This is one of the most important questions for a sales manager. How to organize control over a sales manager? Control what time he comes to work? What does he do at work? Or only the results that it shows at the end of the month?

Practice shows that none of the listed control options brings results. If we control every step of an employee, we, firstly, spend a lot of time on it, and secondly, we deprive the employee of any initiative. He doesn’t want to invent anything, because he knows that he will still be controlled and given a slap on the wrist. The second option - to carry out control after the fact, based on the results of a month of work, will also not bear fruit, since in fact it is not control, it is only a recording of the results.

This means you need to choose the middle option - daily monitoring of results.

But a sales manager may not sell anything in a day? Certainly. I’ll even say more: he may not sell anything in a month or two, and in some businesses even in a year, because the transaction cycle is different everywhere. But this absolutely does not mean that it is impossible to control the daily results of a manager’s work. How to do it?

Result and process

First of all, let's define what a result is and what a process is.
Result - this is a specific achievement in the process with fixation of the remaining part to the final result.
Process - this is an action without recording the result for the period and without indicating the remaining stages.

Result: Today I unloaded 1/5 of a truckload of crushed stone. Another 4 days in this mode and I will finish the unloading.

Process: I unloaded crushed stone today. I unloaded a lot, but there is even more left.

It seems funny, but most often managers give reports on their work precisely in the second format:

“Oh, I'm having a great day today. Two negotiations and both are almost ready to buy.”

“Damn, the project for 1,000,000 is really sticking.”

“I have been negotiating with them for 3 months, they will definitely buy this month.”

Common situation? I myself have encountered this many times; moreover, at the beginning of my career, I myself assessed my work as a sales manager in this way.

Control of such “results” is reduced to formality, since it is impossible to evaluate them and has practically no effect on the real result. What needs to be done to ensure that managers provide reports in a specific format? It's very simple...relieve them of reporting obligations. There is no point in letting managers fill out reports; they will write there their subjective attitude to a specific transaction and to sales in general. You only need to regularly monitor the sales funnel indicators. And to achieve only one thing from managers - recording actions with clients.

From theory to practice

We divide the sale into stages. For example:

• 1. Access to the decision maker;
• 2. Showing interest;
• 3. Making an appointment;
• 4. Receipt of technical specifications;
• 5. Preparation of a commercial proposal;
• 6. Approval of conditions;
• 7. Signing the contract.

The manager should record only the action he performed with the client and the stage at which the action is located . And the manager only records how many clients are at what stages. If 10 clients were added during the day at stage 1, then the manager made 10 effective cold calls. If there were 10 more client movements from stage to stage, it means that work was carried out with 10 more clients. We understand the manager's performance, although he has not yet made a single sale. He is pushing more and more clients towards the end. It's like playing backgammon. There is no need to get hung up on a specific chip, you need to move all the chips towards the final. Only the manager has an advantage in this game; he can always introduce new client chips into the game.
And the manager controls:

• Number of clients in work;
• Speed ​​of clients moving through stages;
• Stages at which clients get stuck.

The manager does not prepare any reports, he only works with clients, and the manager sees his interim performance online and can predict the results of his work.

A CRM system can automate the process described above. It doesn’t matter what it is, the main thing is that the sales process is broken down into stages, and the manager can track changes in these stages on a daily basis. And then you won’t have to monitor the sales manager’s arrival time for work or close social networks. The work will be clearly visible from the intermediate results. And good sales results with this approach will not take long to arrive.

Turnkey sales department. Project, organization, management Sotnikova Tatyana Vladimirovna

Chapter 11 Management vector – “Control and analysis of sales performance”

Management vector – “Control and analysis of sales performance”

11.1. Functions and forms of control

The sales department is a department that brings in money and directly affects the stability of the company. Any error not detected in time in the work of the sales department can lead to losses and problems. Therefore, regular monitoring, analysis and evaluation of all components of the SALES NETWORK is the main tool for timely adjustment of the company’s activities.

Control - This is the process of checking and comparing actual results with planned targets and accepted goals.

Rice. 45. Sales control elements

Key questions that arise when controlling sales:

What to control? Sales elements(product, customers, personnel, technology).

When to control? Regularly and occasionally(once a period, depending on the situation).

Why control? For timely influence on achieving results.

Who is in control? Employees and head of the OP(according to authority).

How to control? Systematically and responsibly, using software and analytical tools.

Sales control This:

information, which allows any leader to keep his finger on the pulse. Know what is happening in each period of time in the department - at what stage is the signing of important contracts, how many new clients placed an order in the last week, how many deals fell through due to a lack of human resources in the department, how many personal letters Ivanov sent today and how much money managers have already spent on entertainment expenses this month;

influence on the sales process, the ability to timely adjust the activities of each employee and the department as a whole, if necessary, redistribute resources, carry out “stalled” negotiations with a VIP client together with the manager, change the priority of tasks for subordinates;

powers, real control levers, the ability to punish for late completion of a task and reward for additional work, cancel the shipment of goods to a regional client if an error is discovered in the contract;

making decisions in a controlled situation, if it goes beyond the framework of regulations and standards, rearrangement and control of tasks in the new established trading conditions in accordance with previously set goals;

responsibility for organizing the work of each employee and the department as a whole, for decisions made and results obtained, for the distribution of resources and motivation of employees.

Control is a necessity

Control is an objective necessity, since any even optimal plans cannot be implemented unless they are communicated to the executors and objective and constant control is established over their implementation.

If the head of the sales department does not have or does not have enough control tools (software, budgetary, analytical) and real powers to use them (the possibility of punishment - rewards, cancellation - permission), then he cannot fully control the company's sales and the achievement of the department's goals. goals will be practically impossible to achieve.

Control parameters

Regularity (systematic, episodic).

Scope of control actions (general, detailed).

Depth (daily, monthly, annual).

Direction:

Warning (aimed at preventing possible errors);

Ascertaining (aimed at ascertaining the results obtained);

Analytical (aimed at finding the causes of mistakes already made).

Requirements for control actions

Control must be regular, and not limited to precedents, otherwise the employee will be in a state of “maybe he’ll blow it through”...

Total control breeds negligence; if a manager checks almost every action of a subordinate, then after a while the employee simply stops working responsibly: “why strain and not make mistakes, they will check me anyway, and if something is wrong, they will correct me”...

Hidden control causes annoyance and irritation, the location of the video camera and “tapping rooms” quickly become known to the staff; if this does not bring much harm to the company, then it is better to warn employees in advance about the existence of hidden control in the company (at least this will force them to refuse lengthy personal negotiations ).

It is necessary to communicate to employees the results of control actions, whether they are positive or negative. In a situation of uncertainty, the employee does not understand what is bad, what is good and in which direction to move next.

Rice. 46. ​​Types of control

11.2. Control functions

Diagnostic– to improve the efficiency of a department, it is first necessary to clearly present the true current state of affairs, or “make a diagnosis.”

Feedback– without information about the completion of tasks coming from subordinates, the head of the department will not be able to make the right decisions and influence the progress of work.

Orienting the function allows you to prioritize tasks for employees, in other words, those issues that are more controlled by the NOP become of paramount importance for subordinates, directing their efforts in a direction other than the priority areas of the department.

Rice. 47. Control parameters

Stimulating the function is aimed at completing tasks and achieving goals by involving all available resources and reserves in the work process.

Corrective function is associated with those clarifications that are made to decisions based on control results.

Motivating the function gives employees incentives to conscientiously perform their duties.

Sales Benchmarks

In sales, it is important that the control system is as simple and transparent as possible - this is the key to its effectiveness and reliability.

It is not necessary to control all indicators, but only the most important ones - the key ones. Firstly, those that allow you to track results:

Final:

Sales volumes (in units and money, first/repeat, large or small customers);

Sales service (shipment, payment, accounts receivable).

Intermediate:

Contacts (first/repeated, regularity and frequency of contacts, percentage of response from unfamiliar clients, results of contacts with potential clients);

Movement of the client base (transformation of unknown clients into potential clients, potential clients into regular ones).

Secondly, those that talk about the effectiveness of key stages of the sales process. These are important requirements (or better yet, standards) on how exactly to do it:

From which call/dial the phone is picked up;

How quickly commercial offers are sent (same day or not);

How to work with objections.

When controlling sales, you should always consider two levels of control: command– sales figures in general, and individual– employee sales indicators. In addition, a distinction is made between internal and external control.

Interior control is what happens and is formalized within the company: regular reports, where employees themselves provide indicators of their work, regular meetings/planning meetings, during which it is possible to monitor sales dynamics and adjust work activities.

Meetings allow you to:

It is better to monitor the effectiveness of individual elements of sales technology and make the necessary adjustments to it;

Evaluate the appropriateness of decisions made on pricing and sales strategies;

Evaluate the product distribution policy (based on sales analysis), compliance of the product range with consumer demand;

Make decisions on the elimination of unprofitable types of goods or services, their modification, and the development of new or improved options.

External control - these are test calls or visits, or sometimes control in the “mystery shopper” format, when a real purchase is made and all work standards required of employees are monitored.

11.3. Analysis of the economic efficiency of the sales department

Sales management performance analysis includes analysis of sales volume, marketing costs, and personnel performance (comparing actual sales volume to targets overall and by territory, product, customer group, sales force, and order volume).

The effectiveness of the educational program is assessed by quantitative indicators:

Sales volume (determined by market factors - market growth);

Representation in regions or sales channels;

Number of new clients.

These indicators are a guide to productivity, not effectiveness, that is, business improvement is viewed from the point of view of increasing volumes due to the usual growth of the customer base.

Sales productivity = potential market / possible market share.

But you can’t grow indefinitely, so they use the performance indicator:

Productivity = total number of contacts with the client (for sales purposes) / number of completed orders.

Time management, planning skills, and the level of professionalism of employees are analyzed here.

Parameters influencing performance:

The ratio of the number of meetings with the client before concluding a contract with the number of contracts;

Average transaction amount, that is, an indicator of the volume under the concluded agreement;

The ratio of overdue accounts receivable to the total amount and total sales;

The ratio of the number of transactions with discounts, extended deferment periods and other preferential conditions to the total number of transactions;

Cost of average sales and extreme indicators;

Ratio of sales department payroll to profit;

The trend of changes in these indicators in relation to previous periods.

An important parameter for analyzing sales effectiveness is assessing income (sales results):

For investors and analysts, it is needed to predict the success of the company;

For a creditor, this is the most understandable source of payment of interest and debt.

Examples of analytical reports.

1. Analysis of sales and revenue

2. Analysis of changes in gross profit

3. Analysis of operating and commercial expenses

An increase in sales volume is always accompanied by an increase in operating and commercial expenses. You can expect a drop in consumer demand if incremental sales exceed a given level. A drop in demand or the development of regional sales may require additional costs. It is important to know the ratio of business expenses to sales.

4. Analyze the relationships between sales volume, accounts receivable and inventory

If the growth rate of accounts receivable exceeds the growth rate of sales, this means that today's sales are being held at the expense of future ones and a decrease in sales volumes is possible. If an increase in inventories of finished products is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of raw materials, this indicates a decline in production. An increase in inventories despite a decrease in sales volumes may indicate that sales are lagging behind production. If the growth rate of accounts receivable is much faster than the growth rate of revenue, this indicates a large number of loans.

5. Analysis of profitability ratios

An increase in the ratio of profit from production activities to revenue means an increase in the profitability of production and sales. An increase in the share of net profit in revenue may indicate a reduction in expenses and tax payments.

Plan-actual analysis

To monitor the implementation of developed plans, means of comparative analysis of information on plans and actual sales are provided. With their help, for example, the following tasks are solved:

Plan-actual analysis of sales for a certain period;

Comparative analysis of sales for various periods, for example for the current period and the same period last year;

Comparison of sales plans with the same detail for different periods of time, for example, monthly plans for December of the current and last year;

Comparison of plans with different details for the same period, for example, quarterly and monthly plans for the first half of the current year.

In this case, the data can be presented by division and grouped for comparison according to the distinctive features (properties) of the product range and customers. For example, you can conduct a comparative analysis of sales volumes of items with given characteristics in a certain region over different periods of time to identify seasonal fluctuations.

Completeness of information;

Level of detail of information about the company and product;

Marketing collateral analysis

Product promotion is impossible without marketing support. To assess this component of effective sales, an analysis of information channels related to the transmission of information about the market, main competitors, and prices for similar products within the company is carried out.

It is necessary to regularly assess the risks arising from the absence of one or another element of marketing. Collecting marketing information is a constant responsibility of all sales managers. Salespeople who have direct contact with customers are in an exceptional position to gather primary information about customer needs and competitors. Sources of information are also advertising, the Internet, specialized publications, and exhibitions.

Analysis of goods, product groups makes it possible to form an optimal assortment, identify the most profitable products (group of products), and the influence of marketing campaigns on sales of a product or group of products.

You can also use the following reports to analyze sales:

« Sales for the period» – analysis of sales for the period with the possibility of detailing information in any section.

« Average sales figures» – analysis of purchase amounts, number of invoices and item items.

« Sales dynamics» – analysis of sales dynamics for a given period. Contains data for comparison with planned and forecast sales of goods and services.

« Classification of subgroups"The ABC method allows you to classify goods based on a given set of key indicators: turnover, profitability.

« Share of category turnover in the company’s total turnover» – is used to determine the importance of a particular category of goods for a company depending on the turnover of the category in the total turnover of the company.

« Share of category profit in the company’s total profit» – allows you to determine the importance of a certain category of goods for a company depending on the profit brought by the category to the overall profit of the company.

« Assortment structure» – analysis of the assortment structure is used to identify the categories of goods that are in greatest demand, regardless of the factors affecting sales.

« Assortment stability» – analysis of assortment stability makes it possible to determine the susceptibility of certain categories of goods to changes in demand for them depending on various factors.

« Lack of goods» – assessment of lost profit (unsatisfied demand) due to the lack of goods in stock.

« Discount report» – allows you to identify categories of goods, as well as changes in demand for them depending on the availability of discounts and their magnitude.

« Execution of the sales plan» – the report allows you to analyze the implementation of the sales plan both at the company level and at the level of an individual point of sale.

« Price stability» – analysis of the rate of change in prices for key goods.

« Attendance of retail facilities» allows you to determine the flow of customers at retail facilities depending on the location of the facilities and time of day in order to optimize the number of workers, operating hours of the retail facility, etc.

« Efficiency of use of retail space» allows you to identify retail facilities whose areas are used with varying degrees of efficiency with the aim of further increasing or reducing them.

« Client classification» – allows you to classify clients based on a given set of key indicators: turnover, profitability.

« Sales channels» – the report makes it possible to get an answer to the question about the effectiveness of the sales channel in terms of weighted rank, sales profits and gross income.

« Marketing campaign analysis» the report is designed to analyze the results of promotions, compare planned and actual indicators.

Questions on the topic

How often do you analyze sales performance, according to what criteria?

Eugene:

I link sales effectiveness to client effectiveness.

The assessment is carried out according to the following criteria:

Sales volume to this client;

The number of product lines sold to the client;

Customer loyalty.

Vladislav:

We analyze monthly on the following indicators:

Profit received; number of transactions carried out;

Commission payments.

Marianne:

We analyze sales every week, the main criteria are:

Analysis of the overall market potential;

Efficiency of using managers' working time;

The amount of trade turnover per customer.