While every sales force is different, there are factors that ring true when trying to understand what is behind the success of your sales organization. When leading indicators are understood, they can often be used to predict and affect the outcome.

It is very typical for a company to produce reports at the end of the month that illustrate to management sales results by product, profitability and past trends in revenue. It is not typical for a company to look at the leading indicators that they can affect.

The number of sales calls made, calls by type of customer or prospect, pipeline fluidity, pipeline accuracy, forecast accuracy, number of orders in the pipeline, number of deals pending, compensation plan statistics and training are just a sample of the many leading indicators that should be measured, monitored and coached on each and every day.

The more fluid the measurement of the leading indicators, the more often managers can coach on these indicators and the greater the probability of hitting their targets. The process starts with identifying every possible indicator. It is then necessary to categorize or group the indicators.

Basic categories will look something like this:
1. Financial
2. CRM/SFA
3. Compensation
4. Customer satisfaction
5. Subjective/Observational
6. Training

Inside each category will be a list of indicators identified by leading or trailing. There will most likely be 10 to 20 indicators per category. From there, the company must prioritize and narrow down the key indicators that if coached on and managed properly will drive revenue.

The sales manager now has what he or she needs to work with salespeople to coach, train and change behaviors that are impacting the indicators. While it is a training issue for some and a focus issue for others, the opportunity to improve salespeople is now present.

Overall, the process to achieve the best results is one that relies on measurement, monitoring and coaching on the indicators that are connected to driving revenue. Once this is accomplished, companies will see a dramatic difference in driving revenue.




Patrick Stakenas is president and CEO of ForceLogix. He can be reached at 847-281-9307.