Let’s do the numbers.
Over the years, I’ve worked with sales reps who love to know where their prospective deals stand at any given time. They know their numbers inside and out. They’ll say that by knowing where they stand, they are clear about what needs to happen. Then there are sales reps who can’t stand to see the reality of their numbers. “I’m focused on closing every deal I can,” they say. “Let the chips fall where they may.”
Let the chips fall where they may isn’t the approach I suggest. For the record, I often begin my sales coaching/training sessions with “let’s do the numbers,” not because I want to cheer on the winners and jeer the reps who are struggling, but because I believe the numbers tell an essential story most sales reps and sales managers need to know.
Managing a sales pipeline takes a data-driven perspective and takes the emotion out of the equation. Numbers don’t lie. But they also don’t tell the entire story. Assuming that this rep is good, this rep is bad is a narrow and ill-informed conclusion. Interpreting analytics, diagnosing trends, and identifying areas for improvement for each rep requires skilled analysis. The reps can certainly shed light on their trends, and they should, but it’s the sales manager’s responsibility to help the reps and the company make sense of what they are seeing and create a market and sales strategy that will forecast accurately and win in the end. It’s also the sales manager’s job to coach the reps and the team.
So, for all you sales managers out there, I ask you, how do you analyze the numbers?
Here are several questions that came from a Salesforce article you might be interested in.¹
These questions won’t fit every company; there are some I prefer over others, and I have additional ones that I’ll save for another post, but these are solid and certainly worth considering.
Please review your approach to interpreting your numbers and making sense of your pipeline, and let us know if you want some assistance.
Cheers and happy selling,
Mary Anne Wampler
PRINCIPAL, TRANSFORM, INC.
¹12 Must Ask Questions: Data-Driven Sales Managers, InsightSquared.
