How to Build a High Velocity Sales Team: Metrics for Results (Part 5)
[This article is part of a multi-blog series on how to build a high velocity sales team. Click the following links to view Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 4.5. To the view the original 5-part webinar training series on how to build a high velocity sales team, conducted by Ken Krogue, click here.]
When most think about looking at results or reports, what usually comes to mind is looking retroactively at the success of a calling campaign. While this type of reporting is fine and can be beneficial in returning useful information, imagine the benefit that could be gained if you tracked your progress throughout the life of a campaign. This is the approach that Ken Krogue, President and co-founder of XANT, takes in a recent webinar. It’s very important that managers look at metrics throughout the process of a campaign to ensure that the execution of the campaign remains on the right path.
In the final webinar of the “high velocity sales” series, Ken defines 7 Levels of Reporting. These levels, particularly the higher ones, are heavily used by XANT as a benchmark to see where organizations stand in their reporting process and have been very helpful in establishing the success or failure of an initiative.
The 7 Levels of Reporting:
0. No Reporting.
1. Metric = Number
What good does a simple number do if it isn’t related to anything? Alone, a metric is not very helpful.
2. Rate = Metric/Time
A report that includes rates can actually tell you something. An example of a rate is, “My reps are making 38 calls/day.”
3. Ratio = Metric1/Metric2/Time
Ratios are helping when comparing one metric to another. For example, if you want to find your daily contact ratio, you would use the formula: contacts/dials/day.
4. Disposition = Why did that happen?
A disposition answers all the “why” questions a sales manager might have, “Why did I gain or lose those customers?” Often times to get the correct disposition you have to ask your customers.
5. Trend = Comparison over time
In a trend report, the calls/day for the current month, for example, would be compared with the calls/day of the previous month. This gives you a comparison that can be helpful in tracking improvements or failures.
6. ROI Analysis = Cost/Revenue or Cost/Dials
ROI reports are generally used by CEOs that want to know what is happening within their company from a cost perspective.
7. Predictive = Forecast
This is different from all the other reports because it isn’t as concrete. It is based on metrics from the past that give an educated guess.
In order to know which reports matter the most, it’s important that a sales manager start asking the right questions! “How many calls/day are my sales reps making?” “What is our contact rate?” “What sales rep is the most effective at closing?” As Ken says, “The discipline of good reporting starts with the discipline of asking a good question.”
In addition to asking the good questions, reviewing key indicators can be very telling in terms of the success of a sales team and in knowing that you’re on the right path while you’re still on the path. Here are some of the indicators that XANT looks at:
- The percentage of leads that have been contacted;
- How long we are taking to respond to our leads;
- How many call attempts per lead we are making;
- How long a lead has been in the hand of a sales rep with no progress;
- The percentage of hot transfers; and
- The number of same day appointments.
By understanding these indicators you can keep track of your campaigns while they are in progress instead of waiting until they are over and there is no room to improve results.
What metrics have you found to be the most helpful in creating your sales results?
View the final webinar in the Building a High Velocity Sales series:
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