Sales Reporting or Sales Planning?

I found an interesting article in Sales & Marketing (www.SalesAndMarketingMag.com) It was written by John Graham, president of Graham Communications, Quincy, MA (http://www.grahamcomm.com/home.htm). The question posed was "Does the weekly sales report still have value?"

I adapted Mr. Graham's article to look at a bigger picture or what I call the Sales Planning Process.

Where are you now?

Where do you want to be?

How do you plan to get there?

Now take action.

Throughout Mr. Graham's response he asks questions I feel are more important than solely determining if a sales report is still needed. In validating, the use of a sales report Mr. Graham said the report should help the salesperson answer five critical questions.

1. How am I using my time?

If you are in sales, ask yourself the following.

Am I conscious of where my selling time is being used?

Am I making calls on my most profitable or most comfortable clients?

Can some of my face to face calls be replaced by more time and cost effective phone calls?

If you are in management or sales management ask yourself the following.

How much time are my reps spending on non-selling tasks such as meetings?

What is the effect of these meeting interruptions on the productivity of my sales rep?

How can I increase my sales by reducing or eliminating non-selling tasks?

2. How good am I at understanding a client's business?

Do I have a clear grasp on what is happening in each client's business?

What are the problems facing the industry?

Were and what are my client's objectives?

How do my company and me fit into all of this?

What can we do to be helpful and add value to our client relationships?

What must we be doing to become an indispensable vendor, supplier or partner?

3. How effective is my planning?

Do I know who I am going to see and why?

Do I have everything down in writing so I am not depending on my memory?

How am I going to use my time day by day next week?

What do I need to accomplish with these clients over the next thirty days?

4. What is going on within my territory?

"Salespeople need to understand what they see and hear about current customers, prospects and competitors. Sales reps are their company's intelligence agents. But those in sales must recognize that even if the tidbits of information they obtain don't seem to make sense or appear to possess value, the individual pieces can serve to create a helpful picture."

I am constantly reminding my students the answers they are seeking are within the little details. Are you paying attention and keeping track of the little details?

5. Who should become a client?

What is the profile of my company's most profitable client?

What is the prospecting strategy both the sales rep and sales management have adapted for evaluating and cultivating these types of prospects?

Are you capturing and using this type of information? If so, great! If not, why not? When you are answering these questions on a regular basis, you will not only have justified a weekly sales report (assuming you use one), you'll be able to make better use of your time.

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Resources for Last Weeks Issue on Calculating ROI

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Going back briefly to last week's subject "Different Methods of Calculating ROI", I found a web site that has the different formulas for calculating ROI.

On this page you will gain access to the Corporate Finance Live web site. www.prenhall.com/divisions/bp/app/cfldemo/Contents.html

ROI Concepts and Calculators
* Time Value of Money Calculator
* Cash Flow Calculator
* Capital Budgeting Calculator
* Expected Return Calculator
* Two Asset Portfolio Calculator
* External Financing Needed Calculator

I have found the most believable ROI calculations use smaller assumptions to make their point. For example if the going hourly rate for a programmer is $85, then use on $50 or even $40 in your equation.

If an executive saves money when the variable is $40 an hour, ask them to imagine how much they will save if the variable is what the going marketplace is paying.

Our prospects and clients are increasingly turning to ROI calculations to justify large capital expenditures.

Since this is the way executives want to buy, we must be ready to help them by having our ROI calculations prepared well in advance.


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Make it a great day and a successful week!

Ron S. La Vine, MBA, President

Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.'s -
Live Cold Call New Business Development Sales Training™

Helping you Break into Large Accounts™

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mailto:rslavine@ast-incorp.com
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