Written by Bill Hodgdon                              Hodgdon Consulting Services
724-935-0409; Fax: 724-935-3180                 836 Arbordale Lane
E-Mail: billcrs@aol.com                               Wexford, PA 15090

Managing The Sales Process

The word “manage”, stripped of all negativity, really means to decide.  If no decision needs to be made, then no management is required.  Managing the sales process means making and implementing decisions that will cause sales productivity to increase.

What is Sales Productivity?

At the level of the field sales force there are only two causes of sales productivity – Sales Activity and Sales Skill.  Sales productivity can be measured by revenue or profit produced, but it cannot be managed.  Good decisions cannot be made by focusing on an effect!  Good decisions can only be made by focusing on causes.  The correct cause of the problem must be identified, and then the cause can be corrected to produce increased sales productivity.

Sales Productivity Sales Activity                           Sales Skill   Pursuing enough                          How you do when   sales opportunities                       talking to customers

Sales Activity is usually defined as making sales calls, but the purpose of these calls is to identify and pursue enough sales opportunities to meet revenue goals.  Sales Skill is defined as how the sales person is performing when talking to prospective customers.  Senior management can certainly do other things to cause sales growth, but for day to day management of the sales team, these are the only causes of sales productivity.

Causes must first be measured

Measuring is passive, managing is active.  But the traditional concept of “Management By Objectives” is dead wrong.  It should be “Management By Process” to Produce Objectives.  This means managing causes, not effects!  But in order for causes to be managed, they must first be measured!

The purpose of a measure is to make and implement good decisions fast.  The two causes of sales productivity must have the right measures for the right decisions to be made to cause increases in sales productivity.  Furthermore, these measures must be simple to understand by both managers and sales people.