I reckon I previously wasted circa £1m of hard-earned profit in my business when scaling. Not a proud fact but a compelling one to encourage you to read this article, so you don’t end up in the same situation.
One question, do you really know what your sales team are doing, and when and how they are doing it?
I’d scaled a very profitable business from start up to £10m turnover and at the start understanding what was going on in the business was easy. From a sales perspective I knew where the reps where, how many calls, meeting, proposals and sales were being completed, where exactly the opportunity sat in the sales process and the exact reason when a prospect placed their business elsewhere. However, as the business grew, I quite often felt like I was holding the tail of a dragon whilst it swung around, breathed fire and tried to get away. As managers were introduced to the business, they reported the sales information back on Excel sheets on a weekly and monthly basis but it didn’t give the live data I needed to make good business decisions.
The Sales Team’s performance was measured purely on closed sales and whilst the top performers were wildly rewarded, those who were continually not making quota didn’t last with the business. Huge mistake. I lost some of the most productive members of my sales team. They were making more calls, sitting more appointments, and presenting more proposals than anyone else in the business but I just didn’t know this and that was my failing. I didn’t have the live information that would have informed me of how to help them with a little sales training. What rubbed further salt into my wounds is that my valuable data, which was on Excel, left with the rep and went along with them, to a competitor. If you are not able to view, at the click of a button, what your sales team’s activity levels are and compare them across the team, you are at risk too!
So, what is my recommendation so you don’t make the same mistake? Simple, implement a CRM system (Customer Relationship Management). There are many on the market and some which the basic versions are free. I personally use HubSpot and I started using the free version for email marketing and managing my database of potential customers. These platforms integrate with the likes of Outlook and your mobile phone so it saves time and gives a single source of data across all of your business. Everyone can then see what is happening on every prospect and account. I have now expanded what I use on the platform and below are some of the most common features use that I use – for free:-
• Email marketing – like Mail Chimp but all in one place
• Outlook integration – automatic sync of emails and you can see when your emails are opened and how many times
• Quote builder – build professional quotes and see when your prospects open them
• Website integration – see who is visiting your website and what pages they are visiting
• Sales reporting – Compare reps activity levels, closed sales, time to close etc
• Templates – send personalised emails in 3 clicks and monitor the best performing scripts
• Pipeline management tools – deal board with pipeline and full reporting charts
• Free meeting scheduler – prospects can directly book appointments in your diary
• Task management – recorded action against every opportunity with a “next step”
• Live chat software – chat to prospects who visit your site
• Document Library – store brochures etc centrally and send with a couple of clicks
If you would like to discuss sales process, performance, or systems in your business, you can book a slot in Adrian McCourt’s diary here for an initial free and confidential chat.
