In a previous blog post Jonathan Miller, Sales Manager at InsideSales.com, described the impossible sales trinity: equal distribution, defined parameters, and lead priority. In this post he stated that it is impossible for sales teams to attain all three criteria without sacrificing sales productivity. I couldn’t agree with him more.
Sadly most sales manager spend far too many resources figuring out how to divide the “pie.” Typically, they try to settle situations in which one sales rep encroaches on the other’s territory after it was divided or two business development associates unknowingly call the same company. Instead managers should be focusing their efforts on value added activities for their sales teams, that is: How can I make the pie bigger? Here are a few ideas:
- Track Key Metrics such as lead source and close rates. Track major metrics that influence buying. These may include local, size of company and lead source. Compile lots of data. More is better to start.
- Begin to mine this data. Run probabilities such as: Given the company is a Boston based real estate company and has 20 brokers, what is the probability that Erik will close this deal versus John? If Erik’s close rate is only 5% and John’s is 10% for this lead profile the lead will be routed to John. In actuality the algorithm used at InsideSales.com is much more complex.
This is what I mean when I say it is the obligation of sales managers to make the pie bigger. It is their jobs to not merely “deal the deck of cards” but to “stack it the deck” for their sales reps.
Paul Fischer 