Working Smarter, Not harder

We’ve all heard the maxim, “what gets measured, gets done.” Your distribution CRM system can make it easy to track, measure and manage sales activity, but real management through data is not just throwing numbers on someone’s desk and asking them to work harder.

Lead with Actionable Analytics

SMP gives your team access to real actionable analytics that can identify ways for your team to work together more efficiently and close more deals. But you have to know how to make the data actionable, something that other CRM systems won’t help you with. Here are some suggestions to start with creating data visualizations that will lead to real action and sales improvement.

1. Focus on outcomes and changes more than just numbers. Telling a rep that they made $850,000 in sales last quarter may or may not be helpful. Telling them that they averaged $750,000 per quarter the prior 12 months and then increased to $850,000 is the start of a more meaningful conversation.
2. Move beyond the outcomes to explore areas of their performance. What they did to achieve that $100,000 increase over their average is more interesting still. What did they do and how can it be repeated across your entire sales force? SMP makes it easy to explore and connect all of your sales data for new insights. Did the rep make more calls or presentations? Did they leverage bids and quotes more effectively? Was there a change in product focus?
3. Talk with your reps before exploring the data. Make a few hypotheses before you start exploring your data and your data exploration will be more robust.

Data That Leads to Action

What kinds of actions make will help you work smarter and not harder. Here are three easy ways SMP can help you lead your distribution sales team to better results.

• Outlining the steps of your sales cycle: Every organization has a different approach to their sales cycle, but all prospects must make a journey from unaware suspect to loyal customer. Your team needs to know what the stages are in your sales culture, how will you measure those stages and what activities are expected of them in each stage. Your SMP system is a powerful ally in this process because it allows you to quickly enter and track specific behaviors that you know will lead to success.
• Create and deploy marketing and sales assets: You have a variety of assets at your disposal—emails, elevator pitches, call scripts, brochures, demonstrations—and you need to make sure that each of your reps can quickly and easily deploy them in a consistent manner. Your SMP system helps you get the right message to the right prospect at the right time.
• Focus on constant improvement: By tracking the stages, activities and success rates, you will be able to consistently improve the performance of your entire sales team. What behaviors do top reps have in common? What are lower performing reps missing in their playbooks?

The metrics you track demonstrate that you are objective and open in your criteria for judging the performance of your sales people. You also remove barriers to performance because your reps have access to the same information that you do. Good data creates the perfect environment for open conversations and collaboration, both hallmarks of great sales management.