You’ve heard it before. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Well, it’s true and if you’re serious about improving your business results (even personal performance for that matter), you need to have a way to measure your progress and then manage your activity to improve it. Rocket science, I know!
It surprises me that so few people in business have any form of meaningful measurement to take control of their performance. So, I wanted to zero in on one fundamental activity that every business must control in order to deliver better results – Selling.
At the end of the day, if you’re not selling something, you’re out of business. And yet selling activities are among the poorest to be measured in many businesses that I’ve worked with. I’m not just talking about watching the revenue line. In fact, the revenue line will take care of itself if you have solid systems and measures in place around the things that drive it.
To use an example, I recently ran a small campaign to generate new customers. I wanted to test an approach that I thought would work, but didn’t have anything to compare it to. I didn’t have a benchmark, so I decided to put a few measures in place that I could monitor to gauge my progress over the duration of the campaign. Here’s how the campaign worked:
- A database of targets (aka prospects) was created – 78 people representing 63 businesses
- A hard-copy letter (I know, old school) was drafted to send to each person on the list outlining a specific date and time of follow up by telephone
- Telephone follow ups to arrange appointments
- Further email follow ups to make contact and make appointments
- Hold appointments, follow up with proposals (where necessary), and close sales
So, the first thing to measure was the cost of the correspondence I was sending out. Without factoring in some fictitious hourly rate for my time, I decided to focus on the actual cost of the letter I was sending out. The database didn’t take very long to put together and it was deliberately small. The letters cost me $1.50 each, posted.
The next thing to measure was the follow up activity. I had the first input which was 78 letters sent. The second was the number of calls I would make. Then, would I get through to the decision maker? Next, would I make an appointment? Once I showed up for the appointment (another measure), would I get (need) a follow up appointment (measured that too)? Would I close a sale (critical metric)? And, how much would that sale be worth (revenue)?
I put all these elements into a simple Excel table (shown below) and proceeded with the activity. Each time I made I call I marked it down. When I got through to the decision maker (the person I sent the letter to), I marked it down. Appointments made and the outcomes of the appointments were also recorded.
“So what?” I hear you ask. What this simple exercise highlighted was fantastic insight into my level of activity and level of success over a period of time. There was nowhere to hide and the numbers didn’t lie. They told a very important story.
First, I identified that like so many others out there, I have a reluctance to pick up the phone (this is a topic for another time). When I do pick up the phone, I get through to the decision maker around 60% of the time. From there, I make appointments around 65% of the time, and after the initial appointment I get a follow up 90% of the time. Closing rate is in progress because the campaign is still running, but I closed my first sale within 3 days of the first follow up which paid for the campaign 100 times over!
Was it worth it? You bet! The point I really want to drive home to you is that this small campaign yielded some incredible insights that I simply would not have if I didn’t measure it.
Now here’s the real lesson in all of this. I uncovered that the campaign has potential to work very well. I also uncovered that making the initial calls to make appointments is my biggest bottleneck. So now, I can make a business decision based on more than gut feel – either put someone on to make the initial calls and book appointments, or harden up and get on with it! The measures have told me an interesting story. Now it’s time to take action!
Build massive momentum!
