Measurement Tools for a Sales Plan
The typical goal of a sales plan is to grow or build a client base and increase profits. Most successful sales plans have many similarities, including defined target markets, industry research and trends, competitor information, assigned territories and sales force, sales strategies, and predetermined financial goals. Effective sales plans are quantifiable, which means sales activity and results can be measured. There are many types of sales plan measurement tools to ensure an organization's financial goals are met or exceeded.
Sales Benchmarks
Benchmarks are tools that compare competitors' actual results with the set goals and results of a company's own sales force. It allows managers to assess the situation in order to meet or revise the financial goals, depending on the market and industry standards. Benchmarks can also be the comparison of the current numbers with the past year's results.
Sales Metrics
Many sales plans have outlined strategies that include specific activities believed to generate more revenue, such as phone calls, sales visits, emails, letters and others. Sales metrics is simply the measurement of the set activity goals. When managers and salespeople track these numbers, they can see how much activity is needed to reach the desired goal. An example is, "It takes three phone calls to get an order from Customer X."
These numbers may help managers see the productivity levels of their sales force. This may be especially beneficial to companies with remote sales forces. Metrics can be very detail-oriented to fit a company's needs, such as tracking the specific number of calls to active customers, the specific number of calls to inactive customers, and the number of calls to prospective customers.
Sales Scorecards
Sales metrics are used to create sales scorecards, another popular measurement tool. No matter how much sales activity is done, all the calls in the world do not matter without revenue and new customer generation. Scorecards usually have the metrics, as well as the actual results, including number of new customers, number of orders, number of reactivated customers and others.
They also typically list the generated revenue amount, gross margin amount, profitability rate (with overhead costs included), as well as a comparison between the actual numbers and the set financial goals. They may allow managers to make changes if necessary, see what activities are generating results, and provide coaching opportunities. The assessment of a scorecard usually takes place on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on the overall sales plan time frame.
Tags: financial goals, number calls, sales force, sales plan, sales plans, actual results, customers number