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How To Assess Your Sales Intelligence Quota
Answer the following questions. If you answer "No," you could be missing a strategic
advantage that you could incorporate in to your sales system to make it more effective.
1. Do you know exactly how many calls it takes to make a sale?
If not, perform an analysis.
2. Do you know how long your sales cycle is?
The definition of a sales cycle is that time that elapses between the first inquiry and the sale.
Depending on the type of business or organisation you have, the sales cycle could be started when someone enters your facility. Also, it could be complete in one visit if your products are commonly used.
On the other hand, your sales cycle might start with an inquiry based on a magazine ad. Based
on the type of products or services you offer, that inquiry could start a process that takes months or even years to complete. You must know the length of your average sales cycle so you
can define marketing communications and follow-up strategies.
3. Do you provide your sales people with a defined and tested prospecting method?
Just because you hire experienced salespeople, don't assume they know how to prospect for
potential customers/clients for your organisation. It's your job as strategist and manager to quantify what works, and teach that method of prospecting to each salesperson. For instance, if
cold calling is part of your sales process, do you have historical records that show how many cold calls it will take to produce a prospect? Do those records also indicate how many prospects
must be located to make a sale? And, exactly what happens along the way?
The quantification and analysis of the daily activities of your sales organisation provides you with
the statistical data necessary to spot problems and fine-tune your sales process to make it as effective as possible.
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