Sales Is A Metrics Driven Game

By starting with which type of customer to target, the organization can be more focused on its tactics.

There are misconceptions about the role sales and marketing teams play as it relates to consumers. Quora.com provides validity of differences by outlining the difference. For example, “marketing tries to understand the customer as a generic group/ segment or persona in order to create generic value propositions and 'mass' awareness” (citation 1). Marketing is known to have long-term goals and their workflow follows that timeline. Marketers lean toward the creative and detailed oriented traits where collaboration among colleagues is encouraged.

Jonah recommends three metrics which are throughput, inventory and operating expenses. The throughput, inventory and operating expenses are used to measure the company’s productivity. Throughput is the rate at which the system generates revenue through sales and it is seen as money going into the system. Inventory is all the money that the system has invested in purchasing materials which is sold and it is seen as the money stuck in the system. Operating expense is all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput and it seen as the money being paid out the system. Starbucks coffee shop could use throughput, inventory, and operating expense as a measurement to meet their goal. When an employee is serving various customers the three metrics can be helpful to target the product flow, understand adding value and non-adding value of activities, and how to utilize resources. For example, Starbuck’s coffee shop would use these three metrics to help create a technique to manage excessive demand such as having a server at each operational level. This would speed up customers order and decrease customers

Epstein & Shelton (2013), state that metrics are integral to the success of the company. In fact,

A third characteristic often attributed to an Entrepreneur is that of identifying market opportunities, the ability to create and execute a sales and marketing plan that identifies prospective customers, identifies a value proposition for those customers, and a sales process to convert those prospects into customers. Here too, sales and marketing professionals within the enterprise perform these functions on a daily basis throughout the various enterprise organizations that make up the fabric of our world stage every day.

This means you need a disciplined process – known as lead nurturing – to develop qualified leads until they are sales-ready. Done well, nurturing can result in 50% more sales leads at 33% lower cost per lead.

Q: With this new business focus, what sort of measures do you use to determine your success?

Just as in real life it’s important know who is right for you. You wouldn 't commit to a relationship with someone you didn 't fancy would you. So why do the same with your business? Seek only qualified sales leads and customers and reach out to those who are likely to convert to a solid sale a rather than wasting your time with those customers that are teasing you, playing hard to get or just plain using you. Learn to be picky, Don’t be afraid to only go after the business that tickles your fancy.

Marketing organizations provide their sales staff with large amounts of sales support including brochures, research reports, computer programs and many other forms of informational material. Personal selling stimulates demand. Sales professional role is to convince customers to make a purchase. Finally personal selling is used to reinforce the brand. Most personal selling is intended to build long-term relationships with customers. A strong relationship can only be built over time and requires regular communication with a customer. Meeting with customers on a regular basis allows salespeople to repeatedly discuss their company’s products and by doing so helps strengthen customers’ knowledge of what the company has to offer [www.marketingpower.com].

One of the main objectives (and one of the most important) of lead generation services is to generate leads through business-to-business marketing. This is also known as B2B marketing. It involves classifying prospective customers and qualifying their probability to buy in advance of making a sales call. The purpose of a lead generation can vary from either driving sales leads or sign up, but in the end they have the same goal and that to get prospects to raise their hands. Before we go into how to build a successful lead generation campaign, we need to understand a few basic terms. Let’s review these terms below.

For instance, if leads are not being targeted in the right market then you may find yourself wasting time on unqualified and disinterested prospects and your sales drop and business declines. It 's a vicious circle. Worse yet, signing up with a company who makes you pay for the same lead that they also send to four of your competitors.

Before a sales representative is even able to do this step, they must first be sure they understand and KNOW their Product inside and out, their Company’s priorities, and the Marketplace in which they plan to function in. Most importantly, a good sales representative should understand the value of and actually believe in what you are attempting to sell. Once those basics are in place, prepared sales representatives should and most often use a special method for setting their sale call objectives called “SMART”. The acronym “SMART” simply means that a sales representative should have a Specific objective, the their objective is Measurable, ensure their goals are Achievable, focus on the Relational aspect of the sales call, and be prepared and open to Temporal or trial-run situations. (Personal Selling, pg. 137) This process and knowledge of this information is essential in preparing for a productive and successful call.

Think about ways to measure things differently that your competitors. Novel and unique metrics are just as important to differentiating

After knowing the target customer that will generate the highest lifetime value to company, determine the best way to access those customer is the next step. Combining the derived information about agent's or broker's strengths and value to the company guides the effort of all-important linkage to the most

B2B lead generation can be truly successfully only if it involves both – a proper planning and a proper execution. A qualified lead in case of B@B should involve an individual/department/ vertical or department head who is a decision maker in terms of your business. For eg in case of shipping industry a sales professional from a main line operator (MLO) needs to approach a pricing manager/ocean exports manager in order to get business. Therefore it is very important to identify the individual/department/vertical or department head who will matter for your business. If identification goes wrong then 6C’s will be futile. Once you have identified the decision maker you can effectively apply the 6 C’s of B2B lead generation.