The sales mystique
by Joan Adams
We treat most business things analytically. We track, we measure and we improve. With sales? - We become irrational. We attribute success to the mystical powers of sales. We rarely measure or course correct. We’re afraid of angering the almighty sales gods and jinxing the company’s future. This is nonsense. There are good salespeople - but no one has such a winning personality that people just can’t resist buying heaps of stuff from them. Sales can only be improved with focus, discipline and measures. A properly structured reward system will get salespeople’s attention and deliver the desired results.
Do you know what are your salespeople doing? Where they are? What industries, geographies are they targeting? How often they visit clients? Where and how do they look for new clients? How successful are these pursuits?
Each salesperson needs a plan that brings structure and discipline to the process. Effective plans have specific actions that point a sales goal. Every action item must have clear and measurable results. Absent this – you have no idea if the plan is working.
The sales plans must support company goals. Actions must be measured. Desired goals didn’t happen? Time to correct the plan. Goals must be achievable, specific and measurable.
“We want to increase sales” is not a goal. It’s vague, it’s a wish.
“We want to increase our sales by 10% over last year” is better.
“We want to increase our sales to industry X by 15% over last year” is much better.
Goals can be as simple as:
“I will call on 3 potential new accounts in industry X each month – the goal is 6 new clients this year.” This plan says on average, the salesperson will add a new client every 2 months. If there are no new clients in 6 months, time for a new plan.
salespeople doing? Where they are? What industries, geographies are they targeting? How often they visit clients? Where and how do they look for new clients? How successful are these pursuits?
Each salesperson needs a plan that brings structure and discipline to the process. Effective plans have specific actions that point a sales goal. Every action item must have clear and measurable results. Absent this – you have no idea if the plan is working.
The sales plans must support company goals. Actions must be measured. Desired goals didn’t happen? Time to correct the plan. Goals must be achievable, specific and measurable.
“We want to increase sales” is not a goal. It’s vague, it’s a wish.
“We want to increase our sales by 10% over last year” is better.
“We want to increase our sales to industry X by 15% over last year” is much better.
Goals can be as simple as:
“I will call on 3 potential new accounts in industry X each month – the goal is 6 new clients this year.” This plan says on average, the salesperson will add a new client every 2 months. If there are no new clients in 6 months, time for a new plan.