Is Your Sales Method Working For You?

The average number of sales reps meeting their quotas was 63% in 2012. While this is only slightly more than half, 92% of firms raised their revenue goals the following year. If you plan on raising your revenue goals each year, you should make sure your sales methodology is effective first. Most businesses don’t find success from a “one-size fits all” sales methodology. Some CRM systems may provide a suggested methodology for your company to use, but how can it be effective for your organization if it was created by an outsider? Because your business is unique, you want a sales strategy to match. You can start developing an effective sales method that will make your business stand out by analyzing your CRM data.

Understand Your CRM Data

Understanding your CRM data will help you fine tune your sales strategy. Not only will it indicate the areas of your sales process that need improved, but it will also determine whether the reporting habits of your sales team are sufficient. Because you want your CRM data to be as accurate as possible, it’s important for your sales team to enter and submit information correctly for each of their prospective customers, quotes, and contracts. Here are a few things to consider when looking at your data:

1. Start by comparing the sizes of the deals your business has made in the past to those of the present and the future. If the size of your deals were greater than they are now, you might have a problem.
2. Next, check to make sure every deal has an assigned contact listed under Contact Role. If there are multiple entries with no one listed as the point of contact, your sales team may not consider logging that information enough of a priority. This information is important for the marketing team as they make adjustments to the budget, so you should consider requiring a contact to be assigned within the first few phases of your sales process.
3. Now, check the activities logged with each deal. Most enterprise deals have at least 5 activities recorded with them. Consider the average number of activities listed with a lost deal. This might tell you something about your sales process.
4. Then, check to see how many deals are part of campaigns with recorded “touches.” According to the Online Marketing Institute, it should take at least 7 touches to generate a deal. If you find numerous deals without campaigns, there may be a problem with the reporting process, which can impact the accuracy of your data.
5. You can also analyze the movement of deals through each phase of the sales process. How many days are deals spending in each phase of the process? This information can help you determine which stage of the process loses deals more than others.

You can learn a lot about your sales methodology from your CRM data if the information is entered correctly and you know how to interpret it. What else have you learned from your CRM data?