As a sales manager and trainer in my previous career I spent a lot of time trying to measure and quantify sales skills. The word trying is telling here, because although we managed to come up with useful tests and training methodologies, there were a significant number of those that failed the tests and did poor in training programs, but closed sales like there was no tomorrow.

I kept looking and the best proxy I have found is sales pipeline metrics. In my experience, which is extensive by some standards, there is no better indication of a sales person’s skills. More specifically I would highlight 4 indicators: pipeline velocity, size of deals, number of deals and conversion.

If you’re just getting started in sales pipeline management, you may want to check out this post about defining the sales cycle for your business before reading on. If you know the basics, here’s how these four metrics help to measure sales skills:

1. Measure how fast deals go through the pipeline

You can measure the average age of deals at each sales stage or the average across the whole length of the sales cycle. Alternatively, you can measure the average time it takes to close a deal. Let’s compare two hypothetical sales people to see why this is useful. If Tim closes deals in 6 weeks on average and Sarah does it in 3 weeks on average, there must be a big difference in their skills or work methods.

Based on these numbers Tim doesn’t have the habit of continuously gaining small agreements (sometimes called mini-closes) during the sales process. Velocity tends to be low (or deal ages high, whichever way to look at it) if you don’t pay attention to signs of danger and don’t clear up potential misunderstandings and are hunting for the “big yes”.

Sarah’s pipeline velocity is a good indicator she uses confirmations like “So if I understand correctly you’re willing to consider our solution if it helps you save more than $5000?” Furthermore, she probably takes matters into her own hands during the sales process, and reguraly checks in to see if another decision has been made by a potential customer.

Pipeline velocity increases with time ie. it’s higher for more experienced sales people. If not, it’s a danger sign. You can get even more specific if you start measuring deal age by each sales stage.

2. Measure the average size of a sale

Like deal velocity, the average size of deals is something that should increase with time, assuming the business you’re in doesn’t have constraints for deal size. Average size is a very good indicator of negotiation skills and confidence. It shows whether someone has the guts to go after the big fish and whether you can identify needs during meetings or calls. If people have some freedom to decide who to contact, average size of the deal shows how well one can choose the right prospects.

Another thing the average size of a deal shows is how good a salesperson is at finding out the real needs of prospects and matching them to more and/or more premium products.

3. Measure the number of deals or leads in the pipeline

It’s useful to measure how many leads/deals someone can add in a time period and what’s the total number of deals in the pipeline. If the number of new deals/leads is smallish it’s a good indicator that either they are not very good at initiating first contact or they simply don’t work hard enough.

Number of deals added shows sales skills as well as work ethic. The number of deals added to a pipeline on a regular basis is, and will be, one of the best indicators of sales success, regardless of intelligence or skills.

4. Measure total win conversion, and conversion by stage

Most managers and sales people measure win ratio, and once again the information is much more useful if you look at it by sales stage. For example if Sarah has a 66% conversion from “First meeting done” to “Proposal made” stage and if it’s 33% for Tim, this may mean one of two things. It’s either that Sarah is much better at turning a prospect’s needs into identifiable “pain” or that she tends to waste time with hopeless cases. Therefore, you should always look at this metric relative to other team members.

This last point applies for all the metrics I’ve described. If you know pipeline velocity, size of deals, number of deals and conversion for each team member and each sales stage, you have a pretty good idea of everyone’s sales skills, at least relative to each other. What’s most important in my opinion is that these numbers can be dramatically improved by small changes all the time, for example, by deciding not to hang on to initially promising leads that have become unresponsive. This change alone can result in better numbers, and there are many more to make.

Please note you don’t need to track every metric at all times – it’s better to pick the metrics that matter the most in your business and focus on those. And sometimes it’s useful to turn these into index-type indicators, for example  #Deals x $ Deal size x %Conversion / deal velocity.

In conclusion, in my view pipeline metrics are the best indicators of sales skills. If you’ve come across even better ones, please do add a comment or get in touch.

Image courtesy: michaelaw

There used to be a time where most sales people were “road warriors”. Rarely in the office, they were out there looking for the next big deal. Things have changed, and today many of us spend an increasing amount of time at our desks and with ever-growing number of unread emails. (Or is it just me?). I’ve put together a short list of tools that help to get organized and win more time for talking to customers.

The basics – schedule time for reaching your activity goals

If you have set activity goals (which you should), make sure you’ve allocated time for getting them done. The main reason for underperformance is bad execution, not lack of sales skills. Setting a schedule helps to organize your week and ensures that you don’t miss meetings or calls with clients. There are lots of calendars out there, I’ve ended up using Google Calendar because it syncs well with other software.

Get smart about using email

If you let your inbox dictate what you’ll get done each day or week, there’s a very slim chance you’ll get anywhere. Luckily there are a couple of tried and tested email/Gmail tools that can help you stay in control over your inbox.

My personal favourite is SaneBox. It helps you focus only on important emails. And it really delivers on that promise! It’s like hiring a little invisible robot that cleans your inbox after it has analyzed your contacts and e-mail behaviour. SaneBox has assessed a couple of emails incorrectly for me, but the good news is it learns as you go, and gets better.

Boomerang for Gmail gives you the option to clear certain messages out of your inbox until you need them, as well as set reminders to follow up with a client if you haven’t heard back in time. I know many of our customers use it.

Yesware is another Google add-on that may be useful in sales. It shows how clients are responding to your emails and which messages are opened and shared. It also gives you the opportunity to create customized email templates, for example a template for a “cold” email to a new prospect. Last but not least, Yesware allows syncing all your emails to the CRM software of your choice. See Timo’s post about it.

See where your time “leaks”

It never ceases to amaze me how fast a day can go, without getting much done. If you’re not sure where your time disappears, check out Rescue Time. It keeps tracks of all your activities and shows where you could be wasting time. Furthermore, with the Focus feature, you can choose how much time to spend on a certain task. If you fall off course it can even block access to websites like Facebook or your email account.

Last but not least, use sales software that makes your life easier, not harder

Sales software should do more than be a register of your customer data. A good sales CRM shows how well or poorly you are doing and helps you benchmark against your goals and focus on the deals that need attention the most. And it shouldn’t slow you down with endless amounts of menus, options and confirmation boxes. We’ve poured our hearts into making sure Pipedrive helps to do all of the above, but of course we’re not the only game in town.

Any of these tools can help you increase productivity but bear in mind that different tools work for different people. It’s best to try several and stick to those that work for you, otherwise you could become weighed down with software you aren’t using effectively. When used properly, however, the benefits you see will be priceless.

The secret of success of every man who has ever been successful lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do. – Albert Gray

Heads up – this post won’t teach you anything you don’t already know. But I believe it’s a useful read it nevertheless.

Twenty years as a salesman and sales trainer has taught me that developing a couple of basic good habits is way more effective than any “sales trick” or “proven method to get through to the decision maker”. Focus on the right activities, spend more time with customers and you’ll close more sales. Guaranteed.

Here are three habits that will help you better manage your time, and ultimately your sales results.

Create activity goals

A sale is a result of specific actions, for example making cold calls or sending out price quotes. These activities are not always pleasant and they usually don’t appear urgent. So if “urgent” things like meeting requests or a batch of new emails show up, the sales activities tend to get pushed back.

The best thing anyone in sales can get is set yourself activity goals. First calculate how many sales calls or meetings you need to make to hit your sales goals. Just count how many calls, meetings and proposals you need to make, on average, to close a sale. (here’s a sales calculator for that). If you’re just starting out, make a guess, and correct it later when you have more data.

Book slots in your calendar for reaching said activity goals

Once you know how many calls or meetings you need to make each day, set aside some time when you make this happen – and do nothing else. Book it in your calendar and let it show publicly, politely decline any meetings requests that come for that time. Treat that time slot with the same respect you treat a meeting time with your top customer. Because in a way, that’s what it is.

Learn to focus on one thing only

The best time management tool is Sign out button. When making phone calls turn off all applications you don’t absolutely need for the task at hand. You don’t need to check email regularly, it’s way more effective to reserve a 30-minute slot every morning and evening for correspondence. Needless to say that Twitter, Facebook and Instagram won’t help you you either.

Set activity goals, take time to reach them and get rid of distractions. This is nothing new to most people, and yet so many salespeople don’t do it, starting with yours truly at times. And the most effective advice is often something that sounds simple, and actually is simple if you put in a little bit of effort.

I’d love to hear in comments how many readers consider to master these things already. And if I’ve missed any good tips how to develop these habits, let me know as well.

I’ve been in sales and sales management for over 10 years, dealing with medium-sized and large companies before and mostly with smaller companies now. One thing I’ve noticed is that larger companies have had more time to do is make mistakes, and (most of them) have learned from them. Let me summarize 3 common mistakes here for the benefit of smaller teams, but perhaps also as a reminder for bigger organizations.

Three big sales management mistakes to avoid:

1. Not Keeping Track

Sometimes, it’s a little too easy to focus only on the end result. We can get so distracted thinking about how high (or low) the numbers are that we forget to think about how we got there. It’s essential that you look not just at the results themselves, but understand how you achieve those results… or how you missed achieving them. Without tracking things like the number of calls you make, and how many you need to make to close a sale, you won’t be able to repeat your successes or avoid failures. Keeping track will also help keep all team members on the same page, ensuring that everyone is following a proven protocol.

2. Having Lots of Sales Meetings

That sales meeting you think is helping your numbers? It’s actually costing you money. For every minute your high-earning sales reps aren’t out actually selling your product, you are losing dollars. Setting goals or celebrating success together is time well spent, unlike prospect update meetings in a group. There are simple ways to ensure productivity and consistency among your sales team, without eating up their sales time. Options include using cloud conferencing tools which let traveling employees connect remotely, or sales software that keeps everyone up-to-date. Your sales team is a vital asset; don’t waste their talent.

3. Demanding Unrealistic Metrics

Management’s job is to look at the final numbers and lecture accordingly. In sales, though, this just isn’t enough. Your sales pipeline needs to produce and keep producing, and this requires proper management, not bottom-line ultimatums. In order to maximize the potential of your sales pipeline, you need to analyze methods to determine what’s actually working, and what is utterly failing. Regardless of what your market analysis tells you how sales “should” improve, a truly successful sales manager focuses instead on the realities of what works for their company and their salespeople. After all, sometimes management can be a problem too.

Like every other aspect of business, managing sales is a balancing act. Too often, the sales team is pressured to deliver metrics which land somewhere between challenging and impossible, with no basis in the real world. Careful documentation and analysis can help you fix what’s wrong and emphasize what’s working. Meanwhile, let your sales team do what they do best– sell your product– rather than sitting in meeting after meeting. By shifting your attitudes about the right way to handle your sales, you just might witness a massive widening of that revenue stream.

Photo courtesy: darrendean

This Nike ad gives me goosebumps. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life…and that is why I succeed”. In just 30 seconds failures are framed as a positive if not outright desirable.

Athletes know a thing or two about failure, and so does everyone that needs to close. Sales people, startup builders, consultants, CEO’s, investors, small business owners – everyone with a deal pipeline is bound to hear more  rejections than positive answers. And what Michael Jordan says about sports rings true elsewhere. NOs don’t stop you from succeeding, they help you succeed.

So we built the NO calculator. It’s visualizes the amount of NOs you have to hear for each deal closed. Have a play and see what your personal ‘rejections infographic’ looks like. And then make sure to share it, just like Michael Jordan did.