It's the end of the month and the dreaded sales meeting is minutes away. As you drive into the office, you think about the questions that will be asked today. It isn't the questions that plague you, it the answers that stirred your mind into a sleepless night. If you are like most salespeople and sales managers, you don't like reporting or forecasting sales. Perhaps you think of the sales reports as chores you don't enjoy. This isn't the first time you have had these thoughts. As you look back at the beginning of the month, you swore that this wouldn't happen again. You began with high expectations and strong intentions. It just didn't materialize for you. The story above can be repeated over and over again. Some people might say that a good salesperson isn't good at paperwork or that they shouldn't be held to the same standards of a rigid system. Well, I'm sorry; I won't come to your defense if you think this.
Selling is a Process and a Sales Process can be tracked!
One of the biggest reasons a salesperson or sales manager has a problem with sales reports is usually associated with the lack of a sales process or selling system. The second reason sales reports and sales predictability are absent is because of how the information is captured or not captured.
Unfortunately, if you asked most salespeople to draw their companies selling process and list the selling steps, they couldn't do it. The same is true with sales managers. Why is this? If you were to drive from New York to Seattle, you would have a map of how to get there wouldn't you. Why then, doesn't a salesperson have or follow a map from introduction to closing in the sales process. Without a map or sales process to follow, a salesperson won't know where they are or what the next stop is and how to get there.
Sales reports and monitoring of sales activities is fundamental to managing a sales team. One of the traits every newly hired salesperson should have is to be "systems oriented". This simply means they would be willing to learn and follow a selling process. With today's technology, there isn't any reason a salesperson can't complete sales activity reports. In fact, there are some selling systems that automate the selling process for both the salesperson and the sales manager.
The Problem With NO REPORTS
When a salesperson doesn't turn in sales reports or the sales manager doesn't have reports to review, sales are not managed. This speaks to the saying - "You can't manage what you can't measure". Let's face it, if an accountant was running the sales team, they wouldn't stand for some of the shenanigans that go in sales management. Accountants don't guess at what the balances of the books are, they know what it is down to the penny. A sales department should be operated like an accounting department with more stringent rules for reporting.
Systems and processes are the key to solving many sales management issues. When salespeople follow a sales process, they know where they are with each client and what the next steps of the sale are. If these numbers are tracked, there is a factor of predictability that will forecast sales. When you can combine the selling process with technology to automate the selling process, you have a winning combination.
by Steve Martinez, Selling Magic Mastermind and Sales Process Automation Guru http://www.SellingMagic.com/. |
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