For those of you that work in sales jobs, I would imagine that most, if not all of you would like to move into management roles at some stage of your career. Just about all of the sales managers began their career in standard sales jobs and have moved upwards. Due to the nature of the career path, it is likely that as a sales manager you will work in different industries as some stage. When you move around different industries, you will need to alter your method when it comes to measuring the performance of your sales team.
The measuring of sales can be worked into an analogy of a funnel. If you picture the funnel, it will have a wide outer area leading to a small hole in the middle leading to what will come out of the other end. This may sound a little strange but it is applicable to sales measurement. For example in the wider regions of the funnel, the amount of different activities performed by staff on a day to day basis could be included. These activities are usually done a lot and will include things such as making phone calls to new and existing customers. Then as the funnel grows narrower, it represents the output of the activities, such as the sales made and any financial information.
A good sales manager is able to measure the performance of both the individuals and the team as a whole. Many people in sales jobs believe that if something is measured then it can be improved. This does make sense as if patterns are recorded and analysed, then different methods of improvements can be worked out between a manager and sales representative. In the early stages as well the sales person will make a conscious effort to do well at something that is measured. This works at both a one to one basis and also that of a team itself.
A sign of a good sales manager is one that can ensure that their team improves on their secondary targets without neglecting their primary goal of making sales. For example if the target is miscommunicated in any way and a sales person looks to focus their attentions on a secondary goal such as making more visits, it's likely to have a negative effect. People will do what is necessary to increase their performance at a measurement and can result in them repeatedly contacting customers that are unlikely to lead to sales. This will ultimately be your doing and as a manager you will need to put it right!
This article is written by Jonathan Walker of
Sales Jobs
