January 16, 2014- ISSN# 1545-2646
Fresh Start for Sales
Hopefully by now you have had your 2014 sales kick off meeting. Sales objectives and quotas have been discussed. Compensation plans are delivered. Product delivery and marketing roll out efforts are well underway.
It must be time to kick back and watch all the sales just roll in the door – Not going to happen!
Sales is an active participation sport. Not one you watch from behind the PC screen. That would be like saying you played in Sunday’s football game because you watched it on TV.
Depending on the size of your business and sales force, you need to have the appropriate tools to drive and manage your sales efforts to reach your objectives. At a minimum you should have ways to track your current customers orders and new prospective customer sales. Your tracking system should allow you to forecast revenues based on defined criteria. This way you can at least have a projection of dollars and compare that with actual sales delivered. The larger the gap between these values (not meeting objective), the more attention you should start having in narrowing the gap.
With more extensive tools you can manage marketing campaigns, lead development, sales workflows etc. Some tools have user defined methodology with associated steps, transactions and feedback loops.
In today’s business world of SAAS (software as a service) and cloud based tools, there are many tools with per user/per month fees that give your sales team access to some very strong sales tools while minimizing your internal computer management resources.
This week, take a look at what you are or are not doing to drive sales in your business. If you are not measuring the process then you are not managing the process. From the inception of a lead to the business to the closing and delivery of the customer order, each step along the way contributes to the overall profitability of your business.
Wondering if your sales systems are aligned to achieve your business goals? Give JKL Associates a call at (313) 527-7945 and let us discuss how we can help you achieve your objectives.
Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945
Copyright – JKL Associates 2014
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JKL Associates
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