Sales metrics and reporting are vital to measuring success, but can also point out the problems that may not be seen on the surface. These posts may help.
Not long ago, businesses set sights on more sales revenue. Now many will settle for any sales revenue.
It’s not an ideal goal but it’s realistic, especially in a COVID-19 economy, when businesses missed revenue projections for months or quarters.
Now it’s time to focus on shoring up business and consistently, incrementally, and perhaps slowly, increasing revenue until it’s back on track.
Everyone is confident the deal will close. Then it doesn’t – and the win rate drops.
It hurts to chalk up a forecasted sale to the “lost” opportunity or “no decision” column.
Every sales professional wants more wins. But they aren’t getting them.
Win rates have been stagnate – at 47% – for about five years, while losses to the competition increased and losses due to no decision decreased slightly, according to the CSO Insights 2019 Sales Performance Report.
“Without a doubt, the one metric that we have tracked over the years that causes the most heartburn for CSOs, CFOs and CEOs is the outcome of forecast deals,” the researchers said.
Put the antacids away. Here are nine ways to increase your win rate.
What gets measured gets managed.
Do you measure enough essential sales metrics – or not enough? Are you getting valuable information from what you measure – or just a bunch of numbers with little meaning?
Do your metrics matter?
You can measure and analyze hundreds of sales activities and customer actions. Then watching the numbers climb is cool. Seeing them drop is frustrating. But just measuring metrics – and being on that roller coaster of emotions – won’t help salespeople and the organization realize success.
What will help is a solid grasp of the metrics you can measure, those that matter most for your organization and the best ways to use the data you gather.
Here’s help:
Sales forecasting never gets easier.
You’d think after doing it for a dozen quarters or a dozen years, you’d have it down to a science – whether you’re a rep trying to hit goal, a manager forecasting business, a director anticipating revenue or the VP forecasting.
But there’s the problem: Sales forecasting is as much art as it is science.
Every salesperson falls into a slump at some point. How you dig out determines your greatness.
Sales slumps often start as one big loss. Then it slowly feels like you haven’t heard the word “yes” since grade school. Soon, it looks like your sales funnel is pinched tight at the bottom. Everything is lost, and you won’t ever hit quota again.
Talk about an awful, sinking feeling.
Salespeople can – and must – overcome it.
These 17 proven strategies will help. And remember: It didn’t take one thing to fall into the sales slump. It probably won’t take just one strategy to climb out.
You know you’re better than the competition.
So what’s the most effective way to help prospects and customers see that, too?
A solid value proposition.
Your value proposition is often the first thing prospects see or hear that differentiates you from the competition. It should also be the one consistent message throughout the buying journey that propels prospects to loyal customers.
All those leads – and so little chance of converting them.
It’s a frustrating reality for marketing and sales professionals: Only about 20% of leads convert to a sale, according to MarketingSherpa research.
But there’s promising news. Companies that handle leads well – through tactics such as scoring and nurturing – generate 50% more sales at a third of the cost, Forrester researchers found.
Bottom line: Companies that use lead scoring get more quality sales.
Lead scoring is just like it sounds. Leads get scored with numerical values you assign to different behaviors and activities. Then you decide if their total score is worthy of moving through your funnel.
For decades, companies have insisted upon forecasting as a method of planning for almost every department. New research reveals that could be costing companies more than it’s earning them.
A new study, conducted by the Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning, found the margin of error for companies that forecast and plan for marketing, inventory, sales leads and other core competencies a month in advance is approximately 16%-28%. What’s more? The average company that forecasts a quarter in advance generally experiences a 50% error rate, and the curve only gets worse from there.
Can sales be improved? How do I do it? With that in mind, here are four quantifiable measures any manager can use to uncover hidden opportunities and boost the bottom line:
When hundreds of managers were asked, “How do you select and prioritize the prospects in your pipeline?” the same answer arose time and time again.
That answer: Net Incremental Revenue (NIR).
