<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=585972928235617&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">

The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

The 4 Key Performance Indicators Sales Managers Need to Track

 

The 4 Key Performance Indicators Sales Managers Need to Track

There are four key performance indicators I recommend everyone keep a weekly focus on.  If you are a manager who does weekly individual focus meetings with your AE's or if you are a manager managing managers, these four things will help you keep the focus of the individual and the team on things that are crucial in moving the needle. 

These four essential metrics will tell you if you are on track for success. 

Topics: Sales metrics

2 Ways to Measure Top Performers

Top performer

I wanted to title this blog "Top performers WANT to be measured, but poor or average performers NEED to be measured," but I was told that isn't a very strong title for click-throughs.

Nevertheless, I will continue with this blog despite my disappointment. 

As you know, your best salespeople want to be better!

  • They want/need feedback.
  • They want to know the score.
  • They want to know how they compare to others.
  • And they want to be measured so they can see how good they are compared to the rest of the team. 
Topics: Sales metrics

Annual Planning During Election Year

Annual Planning During Election Year

72% of Americans believe whoever is elected in the White House will directly impact their finances and 32% are putting off a big financial decision until Election Day.

Every four years, there’s a whirlwind of uncertainty about who will win the presidential and congressional elections. This year, our economic future tops the poll of concern. The unknowns are causing leadership to take fewer risks, hold off on making necessary business decisions, and hesitant to have conversations regarding annual contracts.

While we can’t predict the future and outcome, we can take control by being proactive. When it comes to business, time is money. And every business decision you delay is costing you valuable time and money.

Topics: metrics annual plannning

Inputs vs. Output: Do You Know What’s Really Driving Your Sales?

Inputs vs. Output: Do You Know What’s Really Driving Your Sales?

One of the most common debates in sales is how to best measure performance and other sales indicators. While some organizations prefer process-oriented KPIs, others have an outcome-oriented bias. Both ends of the spectrum are invaluable for powering your sales, but when it comes to prioritizing inputs vs. output, the “i’s” have it.

Topics: Sales metrics

5 Metrics that Should Matter Most to Sales Managers

metrics that should matter to sales managersEditor's Note: This post was originally published in Sales & Marketing Management.

As a sales manager, you spend serious time and care setting clear expectations; this is how you help your salespeople approach their work with purpose. But to see real improvement, you need a system in place that measures how those expectations are being met.

Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. You’ve got so much on your plate—there are so many threads and tangents crisscrossing your managerial path every day—that you risk spending all your time pulling reports and never being able to actually dive into the data you’ve collected.

Worse, metrics these days are like pop songs: They’re catchy for a while until a new one comes along and grabs everyone’s attention. A sales manager I once knew was in love with a particular metric: the number of calls each seller made in a day. While call volume certainly contributed to sales success, it shouldn’t have been this manager’s sole focus. What he ended up creating was a team that blustered through calls without making meaningful progress with sales.

Topics: metrics

How Measuring Success is Different in Digital

digital campaign analyticsMeasuring the results of an ad campaign or a marketing push is important. How else will you know if the effort was a success, and if the investment produced a profitable return? In the past, it was often tough to measure, causing uncertainty and frustration among both buyers and sellers.

In the digital age, I could argue that it’s gotten too easy to report campaign metrics.

Topics: digital marketing metrics

How is Your Website Doing Compared to Your Competitors'?

person_at_computer.jpg

Let’s face it. If you are managing a business and you don’t have access to data regarding how your business is doing, you are essentially flying blind. Without benchmarks and numbers to indicate how you are doing, it’s tough to know what the score is and who is winning. That’s why analytics and data have become so important to business owners and marketers over the past few years. Knowledge is power, and the same now can be said for understanding and being able to analyze and interpret data.

HubSpot understands the need that businesses have to analyze large amounts of data for the purpose of making sound business decisions, and they have recently launched a new Research blog. The HubSpot Research blog provides in-depth insight and information for marketers and business owners that are looking to make data-driven decisions.

Topics: digital marketing metrics