Recently, I was speaking with a sales manager on the last day of the month and he said, "My team needs to make up $80,000 today in order to make the month." My immediate response was, "What should your team be focusing on daily in order to make their numbers monthly?"
Sales is about activity levels and numbers. What gets done daily shapes the month, quarter, and year. All too often I see the monthly, quarterly, and annual scramble when it should be a "daily push".
The focus must be on the daily activities necessary to accomplishing their sales numbers. When a sales manager focuses on making their annual, quarterly, and monthly sales, they end up like many sales manager - trying to make an unachievable goal in one day to meet a monthly number.
A Rainmaker sales manager focuses on daily goals.
Rainmaker sales managers create an AOR Accountability System for their sales team members. An AOR Accountability System is Activity + Objectives = Results. The sales manager should be asking themselves and their sales team members, "What daily activity levels and objectives will be accomplished to make monthly goals - quarterly and annual results reality?"
Daily activity with objectives drives results. What is done today creates objectives achievement and ultimately results.
Your AOR Accountability System should be written down, fully transparent to all sales team members, and referred to when individual sales team members perform daily tasks. When creating a customized AOR System, it is important to remember to do so using the SMART method:
Specific - What daily activity levels are necessary to accomplish the objectives and results? For example, a sales team member should write down that he or she will make an X number of calls today.
Measurable - How will the activity levels be measured? Remember what gets measured gets improved. Salesforce is the program we choose to measure activity levels at our company, but there are many similar products available on the market.
Achievable - Are the activity levels achievable? Unrealistic activity levels will not happen. The sales manager in the example above is expected to make $80K in one day, which is pretty unachievable for this company. Avoid this by making objectives that are achievable.
Relevant - Do the activity and objectives drive toward the desired results? If a team member is over preparing (i.e. researching that never ends), it gets to the point where their research is no longer relevant to the AOR.
Time-bound - Goals must be shared within a particular time frame. A commitment to a time period provides focus.
Mediocrity hates focus, discipline, numbers and accountability. No one was put on this earth to be average. If your sales team is unfocused, your results will be inconsistent. Call on The Rainmaker Group to help you drive bottom line results through your sales team.
