-
Providing the data for analysing of sales funnel/pipeline health (ie. process weakness);
-
To develop critical performance benchmarking to set the activity references (ie. sales activity ratios) into the job requirements/description for the sales person and would be employee;
-
To promote a sales culture of discipline activity and not over reliant on the handful of sales “divas” to bring in the productions;
-
To identify sales person’s weakness/gaps (ie. Training Needs Analysis), so only the appropriate training solutions will be introduce to bridge the skill/knowledge gap (ie. better resource management);
-
To identify the sales person’s attitude and aptitude for the selling career;
-
To identify the effectiveness of the sales manager’s follow through or driving of the sales team;
-
To identify the market and its potential that the sales person is operating in;
-
To confirm the job fit of the sales person and replace unsuitable candidates as well as nurture the right candidate with the potential for greater role;
-
To identify the effectiveness of any sales campaign;
-
To use collated data to make meaningful sales projection and forecast of future sales activities or numbers;
-
To remove subjectivity, difference of opinion, styles etc, out of the selling equation; the data are able to provide objectivity to pinpoint exactly to the root cause.
With so many benefits, the only challenge is the commitment to apply the tool and drive its application. No one likes to be tracked or monitored, lest a sales person. But it is an integral part of the sales process optimisation and absolutely critical to the selling success of the individual as well as the organisation.
Below is an example of a sales activity management matrix developed for the sales consultant working in the Financial Institution. The matrix can be develop on the Excel spreadsheet and provided for every sales consultant to update on a daily basis; it allows the sales manager to have a basis to monitor and coach their daily activities & progress. The sales person need to update more than just activity numbers, but the details of the prospect approached (ie. name, email and contact number) and the “soft” information of the prospect fact-find on the fact-find data sheet). The daily summary will be tallied on the Report Page for the sales manager’s quick review.
.jpg)
The 6-stage of the selling process has been identified as:
-
No. of Leads Generated
-
No. of New Approaches (for both New Prospects & Existing clients)
-
No. of Follow-ups
-
No. of Fact-find Interviews
-
No. of Closing Interviews
-
No. of Cases Closed/Submitted
Each stage of the selling stage will have its own requirements to be fulfilled. Every organisation will have its own unique selling process, therefore their current selling process will need to be observed and analyse, before each stage and its critical performance benchmark (ie. Minimum Daily & Weekly Target) may be drawn out. Clearly, the developer will need to take into considerations many information, example, the length of time required to present their presentation, or the commuting time spend and how many prospects the sales person can reasonably meet in a day or week.
As a rule, it is more effective for sales manager to monitor and review the Sales Activity Management Tool at the start of each day, or before the end of each day. The sales persons will spend their most productive time in the day prospecting for business. They will be required to update their daily activities only before they end their day or early before they start the day.
To minimise the opportunity for any misreporting or misrepresentation of the activity numbers, the sales manager also needs to put “truth” into the reporting and conduct spot checks or post call reviews to prospects or clients to mitigate this unwanted practice.
The Activity Management Matrix principles can also be modified and applied to any other forms of activities that require monitor and review. Again, below is another example of a Recruitment Activity Management Tool developed for the Financial Institution to monitor the recruitment efforts of sales managers.
.jpg)
The Activity Management Matrix is essentially a tool design to embed all activities that is required to be done in order to be successful (both for the sales person as well as the organisation). The medium, on which the tool sits on, is entirely up to the individual preference and requirements. We found that a simple Excel spreadsheet to be the most cost effective solution. Alternatively, there are also many software or apps available that also offer similar functions.
So start inspecting the results that you are expecting today!
|