Sales Process and KPIs

Sales success is multi-dimensional and has many facets. A client we worked with a number of years ago was super-frustrated with the results they were achieving. Their sales had plateaued and had been stuck at the same level for about 6 months. This was not only frustrating, but unfortunate as they had a goal to increase sales by 25% and their efforts to do so were landing well short. Our early evaluation of their sales efforts indicated that the following were in place:

• Goals or targets
• A defined sales process with stepwise stages
• Contacts, leads and prospects 
• A method of tracking their efforts and results in their sales process steps 
• Data to review 

Analysis of their KPI’s affirmed the effectiveness of their marketing, including that they had a good number of inquiries, phone calls, and web-generated inquiries. 

Without these KPIs, a way to measure them, and review them, coupled with a defined sales process, it would have been much harder to detect the cause of their sales plateau and how to correct it. Are these elements in place for your sales success? What are your KPI’s, how are you using them and what is missing that making informed adjustments is a reality? Are your KPI’s specific to the needs of your sales team and its success? What adjustments could you make to enhance your sales management efforts, being able to assess what is and isn’t working, or to drive performance and results for your organization? 

Sales Management and a Sales Coach for Your Southeast Michigan Sales Team

As business and sales coaches in Southeast Michigan, we’ve helped many local businesses get their sales process and efforts on track. If you’re not happy with how your organization’s sales function is doing, coaching can be a great option. This may be the perfect time to examine or re-examine your sales efforts, the process, stages, pipeline(s), language, and KPI’s you’re using. So don’t wait - proactively evaluating your entire sales function will lead to better results. 

Are you ready to begin your journey?

Are you ready to build a sales-focused organization with a high performing sales team and an effective sales management solution? 

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact form to receive a sample sales effectiveness and improvement analysis (SEIA) report! Together, we can assess how your company is doing, what potential it has, how to realize this potential, how long it will take along with expected gains. We’re here to help you determine the best way to achieve your goals.

How KPIs Provide Feedback for Your Business

In recent months, we’ve written about pipeline(s), CRMs, and a common language for your sales team and its efforts. Let’s take a look at the importance of KPI’s – Key Performance Indicators. Which ones are you using: are they leading or lagging ones and how do they help with managing or enhancing your sales performance and efforts? 

In the most basic sense, KPI’s provide feedback:

• About results
• About results as compared to a goal
• About the strength of your pipeline
• About the level of sales activity with your sales team and its members
• About the effectiveness of your sales process
• About how well your sales process is being followed
• About where sales process elements are not being executed well
• About how well each sales team member is doing, what they are doing well and where their performance could be positively impacted 

Sales success is multi-dimensional and has many facets. A client we worked with a number of years ago was super-frustrated with the results they were achieving. Their sales had plateaued and had been stuck at the same level for about 6 months. This was not only frustrating, but unfortunate as they had a goal to increase sales by 25% and their efforts to do so were landing well short. 

See what our early evaluation of their sales efforts indicated on our website!

Sales Management and a Sales Coach for Your Southeast Michigan Sales Team

As business and sales coaches in Southeast Michigan, we’ve helped many local businesses get their sales process and efforts on track. If you’re not happy with how your organization’s sales function is doing, coaching can be a great option. This may be the perfect time to examine or re-examine your sales efforts, the process, stages, pipeline(s), language, and KPI’s you’re using. So don’t wait - proactively evaluating your entire sales function will lead to better results. 

Are you ready to begin your journey?

Are you ready to build a sales-focused organization with a high performing sales team and an effective sales management solution? 

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact form to receive a sample sales effectiveness and improvement analysis (SEIA) report! Together, we can assess how your company is doing, what potential it has, how to realize this potential, how long it will take along with expected gains. We’re here to help you determine the best way to achieve your goals.

Sales Success: In Search of Answers to Impact Your Sales Efforts and Success

If you could ask and answer any or all the questions you have about your sales efforts and the results you’re getting, what would that mean to you? 

Answers to some basic or more challenging questions help organizations make informed decisions. 

These answers impact why action should be taken, when, and with what level of investment of time, energy, effort, and money. Some questions that come to mind include:

• can we shorten our sales cycle?
• who can become more effective in their sales role?
• can we generate more new business?
• do our systems and processes support a high-performance sales team?
• can we close more opportunities and get better sales results?
• how is sales leadership impacting our sales force and their performance?
• what are the short-term priorities for accelerated growth?
• what are our current sales capabilities?
• can we improve our sales culture?
• how motivated are our salespeople and what motivates them?  

What questions would you like to ask and have answers to that will guide your next decisions regarding your sales efforts and results? Questions fall into a few categories: people, process, execution, culture, and results. For each of these areas, we can ask about current capacity and capability, how much more potential we have, and how we realize that potential to achieve better results. 

Other questions include: “where can I maximize the impact of any changes we introduce and how long will it likely take to make changes that have measurable results?”

Read more about how to achieve sales success on our website! 

Are you ready to begin your journey toward Sales Success?

Are you ready to build a sales-focused organization with a high performing sales team and an effective sales management solution?

Have you struggled in the past to develop an effective sales focus, giving your business what it needs to thrive and achieve sales success?

Whether you are satisfied with the effort, focus, and results of your sales team, many people we speak with have been hesitant to act – simply because they don’t know where to begin. If you’re open to a brief call, let us know and we can take the first step together.

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact us form to receive a sample SEIA report! Together, we can assess how your company is doing, what potential it has, how to realize this potential, how long it will take along with expected gains. We are here to help you determine the best way to achieve your goals.

Are You Building a High Performance Sales Team?

Is your company focused on the right areas, and producing the performance and outcomes you seek? 

Thinking of your current organization, its focus on sales, the culture, employee & management attitudes (mindset), along with sales performance, read the statements below and ask yourself: are these in place and are they optimized? 

If your answer is NO to two or more statements, then you would likely benefit from a shift in sales related focus in your organization.

• All employees have a positive view of sales and selling in our organization
• The sales leader meets regularly with the business owner /leadership to ensure alignment of sales and organizational strategy
• Strategic prospecting targets are defined and included in each salesperson’s territory plan
• All employees in the organization understand the importance of sales and the role they play in supporting and increasing both sales and customer satisfaction
• The organizational culture supports sales efforts and our goal of being easy to do business with for our customers
• Each salesperson has a dashboard or individual sales plan that is reviewed regularly
• The sales team is viewed by the organization as a high-performance team, much like a sports team

Read more about creating a sales-focused organization on our website.

Every sales-focused organization has room for improvement! If you aren’t implementing all the statements above, or only a few, you may need to adjust your thinking or priorities around your sales efforts and function… it may be time to get help.

Over the past few months, we’ve provided an in-depth look at key areas of a successful Sales Focused Organization including sales fundamentals, effective sales management, and a high-performance sales team. Please click here to request your copy of our comprehensive checklist outlining specific focus areas toward building a sales focused organization that succeeds and thrives.

Want to get the best out of your sales efforts?

We work with sales leaders, managers, teams, individual salespeople, and their organizations.  With both our standard offerings and our customized coaching and consulting engagements, we focus on the gap areas to drive better sales results.  Our work varies in length from just one quarter to multi-year engagements depending upon the size of the organization and needs. In some cases, we operate as a Fractional Sales Leader and other times we coach with an existing Sales Manager and sales team. We often work at all levels of the organization to help build a Sales Focused Organization - leadership, strategic direction, systems, management, departments, and individual contributors. We also assist in the recruiting and evaluation of “Qualified, New Business” Sales representatives.

Creating a Sales-Focused Organization

What goes into creating a Sales-Focused Organization? In our series, we have addressed elements that include sales process, messaging, the conversations salespeople have, sales management and a high-performance sales team. We now turn our attention to creating a sales-focused organization. 

Critical elements that must come together include leadership, strategic direction, clear targets (markets, differentiators, goals) and all the sales elements we’ve covered in our last 3 articles. For some organizations, evaluating the current team through a Sales Effectiveness and Improvement Analysis (SEIA) can be a game changer. For companies that have many salespeople, have had a sales manager in place for a while, this analysis can rapidly offer insight on gaps that once closed create for a great return on investment.

What is the view or mindset of your organization toward its sales team? The sales team should be viewed as a high performance team, no different than a professional sports team. The entire organization (employees / leadership) must get behind the sales team and be supportive, helpful, and passionate about winning, succeeding, and driving results. Something as simple as setting the mindset of ‘everyone sells’ can be a shift in the culture and attitudes embraced by the organization.

Has organizational leadership made clear its go-to-market strategy, along with high value targets? Is the sales manager and sales team equipped and armed with the needed information to carry to prospective customers? Too often sales teams are expected to function just like an owner or leader would, often relying on passion and inside knowledge the sales team doesn’t have access to. Is your sales team set up for success or failure? What information does the owner or leadership have that once shared becomes a game-changer?

Read the full article on our website.

Are you ready to begin your journey?

Have you struggled in the past to develop an effective sales focus, giving your business what it needs to thrive?

Whether you are satisfied with the effort, focus, and results of your sales team, many people we speak with have been hesitant to act – simply because they don’t know where to begin. If you’re open to a brief call, let us know and we can take the first step together.

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact form to receive a download of our Sales-Focused Organizational Checklist! Together, we can assess how your company is doing from a sales, messaging, management, and performance standpoint, and determine the best way to help you achieve your goals.
 

High Performance Sales Team – T.E.A.M.

Together Everyone Achieves More (T.E.A.M.). What goes into building a great, high performing team? 

In our series, we have addressed elements that include sales process, messaging, the conversations salespeople have, and sales management. 

We now turn our attention to a high performance sales team. Critical elements that must come together include people, talent, execution, and effectiveness – all to achieve a desired result.

With a professional sports team, let’s say Ice Hockey, the goals are clear to almost anyone – players, coaches, management, officials and even the fans. The success of a professional Hockey team is influenced by many factors that may include talent, roles, synergy, practice, focus, coaching, leadership, drive, perseverance, mindset, and so on.

Is your sales team really different? Maybe the correct question is ‘should your sales team be any different’? With Hockey, the basics are skate, pass, shoot, score. If we reverse-engineer what winning looks like, a top performing team must win the most games, score the most goals, take the greatest number of shots, and so on. All of these must be well planned, practiced, and executed with micro adjustments made all the way through each minute of each period in a game. The coaching staff will help players see beyond their blind spots and overcome obstacles imposed by the competing team. This is all accomplished with practice sessions, meetings, video reviews, on and off the ice.   

We’ve found that many organizations want results, but when it comes to a high-performance team, gaps in this concept emerge. These gaps include unsuccessful recruiting of sales team members, not being clear about the role and results expected for the position, and not providing the right tools or direction that supports the optimal success of the sales team. While a sales manager can be key to building and sustaining a Performance Sales Team, each team member must have the potential to grow and excel. An effective sales manager will help grow that salesperson and work to release their potential.

Read the full article on our website!

Whether you are satisfied with the effort, focus, and results of your sales team, many people we speak with have been hesitant to act – simply because they don’t know where to begin. If you’re open to a brief call, let us know and we can take the first step together.

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact form to receive a download of our Sales-Focused Organizational Checklist! Together, we can assess how your company is doing from a sales, messaging, management, and performance standpoint, and determine the best way to help you achieve your goals.

Ready to Begin Your Journey to Effective Sales Management?

Thinking of your current sales management situation, read the statements below and ask yourself: are these in place and are they optimized?

If your answer is NO to two or more statements, then the sales management solution you have may be sub-optimal.

• You have a sales manager/leader in place - their primary role is to lead and grow the sales team, coach and train them, and develop a high-performance sales team
• The sales manager meets regularly with the business owner to ensure alignment of sales and organizational strategy
• The sales manager holds salespeople accountable to goals, territory management, and activity levels
• The sales manager meets at least 1x per month 1-2-1 with salespeople for feedback, coaching and support
• The sales manager holds team meetings at least 1x per month

Every sales-focused organization has room for improvement! If you aren’t implementing all the statements above, or only a few, you may need to adjust your mindset or priorities around sales management… it may be time to get some help.

Over the next few months, we’ll provide an in-depth look at key areas of a successful Sales Focused Organization including sales fundamentals, effective sales management, and a high-performance sales team. We will also make available to you a comprehensive checklist outlining specific focus areas toward building a sales focused organization that succeeds and thrives.

Want to get the best out of your sales team? Read the full article on our website.

Are you ready to begin your journey?

Are you ready to build a high performing sales team and a sales-focused organization?

Have you struggled in the past to develop the tools your business needs to thrive?

Whether you are satisfied with the effort, focus, and results of your sales process, many people we speak with have been hesitant to act – simply because they don’t know where to begin. If you’re open to a brief call, let us know and we can take the first step together.

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact form to receive a download of our Sales-Focused Organizational Checklist!

Effective Sales Management

Do you have the WRONG Sales Management Solution?

Consider these:

• Owner/C-Level managing sales
• Someone managing sales along with another key functional area of the business
• Salesperson is quasi sales manager
• No one is managing sales

We have learned that many companies suffer from the wrong sales management solution, and often they have someone trying to manage sales, while running another area of the business. For example, the owner or president continues to manage as the team grows, where among other things, they struggle to hold people accountable and have no time for real development or coaching. We have also found instances where the sales manager has their own territory and is also selling – it rarely works well, can undermine trust with other sales team members and creates internal competition that is not constructive.

For more information about solutions for sales management, read the full article on our website.

Are you ready to begin your sales management journey?

Are you ready to build a high performing sales team and a sales-focused organization?

Have you struggled in the past to develop the tools your business needs to thrive?

Whether you are satisfied with the effort, focus, and results of your sales process, many people we speak with have been hesitant to act – simply because they don’t know where to begin. If you’re open to a brief call, let us know and we can take the first step together.

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact form to receive a download of our Sales-Focused Organizational Checklist!