Like the Drive to Work
In a certain respect, a sales reps job is the same thing again and again. Obviously it’s always different in that people are different, circumstances are different, and it’s always a fresh challenge to find your footing and connect with the individual in a way that is going to motivate them to buy. Conditions may change, but the overall approach is highly repeatable. It’s like the drive to work. Maybe there’s traffic, maybe there’s weather, but you always start at home and end up at your desk. With driving to work, it’s easy to make small iterative improvements to the experience to perform better, to have a better experience. You learn a shortcut. You realize that you always get caught behind someone making a left hand turn at a certain intersection, so now you always approach that intersection in the right lane. Areas of improvement are self evident, and corrections are made without much effort or strategic thought.
Running a sales team is similar in that the same paths are being travelled day after day, but making improvements is not as automatic. Areas where performance can be improved are not as evident. There are so many variable that without proper measurement, it’s very difficult to gain any useful insights from different strategies you implement. It really is all about measurement in a certain respect. Using a lead management solution, all of your key performance indicators are automatically measured and resulting data is presented in a few easy to read reports. It’s easy to make changes that affect your bottom line when you have the answers to pertinent questions at your fingertips. If you buy leads, which of your lead sources is performing best? Which of your lead generation efforts/marketing campaigns are working and which aren’t? Which of your agents closes what kind of leads best? Everything you need to know to make profitable changes is right in front of you. Making a change is as easy as finding a better way to work.
