When I ask you "how
are your sales reps
doing?", how will
you answer me? Will
you give me a "gut
instinct" about how
they are
performing... or
will you give me
facts about
percentage of quota
or number of sales
calls? As a sales
manager I want you
to know more than
simply how your
people are doing...
I want you to know
by how much (if any)
they're getting
better at their
jobs. Can you
quantify that for
me?
During my sales
management career
I've tracked many
statistics and
ratios. Some of them
have been valuable
and others were
simply a mental
exercise in
futility. As I moved
further into
homecare I found a
few key stats that
would help me focus
on how my people
were REALLY doing
and how much they
were REALLY getting
better. One of these
stats is the Sales
Per Hour ratio.
If you come from an
industry outside of
homecare you might
be familiar with
revenue per hour of
sales or number of
sales per day or
week. The Sales Per
Hour ratio is
similar in that it
takes one slice of
time (one hour) and
tells us how
effective the sales
rep in question is
in selling during
that hour.
Simple, right?
On the surface, that
ratio looks good but
you might be asking
how it can be used.
As with most
statistical data,
the longer you
collect it, the more
statistically valid
it becomes. Once you
achieve statistical
validity in the
Sales Per Hour ratio
(about six weeks)
you have developed a
trendline of
performance. This
trendline allows you
to gauge the
effectiveness of one
sales rep versus
another (if you
wish), the ongoing
development of said
sales rep (if you
wish), or the
subsequent sales rep
in a territory that
has a valid sales
per hour ratio
attached to it (if
you wish).
Are you managing
like this?
Managment by "feel"
is not management at
all. Stephen Tweed
says it best...
"what gets measured
gets managed, what
gets rewarded gets
repeated".
With no disrespect
intended, if you're
not measuring...
you're not managing.
Tools and measures
like this help a
sales team go from
underperforming to
success. This can
help a good sales
team to (as is the
buzzword or phrase
today) go from good
to great. YOU must
be the person
measuring this... or
directing the person
that will do the
measuring.
A valid Sales Per
Hour ratio will tell
you how many (or
what fraction of)
admissions said
salesperson
generates in each
"selling hour". When
that number begins
to rise... it means
the salesperson is
getting better, is
getting MORE
EFFECTIVE at selling
homecare. When the
number falls? You
figure it out.
The beauty of the
way we at Leading
Home Care track the
Sales Per Hour ratio
is that you cannot
cheat it. The two
components of the
ratio are either an
absolute value that
you can easily
double check, or a
number that if
purposely skewed,
will make the
results look WORSE
than they already
are.
I'm not saying that
a salesperson might
want to look better
than their numbers
point to... but I'm
also not saying that
they won't.
So how do you use
Sales Per Hour in a
practical
application?
Trend the number
over six weeks and
commit it to paper
(or the
LHC Supersize Your
Sales package).
Evaluate the number
each week and
realize that no ONE
week stands on its
own. There are too
many variables in
any one week that
could throw the
number out of whack.
If the trend points
to increased sales
productivity, check
back at the
individual activity
of both the
salesperson and YOU.
Figure out what each
of you have been
doing to get these
great results. Once
you do that...
incorporate those
ideas into the sales
plan of your other
reps. If the
trendline is flat,
determine what steps
need to be taken to
jump start
performance. If the
trendline is down,
immediate
intervention by you
may be needed to
figure out what is
causing the drop in
performance.
The point is, with a
tool like the Sales
Per Hour ratio,
you'll KNOW what's
going on... and
never have to GUESS
at it again.
How would you like
to come into work
next Monday? Knowing
what your team was
achieving, and being
confident in the
direction of each
and every sales
rep... or hoping
that they'd get
better... and having
no way of knowing
when they did?
You are the sales
manager... this is
YOUR opportunity to
go from GOOD to
GREAT.
Be great... and let
me know how I can
help.
