Measuring sales activities is a key ingredient to better sales management.
That’s according to Vantage Point Performance Partners Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana in Cracking the Sales Management Code.
“We would contend that collecting activity-level metrics is not old-school whatsoever – we think it is new school. And we would argue that tracking salespeople’s activities won’t lead to micromanagement – it will lead to proactive management,” They write.
And new data from 515 sales managers at global B2B sales teams reveals that top-performing managers achieve 39% more of their target than low-performing ones.
If tracking activities leads to better sales management, and high-performing managers substantially outperform their bottom-performing counterparts, then monitoring sales activities results in better sales performance.
Collecting sales activity data used to be tedious, but a new type of sales software automates it: sales activity management.
But it’s not just about efficiency, modern sales leaders experience tangible ROI from sales activity management. Just look at Staples: They increased key selling activities by 182%, doubling the number of opportunities they created. This sales software solves other major pains for sales leaders, too.
3 Major Pains Solved with Activity Management Sales Software
1. Sales leaders don’t feel like they’re selling enough.
Is your sales team slipping on managing the fundamental steps of the sales process? Are you struggling with onboarding, coaching and training sales talent in a consistent way?
Sales activity management drives revenue through a metrics-driven approach. You accelerate your return on your investments in CRM and sales reps by cutting through day-to-day noise with visibility into what matters. Key sales activities create consistency with coaching and onboarding. Activity pacing toward crucial sales goals enables real-time course correction.
You won’t just sell more. You’ll have predictable revenue. Sales activity management creates a sales forecast that ties directly back to the controllable actions of your sales team.
2. Salespeople aren’t consistently focusing on fundamentals.
Do distractions from day-to-day noise prevent your sales reps from focusing on activities that lead to sales? Are you questioning whether reps spend time on the right behaviors, especially when deals aren’t closing?
Sales activity management engages your salespeople in the behaviors that matter. Personalized activity tracking enables sales reps to make better decisions on how to spend their time. Activity data visualization drives individual accountability.
You can customize course-corrections based on each rep’s data to reinforce effective habits. Forget waiting on old information from dashboards and reports — sales activity management provides your teams with actionable feedback in real time.
3. Sales teams lack consistent execution.
Is your global sales organization disjointed, working in silos and not collaborating or sharing best practices? Are you unable to quickly unite your team to execute on key initiatives?
Sales activity management creates a culture of performance. It aligns your global sales organization with visibility into key sales metrics for all team members. Peer and team rankings drive collaboration and healthy motivation. When metrics fall behind, you can easily rally your team around key initiatives.
Sales activity management provides real ROI because measuring sales activities leads to proactive management. And that drives true performance in modern sales teams.
