According to an article in INC magazine, "The report found that on average, only about 50 percent of sales reps made their quota, and more than 42 percent of companies reported that less than 50 percent of reps were meeting or exceeding their quota." To this most replies are that quota is too high. Well, if half the folks can meet quota, is it really too high?
It's not that, it's there isn't any buy in from the sales rep. A quota is a goal. It has to be agreed upon. The sales rep needs to accept his responsibility and own the quota - or explain what the hurdles are, so they can be removed.
As a sales manager, ask yourself: is my sales process part of the problem? Do you support your sales team? Does your sales team feel supported?
Who has the responsibility for lead generation? It often comes down to that. Newbie sales reps find prospecting (lead gen) challenging. Sales reps are motivated by closed sales, if they have to do their own lead gen, scripting, value proposition, follow up, quoting, etc., it will be a while before they close which will disheartening and de-motivating.
What other duties does the sales team have besides lead gen, follow up, quoting and contracts? Sales studs often don't want to do paperwork because they want to be out in the hunt. What do you do about that?
These are some thought provoking questions about the sales quota and the sales process. They have to be in sync with the type of sales reps you have and the products you want them to sell.
No comments:
Post a Comment