How Much Productivity is Leaking from Your Inside Sales Team?

Is your inside sales team leaking productivity?  How much productivity is being lost?  What impact is productivity leakage having on your business?  Do you know where your leaks are?  Do you know how to fix them?

The illustration below provides a simple example of the significant impact productivity leaks can have on a business.  While 90% productivity may sound reasonable, it means that over a period of one year, your team of 10 reps is actually performing like a team of 9.  Think about it.  You’re paying the salary and benefits for a team of 10, but only getting the output of 9 people.

One of the most common mistakes that inside sales teams make is that they don’t measure even the most basic performance metrics. They fly by the seat of their pants; keep their fingers crossed; and hope they meet their revenue goals at the end of the year.  When inside sales teams don’t track key performance indicators (KPIs), it can be difficult to know if they’re on track to meet their goals and objectives on a day-to-day basis.  However, organizations that identify and track performance metrics of their team often can pinpoint down to the hour how they’re tracking toward their goals.  Further, KPI tracking, reporting, and analytics can help diagnose the symptoms of a low performing inside sales team or an inside sales rep.  Key performance metrics can help you know who on your team needs coaching and what areas of focus that coaching should take.

There are many reasons an inside sales rep could be missing their revenue targets.  It may be because they are simply not talking to enough decision-makers.  But is that because they aren’t making enough dials?  Or, is it because they can’t get through the gatekeeper?  Maybe they’re talking to plenty of decision-makers, but their messaging is off or they aren’t providing the prospect a valid business reason to continue the dialog?  Tracking performance metrics like dials per hour and decision-maker dialogs will help you know for sure.

Putting performance metrics in place will make you a better coach/manager.  You can more efficiently identify productivity leaks and then deploy appropriate coaching to fix the problem.  It will also ensure that small leaks that might otherwise go undetected don’t grow into larger problems over time.  Tracking KPI’s will also be appreciated by your individual inside sales reps as well.  All successful reps are goal-oriented.  They perform best when they’re focused on a well-defined target.  Key performance metrics that can be broken down from annual goals to daily and even hourly objectives will allow them to monitor their productivity and eliminate leaks before they have a chance to grow.