Measuring the performance of your salespeople can be a daunting task. Should you focus on gross sales? Or gross profit? But what if one salesperson handles only the largest accounts? Should penetration at those accounts be considered?
The quality process needs to have measurable goals. One solution is to have each salesperson create a key account list that includes at least three things:
1. Customers that can give you and your suppliers new business.
2. The amount of business the customers in No. 1 can give you.
3. Customers who have said they would buy from you if you can "make the conditions right."
If you have 20 major product groups defined by your quality group, and you want each salesperson to have five new customers each with a minimum of $5,000 in new sales, you will end up with a key account list worth $500,000 of "new" business per sales territory.
Watching the development of the new business from that key account list will give you a solid measure of performance that's not impeded by the variables mentioned at the beginning. Track it, feed it back to your sales team and the factory reps, and watch your sales grow.
Rusty Duncan is the founder and Chief Markets Analyst for Industrial Market Information Inc. For more information on the product line analysis IMI can provide, please contact IMI or complete an information request form.
