Sales Performance Management | Leaders Manage Visibility

Apr 18, 2019 | news

What is Sales Performance Management (SPM)?

According to G2Crowd, sales performance management tools “monitor sales progress to determine and recognize success, or proactively respond to processes and employees that need to improve.”

Although sales performance management systems can take on many different appearances, the overall goal is always to give managers the ability to measure the daily activity and performance of their teams to improve training and coaching.

A sales performance management tool is a manager’s right hand when it comes to evaluating rep and team performance, improving coaching and training initiatives, and providing performance and forecasting reports. By measuring and using the right data to help salespeople grow their skills, management can expect more qualified sales opportunities, better forecasting, and improved pipeline and revenue.

Increase Visibility, Increase Performance, Increase Competition

The data provided by these tools is 100% accurate due to the elimination of manual data entry. Automated data capture also gives reps more time to spend selling, rather than wasting time on non-revenue generating administrative activities, like logging each call. This process makes the daily job of a sales rep much more efficient and productive, which is why SPM tools currently have the highest adoption rate of sales technologies with 68% (Salesforce).

With a sales performance management tool, managers can analyze call activity to see the daily activity and results of individual reps or their whole team. These tools often include dashboards and leaderboards that reward top reps and inspire healthy competition between teammates. Now, reps may have a greater incentive to improve when seeing their statistics in real-time, and managers can coach struggling reps by replicating patterns of behavior of high performers.

Seamless Onboarding

Although 2/5 of companies believe they are putting their most significant initiatives towards training and onboarding, 1/3 of executives think their company’s ability to hire successful reps needs improvement. However, it is usually the management of training initiatives that need improvement due to a lack of insight into rep effectiveness and outdated training methods. When using a sales performance management tool, managers will be able to use the identified patterns of success to create a blueprint for success for new hires to follow. This tool will speed up onboarding and ensure enforcement of best practices from the start.

Combining Training with Technology

Better sales performance comes from having the correct strategy, training, and methodology aligned with technology. By itself, sales training time and time again proves itself ineffective after just a few months. Reps quickly forget the information learned during training periods because there is not a mechanism to reinforce the training. For sales training to have a positive ROI, it must be consistently reinforced and continuously modified. With insights from a sales tool into the daily selling activities of reps, managers can use real-time sales productivity data to enhance training and coaching processes at their organizations. With this information, they can coach based on data, modify best practices, and create a culture of accountability at their organization.

Sales Performance Management ROI

Leading organizations are moving past the days of less-than-accurate, manually input activity data. Each year companies spend up to $13 billion on sales tools and software meant to increase revenue and accelerate the sales process. Specifically, the average company annually spends $3,894 per rep on sales productivity – and spending for account executives is 17.6% higher (Sales for Life). But there is a reason companies are investing in these tools; the data they provide is proven to drive performance and revenue growth. Salesforce found that in 2018, high performing teams were 1.5 times more likely to base forecasts on data-driven insights, while underperformers were 1.7 times more likely to forecast based on gut feeling.

Training to a Standard

Managers must set benchmarks based on actual numbers to establish training programs with a proven methodology. No one should rely on guesswork when the data exists. For managers to be most effective, they must support training principals with numbers. Their reps should see precisely where they stand and what it takes to be successful. Structured training programs fueled by data remain the best asset for a manager to increase the phone-based performance of the sales team. So, a sales performance management tool may be the most investment-worthy product of the year to assist with achieving training, performance, and organizational goals.

Improve Effectiveness with Sales Performance Management
What steps are you taking to improve the performance of your sales team? Sales Performance Management is the practice of supervising and coaching employees, so they can improve and optimize their skills to sell products or services. A critical component in Sale Performance Management is to instruct and motivate sales professionals to achieve their goals by adhering and utilizing the best practices for sales effectiveness. Managers can measure improvement to directly see the results of their efforts or any lingering problem areas. There are several software programs which can help streamline and enhance the process of managing sales performance and will encourage the activities that drive sales. An investment into a sales performance management tool makes a sales team more effective and improves pipeline, qualified sales opportunities, analytics, forecasting, ROI, and revenue.

Prioritizing Sales Performance Management
Do you have clear visibility into the daily activities of your salespeople? In 2019, the top priority for 16% of sales teams is investing in sales enablement tools (HubSpot). Now, with the abundance of these tools available in today’s market, have you considered choosing sales performance management? Increase the effectiveness of your sales team with the implementation of an organized approach to SPM. Expect a stronger sales pipeline by having the right data to help your salespeople grow their skills to align with your process. Better sales analytics comes from having the correct strategy and methodology aligned with technology. These analytics make it easier to identify and to track critical high and low indicators and KPIs in real-time. This data improves forecast accuracy with the right analytics to predict each quarter’s numbers.

These tools also provide a more substantial ROI on sales performance and training because they give optimal support to your reps and teams through targeting enablement and training investments. This process ensures your all your sales systems align with your strategy and process. As a result, revenue should grow, and you should see healthier profit margins stemming from higher win rates. A sound and aligned SPM system assists salespeople with promoting the right solutions and building value for their customers, which leads to better sales margins. Organizations implementing effective SPM consistently outperform their peers.

So, if you are ready to reach the next level in your organization, consider a Sales Performance Management tool.