The "legend" would have it that commercial indicators are only used to feed management's big appetite for dashboards and other statistics of all kinds... But KPIs make sense as soon as they are dedicated to the specific needs of each individual.
A brief overview of the indicators that are essential to the various players in the sales team.
CRM indicators for sales representatives
Salespeople are people who have no time to lose, who go to the heart of the matter and whose main objective is the turnover they generate. Even if this vision is rather simplistic, it corresponds to a reality: the sales force is there to sell (hence its name!). That's why sales people only need a clear and concise set of indicators.
The KPIs to be set up for the sales force are therefore those that enable them to measure the progress of their results and actions, with a more or less precise time frame per month, quarter or half-year.
Among them, the turnover or gross margin achieved (overall and by period). It is one of the most monitored indicators by sales representatives because it is generally used to assess the amount of their premiums. Depending on the remuneration system defined in the company, some will also pay attention to the volume invoiced or produced since all or part of their bonuses depend on it.
The activity data result is also a series of essential CRM indicators to measure the number of new contacts and leads recorded, the number of calls, visits, demonstrations and commercial proposals made. This information thus makes it possible to determine the real commercial effort and to readjust, if necessary, the next actions to be taken.
Finally, CRM alerts find here all their meaning to regularly remind you of the actions to be taken and those that are potentially late.
CRM indicators for sales managers
The sales manager, with his function and responsibilities, is in charge of supervising the activity of his team and the men who make it up.
It is important for the sales manager to have an overview of his team. It must therefore have KPIs compiling all the activity data of each sales representative (number of calls, visits, demonstrations, orders, etc.), as well as information specific to the overall results (volume of turnover or gross margin achieved). For more details on these indicators, discover which are the essential B2B indicators to manage your company's commercial activity.
But it will also need to have the activity indicators of each of its sales representatives, in order to help / motivate them in the actions that cause them difficulties. In short: manager.
Because if his team's performance is not there, it may be due to:
- a generalized problem. In which case, a team brainstorming is required.
- one or two salesmen in difficulty. In which case, an individual reframing (or a new training) will be necessary.
The sales manager is the "link" between the field and the sales department. He is the one who guarantees the achievement of his team's objectives... As you will have understood, the dashboards are therefore central to the daily performance of his duties.
CRM indicators for sales management
Beyond the desire to have a large number of indicators of all kinds (!!!!!), the very mission of the sales manager is to supervise the activity as a whole, to propose the necessary adjustments and to determine the company's short, medium and long-term sales strategy. It is therefore difficult to navigate by sight without precise field data!
To do this, the sales department must have:
- indicators to aggregate all sales data of the teams at a time T
- indicators to compare current activity/results with meaningful reference periods (to distinguish structural from cyclical, especially in sectors of activity subject to seasonal variations)
- indicators for each of its sales teams, in order to manage sales managers and possibly organize sales challenges.
Thus, it will be necessary to build CRM KPIs adapted to each function, avoiding the two traditional traps: indicators that are too "macro" in which field functions will be lost; indicators that are too "micro" in which managers and directors will be lost, to the detriment of the overall vision.