A very important part of a business process is the monitoring and control you have over your sales process to know if it is really having the expected results. If there are opportunities for improvement and especially if the people involved in each of the stages and procedures are carrying them out in the most optimal way for the benefit of the company. From this need, the question arises, “Do you know what you have to improve and how to measure it?”, In most cases the answer is no, that is why it is necessary to identify the key indicators of your business, that is, those that they allow you to measure in a concrete way the fulfilment of your objectives and that when analyzing and interpreting them they can generate valuable information to make decisions and take actions.
Key indicators in the commercial area
The commercial area of your company besides being the income generator is the link between the external and internal world of your business environment. That is why it is important to have a series of controls and indicators in each of the processes that contribute to your productivity, which will allow you to continuously evaluate performance and generate improvement cycles, this will result in better sales levels and more customers. Satisfied. The set of indicators will depend on your objectives, the turn of your company that is why each organization must identify and manage its own key indicators (KPIs). Look for compliance monitoring tools and mention some generic indicators of the commercial area.
What are the key indicators, KPIs?
KPI (Key Performance Indicator) are the metrics used to quantify the results of an activity or strategy that is fundamental to the success of the organization based on a predetermined objective.
These key indicators, which on this occasion we will focus on the commercial process, to be considered as such must meet 3 characteristics:
1) Be relevant to the success of the commercial operation of your company
2) Be SMART by its acronym in English (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Limit).
3) Serve to define standards and parameters.
For the commercial operation of your company, you can divide your key indicators into two main categories:
a) Results indicators, such as:
- Turnover
- Client Portfolio
- New Customer Login
- Gross Margin Growth
b) Management indicators, which occur during the sales process, among others are:
- Customers served by the seller during the period.
- The number of sales calls made.
- The number of visits made.
- Hit Ratio (percentage of conversion effectiveness at closing).
- Conversion time from one stage to the next in the sales funnel.
Why is it important to know my key indicators?
If your commercial team has clear objectives and indicators that support them, it will be easier for them to be more efficient in carrying out their key activities and this will be reflected in a more controlled sales process with better results.
Among other advantages that will provide you with having your KPIs well defined to measure the performance of both your sales process and your team are the following:
• You will obtain valuable information about the performance of the commercial team as well as the processes of the department to make decisions, plan, identify areas of opportunity and take the necessary measures in a timely manner.
• You will set realistic goals for your sales team and improve communication by having the visibility of what you want to achieve objectively.
• You will identify and evaluate more efficiently the performance of the sales team by channelling their activities in the activities and metrics that are really important for the company.
• You will have a guideline about the areas of opportunity of the sellers with measurable objectives with which you can identify the need for training that exists.
The objective of having these indicators visible in achieving asynchrony and focus of the entire team in the sales process including from prospecting, sale and delivery of the order to post-sale.
