When I talk to colleagues about the introduction or further development of sales management, I usually look at rather serious or reserved faces. Then I often hear „But we’re already doing so much!“ or „More pressure doesn’t do anything!“
Accordingly, there seems to be a widespread – incorrect – image of sales management that can essentially be reduced to more pressure and more activities.
The task of sales controlling is to measure all process steps – where possible – using KPIs on the basis of a uniformly defined sales process. This is based on the knowledge that if I only look at sales success in the sense of completed deals and earned income, I only use a rearview look. So it is not enough to focus exclusively on the output; the input must also be monitored and, if possible, optimized.
The sales control must therefore migrate back on the timeline from the closing, from the sale – and in addition to efficiency considerations, the uniformly defined sales process is necessary precisely for this. I have to have a procedural and by definition consensus about the point at which we are currently on the way from the initial idea, from the generated lead to the conclusion with the customer.
In this way, sales management initially leads to more transparency. This more transparency makes it possible to agree other and different goals, because other key figures are available that can be measured. In this way, sales controlling enables a view of sales activities.
In any case, sales management means that it is necessary to consistently and stringently define what success actually looks like (not only in the conclusion, but also on the way there) and thus which steps lead to success. This not only helps the managers – but also and above all the employees. It reduces complexity and creates clarity by establishing rules and prioritizing goals. (In this way, contradicting goals can also be resolved.
Everyone wants to do the right thing in their job and be successful. And just as a dependent employee has the right to have his tasks clearly named, so every salesperson has the right to know what he has to do in order to be successful. In this sense, every sales employee has the right to get controlled! (This is then no longer pressure, but more „suction“)
Vertriebsmanagement 