When empowered (and analytical) sales reps can actually take advantage of the right metrics to work smarter, forecast more accurately, and develop more trust with management (because pipeline and forecast reviews are based on data, not opinion).

Who knows, maybe the current economic climate will end up producing a new type of sales rep who is truly using analytics to compete and win. Of course, it starts with sales management and the right organizational culture. Then the question is – “what do I measure in the first place?”

Here are a few examples of sales rep performance metrics that we’ve seen organizations adopt that go way beyond activities (and even revenue and quota attainment).

http://www.lucidera.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/28/intelligence-rep-performance/

When business or the economy is slow, sales management needs to focus on gaining a higher percentage of revenue from the existing opportunities. This takes a planned and precise approach to selling; an approach that must be customized for the organization and adopted by the entire sales force. New sales skills sets must be learned and reinforced, otherwise salespeople fall back on unproductive or destructive sales behavior.

I think it must first be about measuring the skill set of the sales person; the ability to utilize the critical selling skills that consistently gain commitment from customers.

For example, most salespeople do not follow a selling procedure that as a first step, establishes a Commitment Objective for every sales call. This is the number one mistake that all salespeople make. In fact, our research shows that salespeople will never reach their performance potential without a well-defined sales-call procedure they can follow and learn from. “Winging it” on sales calls has grim consequences – lost sales, extended sell cycles, margin erosion and no clear path to improvement. Bottom line: An increase in sales can be mediocre at best without following a proven sales procedure that utilize the critical sales skills that matter. Performance improves by as much as 50% when salespeople know how and when to use these critical selling skills.

Here is where Action Selling will help. Have you read the Action Selling book series? (http://bit.ly/vf7qE) If not, it will be one of the best investments you can make in your company.

Action Selling teaches how to approach every sales situation with a commitment objective, how to ask the best questions, how and when to utilize the five critical selling skills, how to protect margins, and how to consistently gain greater commitment. Action Selling is a sales process that shows salespeople how and when to use these skills within the decision-making process of the buyer. Action Selling outlines the entire sales cycle giving real sales professionals a proven procedure that works.

Salespeople should also take their free sales skills assessment to find out their strengths and areas they can improve on in utilizing these sales skills. The assessment also gives recommendations on how to improve.

To Your Success