5 Actions To Take NOW to Exceed 2015 Quota's
Sales Leadership: How to Ensure You Exceed Your 2015 Quota
The end of the year is rapidly closing in and while everyone in your organization is focused on achieving their targets; as a sales leader it is crucial you are also focused on the new year. At this time of year I am working with each of my clients to begin to position them for success. I have listed the actions most organizations need to consider to exceed next year’s quota.
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Begin to recruit. This is the best time of year to recruit as top performers are evaluating their current situation, so you may lose individuals and you can add individuals. Assuming your sales quota will go up, you will need additional salespeople on your team to achieve those higher numbers. Recruiting takes time and training new salespeople takes time, get a jump on your headcount. Also you may have salespeople failing and you may need to let other go, not having enough quality salespeople to achieve your numbers is the number one reason sales managers are let go! Check out my book on Recruiting High Performance Sales Teams, if you do not currently have a recruiting/interviewing process-it also includes a salesperson “On Boarding” process.
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Evaluate your compensation plan. Does the plan match your organizations strategic objectives? Is it competitive? Will there be changes to your products/services in the new year that could impact your compensation plan? It takes time to build a new compensation plan, do no leave this till December! You need to test it and plan how to roll it out. There is a free sales compensation assessment on our website: www.AcumenManagement.com
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Review Account Planning and Salesperson Business Plans. Depending upon your sales model, review whatever templates you are currently using; are they sophisticated enough, do they achieve what you want them to accomplish? Account Plans should at a minimum include a “strategy” and 5 tactical steps to either open or penetrate the accounts more effectively. Salesperson Business Plans should include more than simple forecasts; they need to include goal setting, training needs, marketing activities and business objectives. If you want a free sample, simply ask: Ken@AcumenMgmt.com
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Create annual sales contests. One of the key components in building high performing sales teams is the creation of the annual sales trip. There are many variations to concept and I don’t have room to detail in this blog, but the facts are where we have annual team reward trips, I see great sales organizations. They build pride, team work and drive revenue. In my book; Creating High Performance Sales Compensation Plans I have an entire chapter on incentive compensation.
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Plan what major sales training your team requires. Consider the skill level of your general team and what changes there are in your market and then assess various training programs that are available. We are not a sales training organization but we can make recommendations based upon your general needs. Create a budget and insert it into your new year plan!
Each organization is different and requires a unique solution however these 5 basic actions, if acted on, will position you to be ahead of the game!
Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 16 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout the world.
His latest book is, Ken’s 5 book: SLAMMED!!! For first time sales managers is now available:http://www.acumenmgmt.com/Books
Ken provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.
Ken@AcumenMgmt.com www.AcumenManagement.com Blog: www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com
Keynote Programs, Author, Consultant, Sales Management Training
9yexactly, I really focus on On Boarding, with my clients... we have a very detailed approach to ensure the new hire can actually sell the company! :)
Leadership and Sales Clarity Strategist | Talent Assessments | Sales Culture | Keynotes | Real Estate AZ High Desert
9yI would only suggest removing the word training as most of these sales people are trained and replace with the word development including hiring a coach. Another thought is to examine the onboarding process for new employees.With all the dollars already invested in finding top sales performers, why lose them before they are even totally on board?
Keynote Programs, Author, Consultant, Sales Management Training
9yKevin, good point, you have differing maturity levels of sales experience, territory demographics or account size.
Transforming our organization into a revenue generation machine
9yBuilding on point #2, you should evaluate the quotas you are actually setting. Is every sales rep getting the same quota? Yes, it's easier to do that than crunch performance data in Excel, but you are leaving some serious money on the table. One company I know of automated their territory alignment and quota setting and saw a 17% revenue bump. Why? Because all of their reps were at full capacity working towards an attainable goal based on their territory/segment. Today, there's no excuse not to automate Territory & Quota management.
Keynote Programs, Author, Consultant, Sales Management Training
9yAppreciate it Brad!