Measuring Results – Key Performance Indicators Can Help Set Better Goals For Sales Reps
Sales managers often rush to judgment if sales reps aren’t meeting their quotas, and automatically assume that they either don’t have the skills or the understanding to perform.
Instead of assuming the worst, however, managers need to take on the responsibility of examining the root cause – or “blockers” – of a rep’s poor performance.
By focusing on a few key performance indicators, a manager can better determine if a rep can realistically meet the quotas and financial goals the company has set for him. This is a far more effective approach than simply raising a reps quotas and hoping the increased pressure will get him to perform.
Rather, managers should recognize and identify all of the activities their reps are asked to perform, based on the company’s objectives for the year.
Some of these activities might include customer meetings, cold calls, proposal writing, lead generation, negotiation, client management, and all of the other activities a rep must perform to reach important sales objectives.
Obviously, the amount of activities a rep must perform limits the time he has to actually sell, and most reps today are only spending 40 to 45 percent of their workweek on sales efforts. This limited selling time, based on numerous activities, could be the primary reason salespeople aren’t meeting their quotas.
Key Performance Indicators
After taking into account all of the activities a rep is asked to perform, an effective manager should then identify the activities that would be considered the key performance indicators for their organization. These specific activities should be highly correlated to the production of the ultimate result.
For example, key performance indicators a manager might want to measure on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis could include:
The number of new prospects a rep contacts per week
The number of new client meetings the rep schedules
The number of proposals the rep writes
By focusing on a few metrics that are non-financial, it’s easier to prioritize a rep’s workday or workweek and anticipate a rep’s ability to meet sales objectives. A manager should choose what he believes are the top two or three key performance indicators and have reps who aren’t performing well focus on these areas, based on the objectives for the year.
As an example, one objective of a company might be to increase the number of new businesses in the customer mix. The activities that will help a manager and his sales team meet this objective are prospecting calls, new customer meetings, and proposal writing.
A manager can identify these activities as key performance indicators and better measure results, as they relate to the overall objective, knowing that their reps are focused on the proper activities. Because these activities relate to the overall objective, the manager knows his reps are focused on the proper activities.
Another objective may be to expand the company’s share of business with certain customers. Key performance indicators to be measured for this objective are the number of new contacts a rep is establishing within the exiting customer base, and the number of on-site appointments he’s scheduling. Both activities force the rep to interface with existing customers, establish new points of contact, and identify new sales opportunities.
Blending Activities
Most companies have multiple objectives for the year, so a manager should be prepared to blend the activities reps are performing so they are dividing and using their time wisely. For example, taking the two examples given above, a manager can break out the activities by assigning targeted goals for each activity every week. More specifically, if a rep is making cold calls, she might be asked to conduct 15 appointments every week.
Following this scenario, the cold calling key performance indicators to be measured would be the number of dials every day and the number of times the sales rep actually speaks to new contacts per day. Additional key performance indicators would include the number of customer appointments each week, the number of prospect appointments every week, and the number of proposals completed each week.
By taking the time to identify key performance indicators, a manager can help his team of reps succeed by focusing on the activities most important to the company’s overall objectives. Less time will be wasted on activities that aren’t relevant to ultimate results, and manager will be able to better assess the true skills and understanding of his reps.
Tags: Better, Goals, Help, Indicators, Measuring, Performance, Reps, Results, Sales
The Perfect Franchise Opportunity: the Factors of the Art Workshop
Every year, you can expect lists to come out about everything. This year’s top 10 lists include some of the most enlightening revelations about business and the direction business is going. In a recent report, fast food, janitorial services and delivery services seem to be the peak of 2006. How does Rivky’s Art Workshop stand up to those?
When you are looking at franchise opportunities, you have to take yourself into account. A major mistake among most new entrepreneurs is the notion that business must be done the way it always has been done. What about your time with your family? What about building your client base into long term, repeat customers who are more like friends than patrons? What about running a business out of your own home?
There are trends in the business world and I have a hunch that most of these new trends were started by individuals who never spent one day in a business class. Otherwise, opening up at the break of dawn and closing way after dusk would be their idea of a business. Having customers stampede in like a heard of cattle, buy their products and leave in business like fashion would be their dream come true. Leasing or buying a building and packing it with inventory would be their business model.
Subway seems to top the list in just about every category. Lists include Top 10 of 2006, Best of the Best, and Fastest Growing among others. Subway opens early in the morning, closes long after dinner and requires a constant inventory. For a customer, it’s great. For an entrepreneur, it’s a nightmare. You have to have employees who know what they are doing and don’t make too many mistakes on a daily basis. You need a constant supply of inventory. And the long hours you’ll be keeping will make your family life virtually non-existent.
Most franchise opportunities work this way. But even if they don’t, there are other factors involved. A janitorial service is the type of business that you can run pretty much at your own hours. If you are cleaning people’s homes, you can set the time that you’ll be there. Make it any time throughout the day that is good for you. But, there’s not much chance for multiplication. You can only do one home at a time. And if you’re doing office buildings, you might be working late into the evening because you won’t be able to clean during office hours.
There is always so much to think about when you are searching for the perfect franchise opportunity. That’s why Rivky’s Art Workshops are really more ideal than any other. You set the times that you are going to be holding your workshops. So, you can have a family life and run your workshops too. You don’t need much inventory. Art supplies are fairly cheap and students can be expected to buy their own, unless you want to give them art supplies as a bonus. You get to know your customers by their name and soon you know so much more about them than that. You can build repeat business and word-of-mouth business through your client base who has actually turned out to be more like a family than merely customers.
The most awesome part about running an art workshop is the multiplicity factor. You can have several students in one class. A class can last for 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on you. So, you have multiplied your earning potential from an hourly wage to your fee times the number of students you accept in one class. The math is phenomenal. Run a few classes a week and you are making more than the pour soul working his fingers to the bone to keep his Subway open.
There are many other factors that make Rivky’s Art Workshop the most ideal franchise opportunity. But if you think about the ones listed here, you’re already interested. You have time to do other things. You have a client base that grows by the day through word of mouth. You have loyal repeat business. Work anywhere you desire. Running art workshops in your home isn’t at all too difficult. Rivky’s Art Workshops meet today’s business trends with absolute perfect conclusion.
Tags: Factors, Franchise, Opportunity, Perfect, Workshop
Lease Trading And Single-Payment Lease
There are two amounts in a conventional lease that incur charges and determine your monthly lease payments.
First, there is a depreciation charge which accounts for the value the car loses during the lease term.
Second is a residual amount which is the projected value of the vehicle at the end of the lease.
The sum of these two charges gives the monthly payments on your lease.The idea behind a pre-paid lease is to eliminate the finance charges for depreciation and only account for residual value charges in a single, pre-paid payment at the beginning of the lease.
Single-payment leases are devised with spend thrifts in mind: no cycle of monthly payments, a new car every two to three years and no interest in purchasing the vehicle at the end of the lease. You should only consider this type of lease if you are concerned about not being able to make monthly payments and have a lot of cash upfront.
Lease Trading
Ever wanted to terminate your lease early, comfortable with the thought you weren’t going to be hit with hefty fees? You can if you transfer your lease to someone else.
Trading a lease is the best option for people who want to terminate a lease early and don’t want to pay the large termination imposed by most lease agents. It can also be an alternative to get out of a lease for far less than you would otherwise pay your original lease company for extra mileage and wear-and-tear charges that can run into the thousands of dollars.
For a small fee, you can advertise your car lease for assumption to a large number of potential buyers on the look-out for leases on the Internet. Such services include LeaseTrader.com, the originator of online lease-trading and the biggest online marketplace where most lease transfers take place, and smaller marketplaces such as BreakAlead.com and TradeAlease.com
Before swapping your lease, make sure your leasing company approves lease transfer transactions. Caution must be exercised in choosing a lease swapping service: make sure they facilitate the whole lease transfer process, offer online or telephone customer-service help and registered buyers undergo stringent credit checks.
Tags: Lease, SinglePayment, Trading
