Can you predict if your sales team will miss target, before it happens?
How many times have you asked that dreaded question of your sales team, “So, did you make your number last month?” And then you must listen to the vague answers, excuses and diversions. All while your poor salesperson scrambles their way out of the heat of the spotlight.
Making or missing target is a focus on a lagging metric. If they missed target, there’s NOTHING that you can do about it. The month is over, and you can’t undo what’s been done (or not done!).
What you need, are leading metrics. They will warn you that your salesperson is going to miss target next month. Or in two months’ time, or next quarter. And they will warn you when you still have time to do something about it!
Consider this scenario:
Zinhle is your experienced and effective Sales Manager. She has this conversation with her salesperson, Jane:
“Jane, I’ve looked at what you’ve got lined up and I can see that the next two months look good. But 3 months from now, there’s a high probability you’ll miss target. Let’s look at what you need to do to avoid that happening”
How does Zinhle have such insight into her salesperson’s future sales success?
She has a quality Sales System that helps her to understand each of her sales team members performance. It highlights:
- Their strengths and weaknesses.
- Their quantity and quality of activities.
- The health of their pipeline
- Their conversion ratios.
Within minutes of reviewing the system, Zinhle can spot trouble.
She talks to the relevant salesperson and zeros in on the problem areas. Together they decide on an action plan to avoid the trouble.
How can you get started with putting leading measures in place for your sales team?
I recommend that you write a Job Scorecard for the sales role. This is similar to a job description, but is refined with very clear leading measures. This will help you accurately predict sales.
