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Methods of controlling the work of the sales department. How to control a remote b2b sales team

Sales Generator

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Issues discussed in the material:

Why it is necessary to control sales of products by company managers
How do companies control product sales?
How to establish control over the accounting and sale of finished products
What tools are most effective in controlling product sales
What problems do they face Russian companies when trying to control product sales
What control points for product sales will help build an effective sales system in the company

To understand whether your business is effective in the trading area, it is enough to simply evaluate the volume of sales. This parameter directly depends on how well each sales manager works. That is why the control of the sale of products, carried out by specialists, is very important in business. The manager's report is the first and main document on the basis of which the effectiveness of his activities is analyzed.

Why do you need to control the sale of products

Every company, including those operating in the retail, sets itself certain goals: increase profits (as a rule, this is the main goal), increase sales, expand sales markets, acquire more profitable properties in comparison with competitors, increase customer loyalty to their business, etc.

In order for the enterprise to be able to achieve the desired results, before the business as a whole and its structural departments and branches set specific tasks. The same applies to sales managers. That is, each structural unit most effectively solves its tasks, performs work functions, contributes to the achievement of the company's goals.

Since the seller does not work for himself and not in his own interests, but for the company, his activities must be continuously monitored. At all stages of sales, a sales manager is given a specific task, expressed, among other things, in cost and quantitative indicators, the achievement of which must be monitored and evaluated.

If the planned or planned performance indicators do not suit either the manager or the employee himself, an analysis is required, an assessment of the reasons for this situation and adjustments to be made to the work.

Control over the work of sales managers should be regular (as, in principle, with other employees of the company) for a number of reasons:

Market and competitive environment Where a company operates is constantly changing. Sometimes these changes are difficult to see with the naked eye, and sometimes they are very significant, for example, if these are market changes in cost and demand.

You need to adapt to all these changes in a timely and competent manner, adapting to them for the benefit of yourself and your business.

Often, both the business itself and the company's staff automatically adjust to changes, imperceptibly. In some cases, some special measures are needed, for example, additional training for staff, hiring additional employee, business coach, sending employees to courses, etc. One way or another, it is important to remember that the market is changing all the time, and therefore it is important to monitor the activities of employees on an ongoing basis.

Control of the sale of products is also required due to the constant changes in sales technologies, the emergence of new methods, etc. You cannot allow a situation in which your employees work according to the old scheme, and the personnel of a competing company use innovations in sales. That is, it is important to continuously monitor so that your employees know about the latest trends, novelties, adopt advanced techniques and keep up with the times.
In addition to the fact that the market is undergoing constant changes, new and more highly effective methods of work regularly appear, and the person himself is changing. A sales manager is primarily a person who, in addition to professional activity, solves personal issues, and often they affect the quality of his work. Often the results depend on fatigue, habits, hobbies and other factors.

Control of the sale of products, as a rule, involves taking into account the following points:

The degree of work load of the sales manager: whether he works with a sufficient number of orders.
The quality of service and maintenance that this manager maintains when interacting with customers so that the latter are satisfied with the services provided and loyal to the company.
The presence of shortcomings in the work of the manager and, if any, what these shortcomings are and why they arose. Perhaps the head, the head of the company, other employees are guilty of this, or this happens due to insufficiently developed working technologies, etc.
Based on the analysis of these parameters, you will be able to understand how to improve the efficiency of the manager.

The main information source for the analysis of work and the development of subsequent recommendations and adjustments is the report of the sales manager, which contains all the necessary data.

Tasks of operational control of sales of products

In order to achieve the set goals, each enterprise that plans to work for a long time and is promising, forms plans to conquer its niche in the market. If the strategy is developed correctly, sales grow, and customers are more loyal to the company.

At the same time, control over the sale of products should be constant. In its absence, the implementation of long-term plans will be impossible for the following reasons:

Every industry is constantly changing;
competitors constantly improve production technologies, service, marketing activities;
standard processes need to be constantly improved;
sales department employees do not always have the necessary skills and the proper degree of responsibility to work independently, etc.

In this regard, the enterprise should have not only strategic, but also operational sales management.

As part of the operational management of sales, continuous control is carried out over all processes for the sale of goods, the purpose of which is to realize overall strategy. In this case, companies, as a rule, plan tactical actions and develop specific tasks to achieve global goals.

Efficiency is a quick response to all changes and the preparation of a work forecast for a period of not more than a year.

Among the main tasks of operational sales management are:

an objective assessment of the current situation;
control over the effectiveness of the sales department;
quick response to all changes;
adjusting action plans, etc.

The goal of developing a management system for any sales is the effective implementation of the strategy. With this system you can:

increase sales volumes;
improve the performance of the company;
avoid difficult situations;
choose an appropriate management style and control methods;
identify products that are prioritized for marketing;
determine your target audience;
adjust the strategy to current market demands, etc.

The operational sales management system is a set of effective measures that help to correctly solve priority tasks.

Through this approach, you can combine several important processes that allow you to systematically implement the strategy. Essential elements sales management are:

planning(to achieve long-term goals, it is important that all sales managers have a plan for the number of calls, presentations, meetings and signed agreements);
organization(to increase work efficiency and sales volumes, timely and high-quality execution of any tasks, it is necessary that all specialists comply with regulations and standards);
control(as part of sales control to take weighted management decisions, you need to constantly monitor how well and quickly all employees work, and also to establish whether the actual results correspond to the planned ones);
analysis(if you do not constantly identify the main market trends, do not prevent difficult situations in the course of the sale of goods or services, do not determine the most profitable and unprofitable areas, then you will not be able to bypass competitors);
motivation(in order to manage sales, each manager must be personally interested in correctly and quickly implementing the company's strategy. If there is no motivation, sales will certainly decline, and the quality of work will deteriorate).

Methods for controlling sales of products

The most appropriate sales control methods should be selected depending on the specifics of the business. The selection of tools is determined by the level of standardization of processes, the availability automatic system analysis of data on sales of each employee, the position of the company in the market environment, the number of employees in the sales department, the features of interstructural communication.

To successfully manage sales, companies typically use the following methods:

Operational sales management is necessary for any company that is set up for long-term and productive work.

Since the competition is now very fierce, it is important to know what is happening on modern market Currently. Only in this case you will be able to quickly and efficiently solve important tasks.

If you manage sales incorrectly, you will not be able to achieve your goals. Thanks to the control

growing sales volumes;
increasing customer loyalty;
potential conflict situations are identified;
operational monitoring of the market is carried out;
improving the quality of service;
increase the productivity of the sales department;
timely changes are made to the tactics and strategy of the enterprise development.

As a result, you can significantly increase your competitiveness.

How to control the accounting and sale of finished products

To conduct internal control of the sale of products in the company, it is necessary to develop a special program. It should take into account the production and implementation finished products. The program is developed by employees of the control and audit department.

The basis for the creation of this department is the order of the head of the organization. The purpose of its functioning is to control the established accounting procedure and the reliability of the internal tracking system.

Specialists of the control and audit department perform the most important management function, covering accounting, the financial analysis and monitoring, comparing and evaluating the actual result achieved with the planned indicators. This department is obliged to regularly monitor the work of all management objects, determine the reasons for deviations from the standards, deviations from the goals set for a particular object. This allows you to quickly eliminate identified violations. The creation of this department as a management function of the company implies a strict regulation of activities, the definition of the rights, duties and responsibilities of employees, requirements for qualifications, relations with departments and employees of the company.

The composition of the control and audit department may include:

head of this department;
controller-auditor;
auditor.

Internal controllers can also perform management audit functions, the purpose of which is to study business operations and further develop recommendations on how to more effectively allocate resources and achieve assigned tasks. Thanks to management accounting it is easier for managers to carry out their functions and formulate competent policy companies.

Ideally, the audit department should work independently of department heads in order to maintain its objectivity. This department should be directly subordinate to the head of the company. It is necessary to complete the service from highly qualified specialists who are trusted by the company. These employees should be well versed in the specifics of the company, its organizational structure, matters to be verified, legislative and regulations be able to master the technique and methods of performing inspections.

The control and audit service of the company should work based on individual and calendar work plans that are approved by the management. Upon completion of any type of work, department employees must provide the supervisor with a report that draws attention to identified or probable violations. It is believed that the control and audit service completed its work at the moment when the issues raised in its reports were considered by the head of the company, and issued official order on the acceptance (non-acceptance) of the recommendations of this department.

Directly monitoring the cycle of manufacture and sale of finished goods, which is maintained by the control and audit department, sets itself the following goal: to objectively evaluate the completeness, timeliness, reliability of the reflection in the accounting and reporting indicators of this section, that is, sales revenue, cost of goods sold, management and selling costs and profit (loss) from the sale. At the same time, in the course of control, the following tasks are solved in the complex:

analyze the accounting policy of the company in the part that regulates the organization of accounting for the creation and sale of finished goods on the basis of current legislation and features of the industry;
control compliance with contractual discipline in accordance with the law;
check whether operations for the manufacture and sale of goods are properly documented;
study the procedure for accounting and writing off expenses for the creation and sale of finished products;
evaluate the completeness, timeliness and reliability of posting finished goods to the warehouse, releases and their sale to consumers;
analyze whether the accounting of operations for the movement of finished goods is organized correctly and legally;
control compliance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in terms of taxation of operations for the sale of finished products.

The objects of control over accounting for the creation and sale of finished goods include accounting documentation, reporting of an economic entity and other non-accounting information.

It is necessary to track how accounting for the production and sale of finished products is organized in the company in several directions:

study of accounting policies in terms of using account 40 “Output of products (works, services)”;
arithmetic verification of calculations of deviations of the actual production cost of goods released from production from the standard (planned) cost;
control over the correctness of the organization of accounting for finished goods and their write-off;
verification of the legitimacy of the distribution of costs for the sale of account 44 “Sales costs” by type of product;
analysis of sales transactions, which includes checking the reliability of reflecting the amounts of the actual cost of shipped goods based on analytical accounting data and primary documentation warehouse accounting and the correctness (timeliness) of the reflection of the amount of proceeds for the shipped goods on account 90 "Sales" on the basis of primary documents.

9 Best Tools to Control Product Sales

It is impossible to control the sale of products if there is no configured CRM system, wiretapping of calls, a map of the working day, 6 basic reports and specialists that speed up communication between managers and the head of the department.

Working day card

To improve the performance of the sales department, it is important to plan correctly work time manager. The employee must work according to the schedule, solve specific tasks at a strictly defined time and within a clearly defined period.

To create an effective workload for a manager, you first need to map his working day. It will help you understand:

The time spent by a specific employee on a specific task.
Business processes that can be simplified or, conversely, increased control over their implementation.
Advantages and disadvantages of sales managers.
Working hours of experienced employees.

Establish how much time and on what tasks (internal, related to the sale of goods, related tasks or personal) your sales manager spends. Then it is necessary to structure the work schedule of the seller and organize control. The job of a sales manager should include the following responsibilities:

calls to warm and hot clients;
cold calls;
holding meetings;
reporting;
sending letters;
billing.

It is very important that during the period allotted for the implementation of a specific task, the seller solves only it.

Controlling sales of products using messengers

Often, sales professionals use certain communication and control systems: CRM, Skype, e-mail, general group in in social networks and so on. But workers are not always near the computer. To get access to certain information or a quick answer to a question, you need to go into the system itself, which, of course, takes time. This causes even more inconvenience to the leader, who often stays at negotiations or on the road.

At the moment, thanks to modern communication methods, enterprises can organize a comprehensive control of intermediate results, establish quick communications in the department, even if specialists are geographically distant from each other - they are located in different cities, regions, countries. Messengers, for example, WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, may well be used to control the sales department by intermediate results. CRM and other types of surveillance cannot replace them.

Such applications allow you to quickly get information. All team members have the opportunity to see each other's results and compare them with their own. In large-scale companies, such solutions are used as an additional element of communications. In smaller enterprises, such control systems are often implemented as a control element.

Consider the options for using messengers:

Through them, you can leave requests to call the customer back.
Encourage sales managers to work productively.
Discuss the work plan for the client.
Mark visitors to the office.
Send interim reports.

Control of attendance at work. Few companies can use cameras or electronic keys for working hours. Thanks to the geolocation function in mobile phone employees will be able to tell you where they are at the moment. That is, you will always have the opportunity to find out who is at work and who is absent. This will minimize the overall number of delays.

Weekly payment plan report

Every day the salesperson submits the weekly payment plan sales report to the head of the sales department (ROP). First, such a report is filled out at the end of the week before the planned weekly period, after which it is adjusted daily.

The weekly payment plan report is an end-to-end form of control, which is the basis for making timely management decisions by the head of the sales department. The document shows the pipeline manager's sales status. If customers, declared for a certain date, do not pay, the head of the department can quickly change the situation.

We recommend that you pay special attention to the "When will pay" column. Often, it is precisely this column that the ROP and employees are desperately arguing about. So, for example, an employee can be sure that it is rather difficult to indicate the exact number. But the head of the sales department must require that the date be indicated. If the date is set, the specialist mobilizes all his strength, becomes more disciplined and makes every effort to close the deal on time.

Report "Payment plan for tomorrow"

The report "Payment plan for tomorrow" is the result of the decomposition of the previous summary document. It is filled in the night before the planned day.

In fact, it is the data that enters this form that becomes the basis for the daily adjustment of the “Payment Plan for the week”. The report "Payment plan for tomorrow" includes the most valuable predictive information, taking into account which you can make adjustments to the sales of managers.

The head of the sales department should carefully analyze the dynamics of the status of each transaction according to the deadline system established in the company and monitor the implementation of the weekly plan every day.

Report "Fact of payments for today"

The form of the daily report “Fact of payments for today” is almost similar to the “Payment plan for tomorrow”.

The difference is that here the operation is performed in real time. According to the execution mechanics, the "Fact of payments for today" is filled out twice a day: for example, at 12:00 and at 16:00. To speed up the process, the sale of products of this kind can be controlled even through a messenger.

Its presence enhances the main functions of the already mentioned documents:

sales control;
staff motivation;
formation of an atmosphere of healthy competition in the department;
creation of "sports" interest;
fixing the results to win in internal competitions / contests (if any).

Dashboard for current date

The Today's Board report is so named because it provides a visual representation of what has been achieved to date for everyone.

Name of Manager	% completion of the plan for the current day	Fact (absolute value)	Remaining (absolute value) to complete before the end of the week	Monthly plan	Days in a month	Days elapsed (including this week)	Plan for the end of the week	Number of days elapsed, including today

First, enter the data of the manager.
Calculate the percentage of the plan completed for the current day. This is almost the most basic and useful figure for controlling sales in this table. To calculate the percentage use the formula:

Fact on this moment/ (Plan for the month / total amount working days per month * number of days worked per month) * 100

Based on the results of the calculations, you will receive an indicator on the basis of which the degree of implementation will become clear. individual plan manager by the end of the month, if he continues to work at the same pace. Of course, with managers whose performance is below 100%, work needs to be done to adjust their current activity.

You can adjust the above formula, taking into account seasonality, business industry, etc. Calculations for it can be adjusted in Excel.

They fix how much revenue each day brings a single sales manager.
Control intermediate results, how much work needs to be done before the end of the current week.
Indicate the set monthly plan.
Determine the number of working days in a month statically.
Fill in the numbers for the past days of the month.
The plan until the end of the week is the sum of the numbers from 3 and 4 columns. This number is the result of summing up the amount closed for the current date and the plan until the end of the current week.
Next, fill in the number of past working days.

The numbers can be marked according to the "Traffic Light" system.

Red - who completed the plan by less than 80%.
Yellow - implementation of the plan from 80 to 100%.
Green - more than 100%.

This information can be taken from the CRM system.

Lead generation, deals, analytics

Product sales control is most effectively carried out using a CRM system. If you use its functionality correctly, you can monitor and manage work in the main areas. Tracking sales of products is not only about checking how managers solve the tasks assigned to them through reports. This is also a number of directions:

Control of lead generation processes
Getting leads from all possible sources if CRM integration with the website, blog and landing pages with products is configured. Each lead has a cost. CRM allows you to evaluate how optimally resources are spent on attracting traffic.
Segmentation of leads according to the degree of "warmth": hot, warm, cold. This is important for subsequent redistribution.
Automatic redistribution of leads among employees. This makes it possible to make a scoring according to the "warmth" criterion. The best and most experienced specialists work with “hot” and “warm” leads, and delinquent and newcomers work with “cold” leads.
Analysis of conversion by lead groups. Criteria can be different: niche, product, lead source, etc.
Transaction control
Managers also correspond with partners directly from the CRM system, and all dialogues are saved. This allows stakeholders to be aware of what is happening. It is always possible to bring this or that conversation into a more productive channel, improving its outcome, intervening in the process, or simply appointing another specialist.
A commercial offer is developed and sent through the CRM system. As a result, the sales manager always knows what was offered and for how much. And most importantly, that the offer made to the client corresponds to the tested pattern.
It is possible to analyze the status of transactions of each seller along the pipeline, and taking into account this information, set and correct tasks for managers in a timely manner.
Control of analytical data and reporting

It is easy to get information from the CRM system for ABCXYZ analysis, which includes information about all shipments by partners and products.

With the help of CRM, stakeholders control the effectiveness of communication channels and lead generation. This is necessary in order to further focus on the most effective channels and adjust marketing budgets.

And as already noted, if CRM is properly configured to fit your needs, then you can regularly receive reports on sales managers, funnels, new and old customers, and so on.

If data is collected and processed within the same system, then it is possible to fully control managers, the movement of potential customers through the funnel and make timely decisions that increase sales.

Listening to manager calls

To achieve total control, CRM should be integrated with IP telephony. This approach further expands the possibilities, as it allows you to:

track the number of calls;
create lists for auto redial;
record conversations between managers and clients;

With this automation, the sales manager gets even more opportunities to observe and learn:

how much revenue was received from the client;
how much communication was with the customer before the deal;
what was the theme of the last telephone conversation, or what was the last point of contact;
the number and nature of letters sent;
products for which commercial offers were sent;
customer responses;
comments on a specific call.

Control in these areas allows both management and employees to quickly learn about customer problems and find right decisions through targeted product or service offerings.

Quality control service

As part of sales tracking, it is also established whether employees comply with the technological and methodological labor standards of a sales manager in an organization. These standards should be collected and detailed in the company's skills model.

Also, enterprises compile checklists, which indicate the skills necessary to complete a transaction. They are also called development sheets. According to the development sheet, the quality department specialist observes how the manager works out these skills during the call. In front of each skill during the control, he puts either "0" or "1". The indicator "0" means "not applied", "1" means applied.

Development sheets are filled out for each seller 2-3 times a month and collected in development folders in order to monitor the dynamics of quality. After that, you can interact with each manager separately and help him improve the skills that cause difficulties.

Example. The sellers of the enterprise, which specialized in the sale of shoes to small wholesalers, exchanged photos of goods by phone in order to communicate with the customer. However, at the same time, they forgot to record each dialogue in the CRM system. As a result, it was decided to integrate the system with mobile application Whatsapp. After that, all customer data was automatically stored in CRM, and the application accelerated the process of interaction with customers. Profit increased by 15%.

Main problems of product sales control in Russian companies

If your sales managers, in your opinion, are not working effectively enough, then you may not be monitoring their actions enough. You must have an understanding of the points of control and know how to competently build a sales system.

In most of the firms in Russia, you can see such a picture. Sales managers do not work according to clear instructions. The reason is simple: the owner of the company is an ordinary "techie" and is not strong in the specifics of trade. He believes that by hiring sales managers, he will get competent specialists who know how to work and increase the company's sales.

This approach has flaw. There are very few truly experienced highly qualified sales managers on the market today. Their cost is high, and therefore most enterprises simply cannot afford to hire such specialists. However, the owner of the company does not understand this. As a result, most enterprises employ managers with average and frankly low training, who know only the basics of sales and act according to their own scheme, which is not always correct. It is often difficult for a business owner to control them.

As a result, he completely ceases to control the sale of products, and managers act independently, giving out some results. For the owner, the whole process becomes something hidden, complex, something he has no desire to understand. If this is the case, the manager becomes completely dependent on his sales department. That is, the company becomes more vulnerable to the actions of sales managers.

How does the owner manage such employees? At most, he monitors the financial results of their activities and evaluates achievements from time to time. He sees certain indicators and asks why they are like that, and not higher. Often he is late with the assessment, when the profit from the implementation "fails". Then the boss tries to urgently correct the situation. Certainly such scheme does not work.

When it becomes clear that the situation is deplorable, sales professionals try to shift the blame, arguing the results obtained by an ever-changing market, greedy customers, tough competitors. If the owner, as noted earlier, is a "techie", then he considers these reasons to be weighty. And even if he sees that the specialists are cunning, he is not able to take any measures, since he does not manage the sales process. He either accepts the situation as it is, or expresses dissatisfaction with the results.

This is how they control the sale of products in most organizations in Russia. The owners of the companies don't even think that it's not about the managers. It's up to them because it's their business, and they themselves bear responsibility for everything that happens in it. At the same time, the owners may realize that the uncoordinated work of managers and unsatisfactory results are somehow connected with each other, but they are not able to understand how exactly.

9 product sales control points that will help you build the right sales system

The scheme for building most of the sales departments at Russian enterprises is mainly classical, designed for sales "on the forehead". There are managers who solve many problems: attract customers, close deals, carry out repeat sales, often perform the functions of accountants and specialists. production department. But this approach does not bring the desired result. It is wrong to talk about control points here, since this is not a system, but a set of random actions, events.

In this regard, we will consider points of control regarding the correct sales system.

Here we are talking about two-step sales, realized through a “three-step” sales department. Within the department:

lead generation department, or attracting potential customers (from the English lead, which means "potential client"); you can also call it the marketing department;
lead conversion department, or turning potential customers into buyers (directly the sales department);
current customer service department, whose function is repeated sales (accountmanagement).

Each department has its own tasks. Professional level their staff is also different. Consider the points of control at all 3 steps, so that the owner clearly understands what exactly should be monitored within each stage.

The sales process as a technology, as a set of stages focused on the final result, as well as control points, can be divided into process control and result control.

If compared with production, then process control is to some extent similar to tracking the passage of the workpiece through the stages of the technological cycle. As for the control of the result, in this case, the quantity and quality of the created products are evaluated.

The only difference is that the loss of blanks during sales is usually higher, since there are much fewer buyers than potential customers with whom the firm interacts at the very beginning.

Checkpoint #1. Sales funnel and conversion rates at its stages. Conversion, that is, the transformation of "input" into "output", is one of the most important indicators of the sales system, which is measured using percentages of the number of target actions at the "input". It is conversion that makes the “funnel” a convenient sales model, where the “input” is wider than the “output”.

There are two main conversion metrics you need to be aware of. First of all, this is the conversion of the “first touches” of an unlimited number of potential customers with your marketing message into the number of leads. This conversion is the responsibility of the lead generation department. In addition, this is the conversion of leads into buyers, which is the responsibility of the lead conversion department.

The conversion shows the efficiency of the company's sales departments at each stage of the funnel, that is, how effective the efforts are at the very beginning of interaction with the client, what they lead to at the “exit”, and allows you to understand how many targeted actions need to be performed at the previous stage to get a unit of result at the next one. For example, 10 cold calls allow you to meet with a client once, the conversion is 10%

Conversion directly relates to the quality of the conversion process and the methods used within it. You can ask why the conversion rate is 10% and not 40%, for example, and also test other methods that may be less costly or more effective.

Checkpoint #2. The process of passing a lead through the stages of a sales funnel starts from its “first touch” with a marketing message and ends with a deal. This is especially important for difficult sales in the B2b sector, where the lead conversion stage includes many stages and can take several months. When making a decision on a transaction, B2b usually involves more than one employee of the client firm.

By tracking how a lead moves through the stages of the sales funnel, you can understand at what stage of the process he is and for what reason, what can and should be done to move him to the next stage. You can understand in time that the lead is moving at a slower speed than planned, and establish why things are this way: for example, due to incorrect actions of the sales manager. In this case, you can quickly correct the situation and move the lead to the next stage of the funnel. The funnel is the route the sales team takes the lead to the buyer stage. It is very important to keep track of whether you are on the right track.

Checkpoint #3. Average sales cycle time. sales cycle called the period of conversion of a lead into a client. The calculation is carried out from the moment the lead is generated until the moment the funds are received from it. Depending on the type of business, the sales cycle can range from a few days to more than one month.

It is necessary to understand the length of the cycle in order to make a forecast for the receipt of sales revenue. That is, its amount depends on how managers act at all levels.

If we take the segment of complex B2b sales, then the cycle can last from 6 to 18 months, and therefore it is very important to know its average duration in order to correctly allocate the company's finances. The ability of the company to cover current costs and repay credit debts depends on this.

If the company knows the average sales cycle, then they can timely redirect the efforts that are being made to attract unpromising leads in a more rational direction. Often, the conversion of unpromising leads is delayed, as a result of which it exceeds the average length of the sales cycle. Let's say the equipment sales cycle lasts 3 months. And we see a lead in the funnel that has been at the initial stage for half a year and promises that the deal will take place in the near future.

The longer the conversion of a particular lead compared to the average length of the sales cycle, the more likely it is that the deal will still fail. If you keep track of such leads, you will be able to understand in time that it is not worth wasting time, and transfer them to automatic multiple touches (for example, through e-mail marketing). At the same time, the forces of sales managers will be directed to the conversion of other leads regularly supplied by the lead generation department.

Checkpoint #4. How actively sales managers perform targeted actions. Based on the conversion, you will understand how many targeted actions you need to perform at the “entrance” to the sales funnel to achieve the set goal. financial goal at the exit".

Let's say from a 10% conversion rate of calls to appointments and a 10% conversion of appointments to sales, it is clear that in order to make one sale, the lead generation manager needs to make 100 cold calls. According to their results, 10 meetings will be generated, which will be held by managers of the lead conversion department and as a result, one deal will be concluded.

For example, based on the sales plan, such activity should be daily. If during the activity control process it is seen that the manager does not make 100 calls or does not hold 10 meetings daily, then the manager receives a signal that the plan is not being fulfilled. For managers, this indicates that they will not be rewarded as expected.

Sales managers can perform several types of targeted actions, especially if there are several stages in the conversion. At each stage, certain operations must be performed. This can be sending commercial offers, controlling their delivery, scheduling intermediate meetings, etc. With the help of a checklist, it is convenient to ensure that a certain number of actions are performed every day at all stages of the sales funnel. Otherwise, if you miss some steps, the lead will get stuck at a certain stage of the movement.

Checkpoint #5. The number of new leads for the period. The influx of new leads directly depends on how active the lead generation department is. The conversion of these leads is a source of new sales and profits. Here you can see another plus of the three-stage sales department. New leads are generated by a separate structural unit - the lead generation department, thanks to which there is no situation that sales managers avoid the difficult acquisition of new customers, focusing on easier re-sales to existing customers. This problem is faced by many sales departments built according to the classical scheme. That is, managers want to make things easier for themselves. In such departments, sellers first try to form a customer base, and only then, when sales begin to go, they concentrate on working with regular customers forgetting about attracting new ones.

At the same time, if you do not attract new customers, sales revenue "fails". In this regard, it is important to control the generation of new leads and take timely measures if this indicator decreases.

Checkpoint #6. Implementation of the sales plan. It is thanks to sales that the company receives financial resources. The implementation of the sales plan is very important in answering the question: will the organization have the money to finance current activities?

The less marginal products the company sells, that is, the less sales revenue it receives with the same sales volume, the more important it is for it to implement the specified plan.

In this regard, the company needs to monitor every day not only the sale of products, but also the implementation of sales plans for the whole enterprise and for each manager individually.

We stopped at the main control points of the sales process. Now consider the control points of the result. The end result of any sale is profit. There is a system of 5 indicators, the product of which gives a profit. These are the number of leads, their conversion, the amount of the average check, the number of repeated purchases for the period and the margin. The number of leads and conversion are the points of sale as a process. Other indicators are points of control of the sales result.

Control point number 7. Average check amount. That is, for what amount on average the buyer purchases products at a time. The sum may include several commodity units, and not one, if this implies the assortment of the company.

Based on the check, you can understand how to increase its amount. How do sales managers act when receiving such an average check? What actions do they not take, what can be done differently to increase the amount of the average check?

Sales statistics on average checks for the customer base as a whole helps to distribute buyers into 3 segments: small, medium and large. Goods with high margins (backend) are best sold to large customers. They should be focused on in the first place and promote these products to them. If the enterprise does not have such products, it should be introduced into the assortment, agreeing on this with suppliers.

Checkpoint #8. The average number of repeat purchases over a given period of time. The indicator tracks the current customer service department and will allow you to distribute customers into 3 groups depending on the frequency of purchases: rarely making purchases, periodically and often purchasing company goods. Managers should pay the most attention to the last category of clients, since from the standpoint of making a profit it is the most promising.

Checkpoint #9. Margin on products sold. For the business owner, this is a point of control. Most often, the motivation of sales managers is related to sales volume. This indicator can be independently controlled and managed by a specialist. At the same time, the owner of the enterprise understands that the real goal is not the volume of sales, but profit, which depends on the volume of sales through the profit margin included in the cost (the difference between the price after tax and the cost of a commodity unit).

Margin is a source of financing for the semi-fixed expenses of a business that ensure its functioning.

Sales managers are usually not familiar with this indicator. It is not obvious to them: either the indicator is difficult to calculate, or the specialist is simply not informed about it. Since the manager has no interest in the margin figure, he can easily reduce it by giving discounts to customers in order to achieve the planned sales volume, if he has such a right. This is an absolutely standard situation - what you stimulate is what you get.

If the owner is not ready to directly link the motivation of specialists with sales revenue, then he should independently and timely take measures aimed at managing the level of margin both through pricing and through the motivation of sales managers, and make sure that they provide discounts in reasonable amounts. In the most ideal scenario, the motivation of these specialists should be related to profit, and not to sales volumes. Then the problem disappears: the manager controls the sales profit. He knows that the more profit the company gets from him, the more he will earn.

Let's summarize all of the above. A process is a technology that can be considered both a process and a result. Therefore, control points in sales should signal both quality and outcome.

The points of control over the process show the movement of the buyer through the sales funnel from the first interaction to regular repeat sales, thanks to which actions of the manager it is possible to achieve a favorable financial result, how many operations need to be performed “at the entrance” to achieve the desired goal at the “exit”.

Checkpoints allow you to track which financial results gives the activity of sales managers. If the owner of the company is not satisfied with these results, he needs to increase sales plans, change or modernize the marketing department.

The most effective means of controlling sales is the CRM system. The correct implementation of its functions and the use of its full potential allows monitoring and managing work in key areas. Sales control is not only checking the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to sellers with the help of reporting. These are a few more areas:

1. Control of lead generation processes

Getting leads from all available sources if CRM integration with the website, blog and product landings is configured. Every lead has a cost. CRM in this case controls the optimal use of resources to attract traffic.

Segmentation of leads according to the degree of "warmth": hot, warm, cold. This is important for further redistribution.

Automatic redistribution of leads among employees. This allows you to make a scoring according to the criterion of "warmth". "Hot" and "warm" leads are sent to the best and most experienced, "cold" - to the delinquent and newcomers.

Lead group analysis. Criteria can be different: niche, product, lead source, etc.

2. Control of work on transactions

Correspondence with the counterparty is conducted directly from CRM and recorded there. As a result, all stakeholders are aware of what is happening. You can always break deadlocked negotiations by intervening in the process or simply by appointing another manager.

Commercial offer and invoice are generated and sent via CRM. As a result, the ROP always knows what is offered, for what amount. And most importantly, the offer that the buyer received matches the tested template.

You can analyze the transaction statuses of each seller through the pipeline. Based on these data, timely setting and correction of tasks for managers takes place.

3. Control of analytical data and reporting

Data for compiling is easily extracted from CRM. It contains data on all shipments in the context of counterparties and products.

The effectiveness of communication channels and lead generation is monitored. This is important in order to focus on the most effective in the future and adjust marketing budgets.

And, as already mentioned, high-quality tuning automated system allows you to get reports on employees, funnels, new and old customers, etc. to suit your needs.

The collection and processing of information in one system allows for total control of sellers, movement potential buyers along the funnel and make timely decisions that will ensure sales growth.

By what KPI do you evaluate the quality of work?

For what reasons did you manage / failed to achieve the goals set for the sales department?

Are you positioning the product correctly, and how effective is your sales process?

What shortcomings or difficulties are there in the work of the department you have built?

What are your plans for the department for the next 1 month / 3 months / six months / a year?

With what tools do you plan to achieve your goals?

What resources do you need to achieve the above plans?

Does it exist step by step plan actions to achieve the global goals?

Are you sure you have everything under control? If you don’t have an answer to at least one of these questions, it means that some indicators or processes are out of your control. The lack of control over the work of the sales department can harm the performance and reduce the efficiency of both individual employees and the department as a whole.

Let's look at what areas of your department's work can get out of your control and where you can put more effort into building effective work.

Checklist for controlling the sales department

1. Business processes and company regulations

In any company that seeks to build organized work departments and employees, there is a set of rules and a description of processes that allow you to standardize the implementation official duties. The regulations and description of business processes simplify the training and adaptation of new employees, optimize the tools for monitoring the work of departments and the company as a whole, and allow organizing work in an organized and structured manner.

If you don't have processes and work rules in place, you'll have to do the same job over and over again, teaching new hires, and you won't be able to create an organized workflow.

2. Work with clients

You need to know how satisfied customers are with your product and your company. Are you customer oriented? Are your managers considered professional and polite?

If you lose sight of the control of this process, you risk losing loyalty, and as a result, the client himself.

3. Product Knowledge

Before sending a manager to meetings with clients, make sure that he has a deep knowledge of the product, especially if the proposed product is complex and the clients are large companies and industry experts. If the manager is superficially familiar with the product, see the risks in point 2.

4. and reporting

Only in numbers can you evaluate the effectiveness of current work and make plans for the future. With the help of correct reports, you can understand in which areas of work you need to make efforts, how employees work, what is the dynamics of the development of the department and sales volumes. will be a good tool for reporting and control of the department as a whole.

5. Working time planning

A big problem in the work of sales managers is the correct planning of working hours. By teaching your employees how to competently plan a work plan for the day and prioritize tasks, you will allow your sales department to function more efficiently and effectively. True, do not forget that in the work plan there should be small breaks for rest. A change of scenery improves employee productivity. The main thing is that everything should be in moderation.

6. Results of the work

You should track this indicator at least daily. Wake up a good head of the sales department at night, he should know all the indicators)). It is important to constantly keep your finger on the pulse in order to quickly respond to changes. On the this indicator retains all of the company's profits. Determine the KPI of the work of employees, department, company and monitor changes in these indicators in order to correct the work of inefficient employees and inefficient processes.

7. Relationships in the team

You must clearly understand what relationships develop in the sales team. The general atmosphere greatly affects the work of employees individually and on performance in general. A negative atmosphere, as well as permissive management, reduces interest and enthusiasm for work, reduces the productivity and effectiveness of employees, and creates risks for achieving set targets. Take a closer look at your team: does anything bother you?

8. Mood

The working mood also depends on the relations in the team. The task of the manager is to constantly monitor the mood of the manager to achieve performance. “Charge” your employees for efficient work every day. Once is not enough. Trust that your efforts will pay off.

9. Training

If your company does not have an employee responsible for and supervising the training process, you will have to do it yourself. The learning process must be ongoing. It is important not only to conduct trainings, send seminars to managers, but also to motivate employees for self-development. You will help support the development of your employees by discreetly controlling this process with interesting homework assignments, playing games or discussing informative articles, books, videos during a break.

10. Sales system

Every company that has a commerce department has its own established and practiced sales system. To control its execution again falls on the shoulders of the head of the department. Now many companies use mentoring (coaching) as a learning process. Meet with clients with your managers, play out meeting scenarios in training, and you will be able to control the skills of successful negotiation by your employees, understand which sales stages are more difficult, whether adjustments need to be made to this process, and how successful the sales technology that exists in your department.

Check if everything is under your control? If not, you know what areas to work on.High performance and fulfillment of your plans!

One of the mandatory stages of the management cycle is control. This feature can be implemented in different ways. And we are sure that most managers want tasks to be performed efficiently, but at the same time, employees do not need constant supervision.

Most likely, you also do not want the control to be like the way the police do, hiding in the bushes with a locator, and dreaming of catching a careless driver in excess of speed. Such control does not lead to efficiency - it is needed only to detect violations. Probably, if you are focused on business efficiency, you will benefit from a system in which the control actions are more like a speedometer or a car navigation system. Such a system would help each member of the team do their job in the best possible way.

What needs to be controlled in the work of the sales department?

Many managers control only the final result, for example, how much sales were realized in a month. However, this is not enough. There are at least 2 more groups of indicators that should be kept in the focus of managerial attention. These are Activity and Quality of work of employees.

Result = Activity x Quality

This conditional formula clearly shows what you should pay attention to in building a control system to achieve the best result.

The result is possible only on the condition that employees perform useful Sales Activity and do it with the required level of Quality. If the Activity or Quality is low, then the Result tends to zero.

Building a clear system internal control in a company, it's not about how to control the sales manager, but rather about what control points should be established in the work of the entire business in order to increase sales.

Let's look at the control points of the sales manager. Each of them refers to either Activity, or Quality, or Sales Performance.

Control points

Here short list of 10 key control points in your company's sales and marketing that will create a system that leads to the best result.

1. Monitoring activity indicators

The numbers need to be controlled. Business and sales cannot develop only on the basis of the feelings of the owner or sales director.

Once a business owner asked: “I want to understand what you are guided by? What are the readings of your "devices"? On what basis are decisions made? Business is not feelings and sensations, these are numbers that reflect reality.

We must definitely see what is really happening and where we are going. How many potential clients are in the database, how many - one manager has, how often contacts are made with them and what is their effectiveness in terms of conversion from one stage of the transaction to another.

How many calls are made, how many meetings, how many invoices, how many payments. Statistics are important based on the results of the quarter, month, week, and even day. Whether there is based on current statistics.

Similarly, with marketing activities: what is the effectiveness of mailings, how many clicks to the site, how many applications, how many "live" customers? All this can be tracked using modern services and CRM.

Everything costs money. Sales is no exception. Therefore, it is also necessary to control the cost of the transaction, how much it costs us in the end.

2. Control of regulatory documents of the sales department

What for 8 years of work on the development of sales, I was definitely convinced that one of the most important risks lies in the plane of the personnel.

Carefully review and update all job descriptions, motivation systems, employment contracts with employees. No unformed agreements or “heart-to-heart talks”. Only properly executed documents and protocols.

Documents must be legally verified and transparent. Based on them, it should be clear what the company's management expects from, what standards, plans, incentives and bonuses. The employee must understand how everything is calculated so that later there are no disputes that lead to demotivation and even dismissal.

A well-designed contract with employees, combined with job descriptions and others normative documents help to avoid unpleasant misunderstandings and conflicts in the future.

3. Control of the client base

8. Control of the cost and other conditions offered to customers

The rules and amounts of special offers to customers should also be under the control of the sales manager. After all, it is he who is responsible for the implementation of plans for marginal profit, right? Transactions should be profitable, first of all, for the company, and not just for the client or manager who made the sale and put part of the discount in his pocket.

This control point can be implemented in different ways. Option 1 - control of each commercial offer. If there are few transactions, then this is quite real. If it is unrealistic to control all transactions, then option 2 can be used - selective control of offers and constant control over the implementation of the rules for setting special conditions.

9. Control of collection of closing documents

If you pay a sales commission to sales staff before they provide closing documents for the deal and expect them to collect documents from the client after receiving the money, then you are mistaken.

Managers do not collect closing documents. It's very hard to get them to do it. This question constantly causes irritation and dissatisfaction, because everyone wants to engage in new sales, and not clean up their debts according to the documents of past transactions.

The company can suffer from this very seriously. Therefore, the moment of payment of the commission for the sale also needs to be controlled. And sales managers must know in which case they will receive a commission, what documents are in their area of responsibility. When and what should they provide to the accounting department and management in order to receive their money.

10. Monitoring the realization of the client's potential

- this is the maximum sales volume that you can realize with this client, provided that he buys your product or services only from you. The fact is that some companies do not control the potential of the client, focusing only on the volume of sales. However, such an indicator as “our share in the client” is no less important.

Demand from managers not only the volume of sales, but also the maximum realization of the potential of the client. This means that they should try to capture the entire budget that the client allocates for your services or products. Analysis of the potential of the client will allow you to keep under control the volume of sales for the existing client base.

Download the Sales Manager Checklist (link below) to help you manage your sales team even better.

Efim Markovetsky, Clientbridge