Sales Health Audit

To assess the success of your sales organisation, simply ask yourself the following questions. Answer "yes", "no" or "don't know" and make a tally of the results. The questions fall into the following categories:

• Have you a plan?
• What does your company do?
• What you are selling and why is it different?
• Who are you selling to?
• How do get in the door?
• What are the customer’s needs & wants?
• How do you highlight return on investment?
• How do you measure sales performance?

If your “no” or “unknown” tally is more than three, you are seriously impacting your ability to generate quality revenues.

Sales Plans

• Is there a sales plan?
• Does each sales person have one?
• Is it written down?

• Quantity (quota, order size, deals, meetings, calls etc.)
• Quality (knowledge, market, competition, product etc.)
• Direction (markets, companies, people etc.)

Do your sales plans set this out?

Strategic sales positioning

• What does your company do?
• What problem does your company solve?
• Why should someone pay for it?
• Does the description fit on the back of a business card?
• Does everyone say the same thing?

Sales propositions

• What you are selling?
• Can you articulate the five features that make your product stand out?
• Does everyone say the same thing?
• Is it on the website & in your collateral?
• Can you articulate what advantages these features confer?
• Are the features and advantages linked?

Sales targets

• Who are you selling to?
• Can you say who you’re selling to?
• Can you identify all the criteria? (e.g. Size, revenues, shape, industry, location, economics, culture, management)
• Can you quantify these criteria?
• Do you know who you shouldn’t sell to?

Sales approaches

• How do you get in the door?
• Who is the “right” person?
• What is the ideal job title?
• What is their level?
• What are their responsibilities?
• How do you reach them?
• What is your plan for getting past “gatekeepers?”
• Why should they talk to you?
• How do you motivate them to listen?

Identify customer needs and wants

• What are the customer’s needs and wants?
• How do you find out a customer’s needs?
• How do you find out a customer’s wants?
• Are your initial questions all the same?
• Are the follow-on questions planned?
• Are they linked to your features and advantages?

Identify customer pay-offs

• Do your questions identify the payoff or benefit of your solution to each customer?
• Is the ROI linked specifically to unique features in your solution?
• Can you quantify that ROI in each case?

Measuring sales effectiveness

• Can salespeople explain what their quota is?
• Can they explain what activity is required to achieve it?
• Do you have regular forecasts?
• Do you have clear forecasting rules?
• Do you review forecasts?
• Do you have a defined sales process?
• Is each step clearly identified?

Sales forecasting

For every deal, can salespeople explain:

• When will the deal close?
• How will it be funded?
• What is the process by which the purchase is made?
• Who has to sign-off on the purchase?
• Who is involved in approving?
• What is the alternative or competition?