While there is a lot of conversation about strategy and tactics, growing a business requires more than just people skills. Importantly growth is about math and managing by the numbers to ensure people are applying their skills appropriately, particularly with salespeople.
All too often, we find companies with loyal salespeople overworked and baffled about how to break through to the next level. The harder they work, the results do not change significantly enough to affect growth.
The key is to change how the teams are measured, and if you are tracking the right things and allowing people to make better decisions, then growth becomes a much simpler task.
However, if you are not tracking the right numbers, it is impossible to have the right strategy. According to a recent study by Hubspot:
- Only 23% of companies are exceeding their revenue goals.
- Of those not exceeding their goals, 74% did not know the number of monthly visits, leads, or sales opportunities they needed.
Sales managers and their teams need to know the smart metrics that will lead them to growth. They need to understand the levers they can pull to make meaningful changes in their performance and perform smartly.
Too many companies relate metrics or KPIs immediately, drawing conclusions about how they should be communicated and managed. Typically applied as a performance review for salespeople or random reviews of customer bases in tighter times. They often become a tool of punishment or negative communication more than a tool supporting growth.
For growth, you need smart metrics. Metrics that enable individual salespeople to make smart decisions about their performance and where to focus their energies. Smart metrics that align with the sales strategy of the company and ensure execution will be achieved.
For many businesses that have grown on the back of good markets, new products, and relationships, the need for metrics has been seen as a low priority if a priority at all. Facing more difficult times and higher costs of operating a sales force, the need for metrics is continually rising on the agenda of CEOs and their sales leaders.
Sales leaders understand that with good metrics for their team and management, the ability to achieve growth becomes more real and maximises the productivity and efficiency of the sales team.
Companies have been working with Sales Focus Money Ball™ now for a number of years and uncapping their growth challenges. The Salespeople embrace the ability to make smarter decisions on where they focus and understand the levers to pull to deliver growth. Executives have the transparency needed for sales planning and execution to be cost-effective and timely.
To download an information booklet on how Sales Focus Money Ball is working for companies now, click on the image below.
A forgotten point of metrics is they are not just about measurement. They are the foundations of sales planning and execution; when the right things are measured. Not all metrics fit all selling environments and sales channels. They can vary significantly between a medical company and an industrial supplier. An IT company and a professional services firm.
To discuss installing smart metrics for growth, please contact the office.
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