Tips for Assessing Your Sales Team

Last week, Fire Enterprises, Inc. (FEI) marketing whiz Marka walked savvy salesperson Zoot through how offering an “astonishing guarantee” can help FEI lure in hesitant prospects. This week, Marka gives Zoot some tips on assessing his sales team as the year draws to a close. Remember, fire = print.

With Olympians Day just two weeks away, the FEI lobby and offices were decorated for the occasion: boughs of grape leaves, olive trees hung with gold and silver and, of course, a stinky athletic sock hanging from above the fireplace.

Marka stepped into Zoot’s office. “Excited for the holiday, Zooty?”

“I am,” Zoot said, “but I’m terrified of what comes after.”

“The weight gain?” asked Marka.

“No, Marka. End-of-the-year sales team assessments,” Zoot snorted. “They’ve never been a strength of mine. Can you give me some tips to get started?”

“Absolutely,” replied Marka, as she started scribbling on the whiteboard in Zoot’s office.

• Get a View from the Field

“Start by assessing each territory with the appropriate team members,” Marka explained. “Use this analysis as an opportunity to discover which of your reps know the pulse of their territories and which don’t. Numbers and bottom-line results are obviously important, but so is other feedback.”

[Marka returned to the whiteboard to write some more.]

• Examine Last Year’s Sales Forecasts

“Focus on whether or not your sales reps delivered on their promises from a year ago, followed up on all generated leads in a timely fashion, and if they missed any opportunities,” Marka said.

“Then take a look at each rep’s projected top accounts and determine how close was his/her actual performance to early forecasts, and as the year progressed, if you were kept informed of changes in the sales plan,” she added. “Were any needed corrective actions taken?”

“Remember,” Marka continued, “you can’t figure out where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been.” [She then scribbled some more.]