It been said many times that selling is a numbers game but are the numbers you are measuring to determine personal and business success the right ones? Are these in tune with your professional and personal goals?
Typical to a Business: Results Measurements
- Increase number of closed sale opportunities as Closed-Won versus Closed-Lost.
- Decrease number of days in pipeline (from date entered till closed).
- Increase sales dollars per opportunity (bigger deals).
- Increase number of qualified leads- those that meet your ideal client profile.
- Number of ‘A’ rated customers and prospects.
- Number of closed won opportunities linked to a defined marketing campaign.
- Number of opportunities with identified buyer’s decision process linked to your selling process.
- Number of wins against tough competitors.
- Number of connects with a decision maker early in the sales process.
- Number of orders delivered on time for a satisfied customer.
- Increase in the percent of customer repurchases.
- Increase in number of annual sales per customer.
- Increase in the market share of your product offerings.
- Decrease customer churn percentage and an increase in the number loyal clients – year after year.
You will also need to have visual tools, reports and dashboards like the following that represent the numbers in ways to make it easier to view trends and understand what is happening in the business. Remember CRM is here to help your make better informed decisions, faster.
Too many times an organization will measure activity and not the results and desired outcomes.
Less Important: Activity Measurement
- Number of phone calls
- Number of meetings held.
- Number of contacts in my database
- The number of accounts. Better to identify the 20% that generate 80% of the business.
- Number of quotes/proposals
- The number of hours you work.
- Number of friends on Facebook.
- Number of Twitter followers.
For a revealing view of a Results Only Work Environment check out R.O.W.E. site.
A former US President when asked what was important, said “It’s the Economy Stupid”. In this context it’s the people and relationships.
Most Important: It’s People Stupid:
Those who buy you, your ideals, your offerings and your solutions to their problems.
- The number of people (contacts in your CRM) that you know more about– their interests, with built up relationship history and who know you as a provider of quality solutions.
- Number of LinkedIn testimonials and endorsed skills.
- Number of Testimonials
- Number of strategic partner alliances
- The number of people in influential positions in business and your community.
- Number of customer reference sites
- Number of smiling faces from prospects and customers- extra for pats on the back…
- The number who provide appreciated, honest “Thank You’s”
- The number of high quality referrals.
Numbers are a way to keep score.
Make sure you are measuring what is really important!
