Why should you care?
Businesses are under constant pressure for productivity improvements. Sales organizations are not excluded from this demand. Yet for most salespeople and sales organizations, working harder than they already are is probably no longer an option to increase productivity. The way out of this dilemma is thus to try to work smarter. Working smarter means doing the right things, and that’s the meaning of effectiveness.
How can you measure sales effectiveness?
Even as a rough indicator quota attainment has though problematic. It starts already with the definition. Just recently I learned from a large client of mine that the quota is a stretch target. So no one would expect a 100% attainment rate of a stretch goal. In a Hard Talk Interview with Johnathan Farrington over at Top Sales World, I voiced my opinion that it is also not a good metric because managers do not care enough about it. A manager is held accountable that his/her organization delivers the budgeted number. Now the same research that indicates the low individual quota attainment rate also indicates that the budget attainment rate of sales organizations is around 20 percentage points higher. From this, we must conclude that managers can make their budgets even if a some of their people do not make quota. Why is this? Well ask yourself whom sales managers ask to help them cover a shortfall. They go to their overachievers and ask them for a little more. Usually there is not enough time for coaching those below quota to help to cover for the shortfall.
Is there a better alternative?
Donal Daily over at Dealmaker 365 came to a similar conclusion, that “quota achievement… does not cut it as a yardstick”. I also concur with him, that there are little benchmark data available that provides actionable insight to improve individual and organizational sales effectiveness.
Donal has given himself the mission to change this. The TAS Group, who’s CEO he is, has, therefore, launched the Dealmaker Index. This is what the Dealmaker Index does according to the companies press release: “Based on an analysis of 92 sales performance factors, mapped against proven successful approaches, the Dealmaker Index measures the effectiveness of sales organizations and sales individuals across areas such as deal close rates, sales cycle management, value creation and sales opportunity development. It analyzes their activities, behaviors and attitudes and their strategic alignment with their companies and the resulting velocity they can achieve.”
Recommendation
It took me about 15 minutes to answer the questionnaire which is the base to determine the Dealmaker Index of the organization and the individual. As a result, I did not get just a number, but very actionable output in the form of an Executive Summary, a Company Detailed Analysis and Recommendations and a Personal Dealmaker Index Report.
From reading the executive summary, I found that the model used to calculate the index is the same one that I use myself for about the last 10 years to measure impacts of sales effectiveness initiatives. To me, the index is therefore very credible..
Unlike with other similar assessments, you do not just get a teaser report, and the full thing then is payable. You get the full output as described above for free.
Unless “hope” is your only strategy to achieve sales success, I see no reason for you to hesitate to follow this link http://www.dealmakerindex.com/Hermes/ and take the assessment for your organization and yourself. The 15 to 20 minutes it takes is well invested time.
