Fire sales non performers now

With 65 % of sales managers surveyed by consulting firm Huthwaite saying sales would pick up this quarter and 75 % saying they will hit quotas, its time to clear out the dead wood.

According to Huthwaite, sales managers are optimistic about their sales performance for the final quarter of 2010. While sales targets were met in the previous quarter, sales managers also prompted that performance could get better if more focus were given to boost the sales skills of team members and forecasting activities.

In a survey conducted by leading sales performance organisation Huthwaite from October to November 2010, over 65 percent of the respondents said they were positive that sales will improve this quarter, with 75 percent of the overall respondents projecting that they will hit or exceed targets.

The survey was conducted with 116 respondents comprising of sales managers, executives and directors, most of whom have over ten years of experience in sales in various industries across business-to-business and consumer-based clientele.

Identifying lack of competent selling skills as the greatest shortfall to achieving previous sales objectives, managers expressed enthusiasm to improve the expertise of their team in conducting sales and reaching targets going forward.

“While most of the respondents recognise that aptitude of their team members to conduct sales is imperative to their success, they also note that the primary factor for their performance in the previous quarter is the lack of mentoring and coaching of such skills to their sales team,” said James Fennessy, Chief Executive Officer of Huthwaite.

The optimism for sales in the current quarter is attributed to the projection that more efforts will be pumped into improving the skills of their sales personnel through training programmes.

Besides sharpening sales expertise, sales managers recognised that forecasting is highly valuable in their organisations. The majority of the respondents identified that the exercise is important, and they do it to gauge the outcome of their sales performance.

“A large number of the respondents are aware of the potential of sales forecasting and how it contributes to their business. It is the trend of the market right now. Sales managers know that forecasting helps them both assess performance and set future sales strategy based on the outcome of the forecast. This is a proactive measure to boost sales and drive profits,” Fennessy added.

The survey also found that sales managers put the minimum amount of time on updating sales pipeline, presumably due to their busy schedule managing other sales activities. Most of the respondents spend between one and three hours a week, and even so would often fail to come to the numbers accurately and end up with magnified numbers.

Huthwaite regularly surveys industry sectors on sales performance in order to stay up to date with the tools and methods that result in sales excellence. This regular research ensures its industry training is refreshed and relevant to the evolving marketplace.