Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

Hi

We have the ability to track win / loss / suspended / abandoned statistics on all our sales opportunities because they are standard outcomes in Maximizer’s Opportunity Management system. The only requirement is that we set an Opportunity for each potential sale resulting from a lead and track it through to its conclusion. It is a discipline which is easy to do but difficult to enforce.

The biggest problem arises with the suspended and abandoned sales opportunities, because there is a reluctance to pursue the project into the no-mans land of unanswered phone calls, emails which elicit no reply, messages which do not produce a response and so on. On the other hand, when a sale is lost, the client is usually willing to tell us about it.

When the opportunity simply evaporates it is the contact and communication which is seemingly lost. Perhaps there is embarrassment that someone’s authority or budget has gone up in smoke or a reluctance to tell us that our presentation was so unconvincing that the company has decided that our CRM services are so inessential that no-one is going to get an order.

Our win / loss ratio is gratifyingly good. On that basis, we can have a lot of confidence in investing in making quality presentations. We are trying to tackle the black hole of suspended / abandoned opportunities by asking colleagues who are not known to the prospect to follow up. So far, the results are promising, indicating that there may still be an opportunity for business at some time in the future albeit lead by a different partner.

Many, but not most of our clients utilise this feature. I don’t know for sure why they don’t all utilise the capability to set and track opportunities. It takes very little time to set up, requires the entry of only 3 items of data (£ potential order value, % chance of closing a sale and the potential close date for the sale)

Win / loss status is only entered once the close date has passed and the client has been contacted to ascertain the status. It is easy to train people to use and the benefits are huge as it can give not only a historic analysis of sales success but provides the basis of an ongoing sales forecast.

Perhaps some clients are frightened that it might tell them things they would rather not know. Perhaps it removes too many excuses from the subjective areas of sales performance. Perhaps we don’t sell the concept as well as we should.

From those clients who do use it, Wayde’s comments about confidentiality ring very true. They use the figures and the ratio’s, combined with sales activity analysis to constantly refine the effectiveness of their sales operation, continuously monitoring call rates, lead to sales visit ratio’s and demonstration to order ratios, seeking all the time to extract incremental improvements out of every indicator by refining their sales techniques and operational efficiency. That’s not the kind of information they would ever release into the public domain.

I try to determine the figures for my own industry, and it is difficult. For instance, I would dearly like to know what kind of conversion rate other CRM businesses get from leads generated from different sources when they try to turn them into presentations in a sales visit. It would give me a lot of confidence in investing in further marketing activity, because given our known close rate on presentations, I would be confident about getting a positive return on investment – IF I knew how many leads at £x0 per lead it took to secure a quality interview!

In truth, I’m able to assemble the figures by talking to other CRM professionals off the record and by being prepared to share generalised data with them. After all, the potential market for our products is easily large enough for all of us to make a living.

I therefore suspect that if you want some ratios and other numbers, you’re going to have to do the survey work yourself. A good place to do this is at one of your industry conferences or exhibitions. Be prepared to reveal some information in return for some un-contentious statistics of theirs.

Try to select informal settings rather than on your exhibition stands and do take the opportunity that the social events present to network with your peers. Set yourself a limit to the kind of information you are willing to divulge and check it out with the MD or CEO before hand. Have an idea of the kind of information you are seeking and be up-front about the purpose of having an exchange.

One area which makes allies of competitors is the desire to extract a better deal out of advertising managers in the trade press, so the lead rate for display advertising can be a useful starting point, leading on to the quality of those leads and the percentage which turn into business.

Getting the competition’s sales team plastered in the bar is inadvisable. They may be able to hold their drink better than you and I’ve seen some appalling faux-pas made on the odd bottle or two too many over a “working dinner”

Sorry that I don’t know of any published stats to help you, but maybe my colleagues can show both of us some insights.

Steve Alker
Unimax Solutions