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You are here: Home / Blog / Measure to Improve Sales Performance

Measure to Improve Sales Performance

November 30, 2014 By maurasf

measure to improve sales performance
What do you measure to improve sales performance?

Let’s say you’re having a great year. What if you want to do even better next year? You can improve your sales performance if you know what to measure. Here are some areas to consider.

Number of Sales Calls made.
You are making it harder to be successful in sales if you’re going to sit in your office all day. While you’re there you spend time working on prospect research instead of getting out in front of your potential customers.

Just be sure your sales calls are effective. I once worked with a salesman who used to brag that he made 20 sales calls a day. This was not in an urban area where you can make multiple sales calls in one building so you’re basically walking from door to door. This was in a large geographic area where driving was essential and one customer was often miles away from the next sales call. I don’t consider running into an account, saying hi to the receptionist as a sales call. He did.

Why not see if you can increase the number of effective sales calls you make next year if you’re looking to improve?

Actual sales meetings
I wonder how that salesman thought he was making a sales call when he probably had no real time with a customer.

Examine the quality of your sales meetings. I see a lot of high calorie sales calls. What are they? They’re salespeople bringing food to customers and thinking that they’re selling. What kind of customer would make a buying decision based on a sugar glazed donut? Not a very loyal one or a discriminating one.

Your job during a sales call is to uncover ways to help your customer reduce a cost, avoid a cost or increase their revenue when they buy your products or services. Are most of your sales meetings this year food deliveries? Why not see if you can develop strategic objectives to discuss business and learn more about your customers’ business so you can learn where your products could fit a need. That’s how you’ll sell more next year.

Customized proposals.
There are a lot of customers who ask for proposals to get rid of salespeople. Don’t be fooled by that request and think that your prospect is interested. You can only write a proposal for business if you understand the customer’s current situation, why they need you, what the problem or need is costing them now, your proposed solution and a projection of how much you could save the prospect when he buys your products or services.

You’ve not done your sales work when you send a generic proposal. You haven’t clearly understood their current situation and what you propose to improve. It’s much harder to command a premium price if you can’t quantify the problem.

Think of these measurements as sales gauges. You wouldn’t drive your car without checking the speedometer. Why would you start selling without measuring what you’re doing there too?

Best wishes for your sales success,

maura schreier-Fleming

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Filed Under: Blog, Sales Management, Sales Process Tagged With: effective sales calls, measurement, sales performance improvement

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About the principal

Would you take auto mechanics classes when you buy a car? Maura did because she wanted to be able to work on her car. She takes that same approach to selling. She can show you how to get below the surface of selling to learn why and how different strategies work. She will show you which skills to implement that will shorten your sales cycle and increase your sales. She was Mobil Oil's first female Lubrication Engineer in the United States and one of Chevron's top 5 salespeople in the country. She knows what works for sales.

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Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. Read Maura’s ideas on “more brain…less mouth” selling to make your selling easier and more successful.

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