Professional sales controlling aims to bring transparency to the sales department performance without ‘controlling’ it in the literal sense. It identifies strengths and weaknesses in sales and therefore acts as a springboard for concrete measures.
But there are a few things that need to be dealt with before sales controlling can take full effect. The sales process requires a clear structure, and there needs to be a suitable sales tool in place to support operative sales. For this to happen the sales staff need to keep detailed records of prospectives, current customers, leads and any related calls, emails and sales opportunities.
Sales controlling: The easy way to define your performance goals
Companies that use qualitative KPIs in sales controlling can establish where the strengths of individual staff members lie compared to others and where there is room for improvement at each stage of the sales process. A company can learn from its successful sales staff, using their expertise to the benefit of everyone on the team. It also means that employees can receive exactly the coaching that matches their profiles and will be given precise targets to improve their performance. Therefore, sales controlling enables sales to keep the expectations placed in its own performance within a realistic framework. But it also delivers clear evidence of where and how individual sales employees can achieve more.
Quick Check: Do you know your sales KPIs?
Sales managers and others responsible for the business should be able to answer a raft of questions about the performance and capabilities of the sales department, including:
- Which KPIs do we record alongside quantitative parameters?
- How well is our sales department exploiting potential acquisitions?
- How active is the sales team?
- How do these KPIs help our operative sales activities?
- Do the KPIs promote healthy and playful competition within the sales staff?
- Do the bonus schemes reflect individual KPI-based targets for sales staff?
- How quickly do my employees respond to customer enquiries?