I couldn’t resist the temptation to post about a story I just heard about a particular sales manager who is insisting that every salesperson make a set number of cold calls every day as a means to increase revenue.
I just don’t get this use of metrics as a way to improve productivity and grow your business when there is no accounting for quality and alternative approaches to opportunity creation. I can tell you that I never made the most cold calls, but I was always at the top of the board. I wasn’t afraid of cold calling, but I am not wired that way and prefer a more strategic approach to the sales game. I am one of the few managers that don’t subscribe to the pure “it’s a numbers game” because the game is different for every marketplace.
I don’t subscribe completely to the other extreme, sales 2.0, because that doesn’t work in totality either. Sales is a blend of lots of approaches and, personally, I would rather set clear outcome goals as my metrics to measure and manage rather than arbitrary input metrics that are false indicators of progress.
I think I learned some time ago that sales people come in all different packages and it’s the results that matter and everything else is one’s own style that I don’t care to manage because there are many ways to “skin a cat”.
Measure what matters folks and create an environment for success and leave the rest to your people to succeed.
Brick
Recent Comments