Author: Ryan Lallier - CEO, RepTivity @RLallier
I have been in sales for over 12 years now and every organization I have worked for tracked our sales metrics on either excel spreadsheets, dashboards or whiteboards. The excel spreadsheet would arrive around 5PM with sales metrics from yesterday. By the time the excel spreadsheet was populated, the sales rep who was #1 yesterday on the leaderboard rankings is now #3 today. How motivating is that? How about the dreaded dashboards in Salesforce.com? Pie charts, bar graphs, zigzag lines, a speedometer and a list of call leaders is supposed to make me want to strive to be the best? Seriously? How about the ugly dry erase whiteboard on the wall? Talk about old school. Congratulations John, you just closed a deal, now go up and erase your old sales number and update it with your new one! While you’re up there, can you update the year to date numbers and oh can you update the monthly sales number too? Good times, right?
I have been in sales for over 12 years now and every organization I have worked for tracked our sales metrics on either excel spreadsheets, dashboards or whiteboards. The excel spreadsheet would arrive around 5PM with sales metrics from yesterday. By the time the excel spreadsheet was populated, the sales rep who was #1 yesterday on the leaderboard rankings is now #3 today. How motivating is that? How about the dreaded dashboards in Salesforce.com? Pie charts, bar graphs, zigzag lines, a speedometer and a list of call leaders is supposed to make me want to strive to be the best? Seriously? How about the ugly dry erase whiteboard on the wall? Talk about old school. Congratulations John, you just closed a deal, now go up and erase your old sales number and update it with your new one! While you’re up there, can you update the year to date numbers and oh can you update the monthly sales number too? Good times, right?
Why do sales organizations continue to use these methods of metric tracking? I encourage you to comment like crazy and let me know your opinion. But, in my opinion the reason sales organizations rely on these methods is because they are not intended for sales reps. Pie charts, spreadsheets and whiteboards are management tools. Managers rely on this data format, not sales reps. They can be negative and often times display how far the organization is from their actual goals. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to know where your company stands revenue vs. goal wise but, don’t forget about the engine which drives the sales machine – your sales reps. Sales reps live in a world of make phone calls, send emails, do web demos and sell more. Do them a favor and put away the dashboards, spreadsheets and whiteboards.
Can you suggest alternative methods for tracking sales metrics while keeping your team engaged and motivated?
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