Selling is simple: a problem, solutions, a constructive exchange with your customers and prospects. When you put it like that, it almost sounds like it! In reality, this world is not so idyllic...
As in any business, you have to know what you are doing. Fortunately, companies have a secret weapon: the measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs) to redirect, if necessary, or increase the efforts of existing teams.
The number of demonstrations, webinars and training sessions measures the interest and satisfaction of your customers and prospects. These three indicators, if tracked simultaneously, will show whether you are converting prospects into customers. In other words, prospects into customers.
These training sessions must be accompanied by documents to help anchor the memory. Our brains have to assimilate information in several stages (what we call "educational grains") in order to digest it and retain it over time. Vary the formats to stimulate visual, auditory and kinesthetic profiles (which prefer to interact).
Monitoring sales targets and the rate of conversion of leads to customers is a good start. Again, track this over time and look at changes at M+1, M+3 and A+1.
You can also look at the evolution of turnover with the average selling price. How many framework agreements have been concluded? Who are your regular customers, are their expenses increasing or decreasing? Depending on the answers to these questions, you can better manage your sales force and redirect their efforts towards what will generate the most results.
Also think about the length of the sales cycle. Time is money. A careful analysis will certainly reveal ways to improve things and focus on the actions that lead to the best results. It's the hunt for time-consuming tasks, take advantage of it!
These elements will allow you to develop pipeline forecasts, which are necessary to make the right decisions today, tomorrow and beyond.
What results are you getting from your sales force? Measure the engagement rates of your team members and the associated conversion rates. How many contacts does each salesperson handle? Is this number increasing, decreasing?
Also, how long does it take for prospects to respond to your team's requests? The evolution of this indicator will speak for itself...
The key performance indicators of an organisation are as reassuring as they are frightening. When you have too many of them on hand, you can't see anything. Depending on your context, choose the KPIs that will provide you with the most actionable and exploitable information. Everyone has data... but you have to know how to make it accessible to the general public!
Once you have understood these KPIs, validated them by you and your entire team, stick to your commitments and be patient. The data will deliver their diagnosis shortly... Ready to adjust your efforts? Change is (almost) now!
