What is the first line item in any P&L statement? If you thought (or said) -Sales/Revenue – then you’re correct ! Sales performance directly impacts your bottom line, therefore, identifying the loopholes in your sales approach and rectifying them is the key to enhancing profitability, customer experience and establishing your brand as an industry leader.
Successful companies routinely monitor their sales teams’ productivity and ensure adherence to sales targets. The better the sales performance, the better your business runs.
As Peter Drucker said, you can’t improve what you can’t measure. Tracking sales performance metrics helps you make decisions on data, rather than instinct, and eliminates any bias when reviewing sales reps’ performance. Data-driven reviews create personalised plans for each employee to follow.
The right metrics to measure sales performance vary by industry, business goals, and target audience but popular ones include average-order value, customer acquisition rate, retention rate, number of sales or closed deals, sales revenue, and meeting acceptance rates. Using a combination of these presents a holistic image of a sales representative.
The best strategies to improve sales performance depend upon the industry and product but there is a lot you can do to set the right tone for your sales team.
Sales representatives must have a clear picture of their objectives, targets, and the common work processes to follow. Clear communication of goals opens the floor for any concerns that can be dealt with proactively instead of reactively. Besides aligning everyone on the same page, this creates a positive work environment that motivates the team.
Setting incentives are beneficial for sales performance, and you must relay them to everyone timely.
According to Hubspot, 46% of sales representatives never intended to go into sales. Their inexperience, coupled with everyone else’s room for improvement, warrants the need for adequate training and resources. You must educate the team about sales skills, the product, and the brand image to improve their sales performance.
Additionally, you must take out the time for routine performance feedback that thoroughly examines their strengths and weaknesses and how to improve them, backed with appropriate data.
Explicitly highlighting sales objectives, offering training, and conducting reviews is a non-stop process whose efficacy must also be measured. Setting out time to examine the sales productivity metrics discussed above goes a long way and helps you make adjustments. For example, a sales representative with a high customer acquisition rate has the right excitement to convince someone to try a product.
Organizations with happier, relaxed, and mentally robust staff display better sales performance, given the emotional component involved in sales. Besides workplace changes such as flexibility around work and more time off, partnering with a mental fitness coaching practice can help tremendously.
Primely prepares the sales team for the stresses, expectations, and anxieties of a workplace by mastering mental fitness and well-being sustainably.