The Number Game – Perform or Perish?

Having been into Sales for over a decade now, I blogged about “ABC of Sales” - Always Be Closing, I am tempted to write about my thoughts on “NUMBERS aka Sales Quota” which in sales is a familiar term and we live eat breathe our quota or numbers. I got tempted to write about by looking at some real life trends, and some thoughts I read and compiled from what sales gurus said.

I read an article which says over the past four years, sales quotas have risen nearly 33 percent, yet the percentage of representatives making their quota has fallen by 25 percent: A bad omen for companies, and perhaps a worse omen for the reps that depend on their sales to earn their keep.

The statistics comes from the Birgade Group, a Sales Strategy firm based out of Hudson. The report states that on an average, only about 50% of sales reps made their quota, and more than 42% of the companies reported that less than 50% of their reps were meeting or exceeding their quota. Such situation reflects the weakness at the TOP of the organization; a CEO should ensure that the organization has a well oiled sales process.

First very important thing is to ensure that the organization has a sales process, proper territory allocation, balanced offerings for sales people to sale, good backend support system and a fair and justified sales quota. This shall help in running a well oiled sales process, with good systems to support to track the progress and ensure things do not fall off the crack.

Second very important thing is to understand the human part of a sales guy and have figure out a best way to interact with them so that messages are passed, be it good or bad, but motivation levels and zeal to achieve is kept intact.

Third most important part is the incentives, rewarding structure. Remember the line “No Risk No Reward” thus if a sales guy has risked his career to an unpredictable compensation structure, only with the fact is that if he Kicks some Asses, he gets Big Mullah!!! The mullah should be really great, for him to keep his motivations to fire!!!

Let’s look at some scenarios of Sales Quota Failure and their aftermath. Read On