begin with an expected amount of hours to be worked each week by your salespeople. Although you can create jobs that take 60 or more hours to perform, it’s probably not realistic to expect salespeople to do this week in and week out. For business-to-business salespeople, there are about 40 hours of selling time available each week. The key is to create activity standards that are strong enough to keep salespeople busy and focused, but are achievable. Here are some guidelines to various activities:
A salesperson who is focused and on-task can typically perform between 12 and 15 appointment setting phone calls per hour – this includes messages, no-contacts, and voice mails. Expect salespeople to contact decision makers once out of every 3 or 4 calls.
A face-to-face appointment (depending on the industry) will take between 30 minutes and an hour. To figure the total amount of time spent on appointments, make sure to include windshield time.
Salespeople will also have preparation time for appointments. Figure about half the time spent in appointments to be spent preparing for them.
Make sure to assign time to each type of appointment that salespeople will perform; also, time should be divided as necessary between current-customer appointments and new-customer selling.
Once you have activity expectations set down on paper, it’s important to share them with salespeople and make sure that they understand that they will be held accountable for both the activity and the results. Results, then, become a product of both quality and quantity of activity. Knowing this, the successful sales manager can more easily troubleshoot poor sales performance. Look first toward quantities of activities; if they are not being met, this is your primary cause. If the activities are being performed, you have a qualitative problem that may require joint calls and after-action coaching.
This is a process that must be done on a consistent basis, and can serve as the platform for trouble-shooting sales underachievement (is the salesperson performing too low a quantity of activity, or is there a particular phase of the selling process that is causing trouble?), or as a way to identify best practices for overachieving salespeople (in what part of the process does this person excel?).
A solid activity management program also forms the basis for real, meaningful performance evaluations of salespeople that get beyond “I like him and customers seem to like him” and “making numbers.” Salespeople, like everyone else, appreciate feedback – and activity management allows us to more accurately correct poor performers and reward top performers. More importantly, it allows us to maximize our sales dollar – which is one of the most important investments in small business.
Managing Sales Activity for Success - To learn more about this author, visit Troy Harrison's Website.
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Now that we have our sales force in place, it’s time to manage them. To be blunt, most company owners (and/or sales managers) do this incorrectly.
Too often in sales, the only feedback given to salespeople ties to their results. Certainly, results are important, and they are ultimately the measurement of achievement. Unfortunately, results are not something that can be managed. Results are history – they have already happened. Activity is what is happening, or what is about to happen. Clearly, then, activity becomes the manageable part of the sales force.
In most industries, sales activity can be broken down into a few categories:
Prospects are researched, gathered, and qualified.
Initial contacts are made to qualified prospects, in person or by phone.
Discovery is conducted to assess the prospect’s needs.
Recommendations of product or service are made in order to address the needs.
Proposals are offered to place a value (price) on the recommended service.
Closing is the process of getting a decision from the prospect.
Follow Up processes are conducted, after each won or lost sale.
Most businesses have a need for each of these activities to be performed by salespeople in a given amount of time (day/week/month/year). In order to get the most out of your team, it’s essential that target quantities of each of these activities are put on paper for each given amount of time, and each salesperson’s quantities of activities reviewed against the target.
To decide on targets, you first have to gain an understanding of the time taken by each activity (or group of activities). Begin with an expected amount of hours to be worked each week by your salespeople. Although you can create jobs that take 60 or more hours to perform, it’s probably not realistic to expect salespeople to do this week in and week out. For business-to-business salespeople, there are about 40 hours of selling time available each week. The key is to create activity standards that are strong enough to keep salespeople busy and focused, but are achievable. Here are some guidelines to various activities:
A salesperson who is focused and on-task can typically perform between 12 and 15 appointment setting phone calls per hour – this includes messages, no-contacts, and voice mails. Expect salespeople to contact decision makers once out of every 3 or 4 calls.
A face-to-face appointment (depending on the industry) will take between 30 minutes and an hour. To figure the total amount of time spent on appointments, make sure to include windshield time.
Salespeople will also have preparation time for appointments. Figure about half the time spent in appointments to be spent preparing for them.
Make sure to assign time to each type of appointment that salespeople will perform; also, time should be divided as necessary between current-customer appointments and new-customer selling.
Once you have activity expectations set down on paper, it’s important to share them with salespeople and make sure that they understand that they will be held accountable for both the activity and the results. Results, then, become a product of both quality and quantity of activity. Knowing this, the successful sales manager can more easily troubleshoot poor sales performance. Look first toward quantities of activities; if they are not being met, this is your primary cause. If the activities are being performed, you have a qualitative problem that may require joint calls and after-action coaching.
This is a process that must be done on a consistent basis, and can serve as the platform for trouble-shooting sales underachievement (is the salesperson performing too low a quantity of activity, or is there a particular phase of the selling process that is causing trouble?), or as a way to identify best practices for overachieving salespeople (in what part of the process does this person excel?).
A solid activity management program also forms the basis for real, meaningful performance evaluations of salespeople that get beyond “I like him and customers seem to like him” and “making numbers.” Salespeople, like everyone else, appreciate feedback – and activity management allows us to more accurately correct poor performers and reward top performers. More importantly, it allows us to maximize our sales dollar – which is one of the most important investments in small business.
Managing Sales Activity for Success - To learn more about this author, visit Troy Harrison's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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