By This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ah the New Year, ripe with promise and hope, and the opportunity to sweep many things (incomplete tasks, last year’s resolutions…) under the rug, and start it all again. The time of year where everywhere you turn there are articles and news items on how to make this year better, faster, brighter and more prosperous than last. As sales people, by the time you read this article, you will need to act fast to fully impact 2008, because what ever the plan, it should have been done a while back and actioned by now. But let’s not start things on a downer; there are some things you can do now to make a difference.

One of the most important is to recalibrate key metrics and time horizons. This needs to be done for a number of aspects or areas of sales. One is the length of your average sales cycle. Over the last 12 months a number of things have impacted the economy, as a result markets and more importantly, our clients’ and prospects’ perception of threats and opportunities in the market. This could impact their view of what is “mission critical” (must have), discretionary (nice to have), and things between. While it would be great to have our offering move to a critical need category, the reality is it could also swing the other way. Either of the above will impact the length of our sales cycle, and in turn we will have to adjust expectations, activities, and make allowances in how we execute the sale. In fact it may turn out based on review that his will cause you to revaluate related priorities and move prospects up and or down your target list.

This assumes that you know what the length of sales cycle was at the start of 2007, and have tracked it through the year; if not, you can go back and calculate things. It may seem laborious and time consuming, but once completed it will pay dividends in many ways. Look at a sufficient sample of sales, depending on your product, and such this may require that you go back more than a year to get enough data points. Mark the first meeting (or meaningful call if you sell exclusively over the phone), then mark the actual close (make sure you are consistent, you can use either signature or PO date, or delivery date, as long as you are not mixing along the way). Once you have a sufficient sample, remove any anomalies, and then look at what the average length of each sale was. This same process should be repeated for other key measurables (see side bar), as well as for sales to new clients vs. old, renewals up-sells, etc.

Other areas to apply Process While you are working with data, you should also look at other factors involved in the sales process. One simple fact to remember is that the length of your cycle can and likely vary for sales to new logos from sales to existing clients, as well as any variation that your business has to deal with. Needless to add, this process may have to be repeated across various products with different cycles. If in fact you do sell different products, with different cost levels, see what the average revenue per deal is, average margin, and other measurables.

If your cycle has stretched you will need to make adjustments to ensure that you are not squeezed by the longer cycle. A longer cycle is not necessarily a bad thing, you just need to be aware and adjust your activities to align them with your goals.

Along with the above, you need to look at your conversion ratios along critical points of the cycle. If you are converting less initial meetings to discussions, less proposals to closes, etc. you will need to make allowances for that. On the other hand if you have improved your ratios, you have the luxury of choice in how you use your new found bandwidth.

The key with both of these is that they are either caused by external factors or your own actions. Being proactive will help you with both, but it’s best to focus on what you can control.

One of the most effective means of being proactive is to allocate the appropriate time to specific activities. Once you complete the areas discussed above, or similar examination of other key areas for you. You need to decide how much time you can logically devote to each in an ideal world. We all know “ideal” may not always be attainable, but you need to set your targets for time allocation in an objective way. For example:

Once established, you can have reality checks throughout the year to make sure you are devoting the right and enough amount of time to the right task. Simply stated proactively managing, not reacting and getting distracted from your plan.

These are but a few things, there are many, but the process stays the same. Set parameters based on your new goals and your market realities, then proactively drive your activities to ensure success. Measure quarterly, if on track keep going, if not recalibrate.

Related reading:

Working Backwards From Your Goal To Get Ahead
How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle?

What's in Your Pipeline?

If you are sad to admit, contact Tibor Shanto, Principal with Renbor Sales Solutions Inc., and find out how he has helped dozens of organization to fill their pipeline with real prospects - - driving real revenue.
For more information on helping your team sell better, write to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , visit http://www.sellbetter.ca/blog