Sales Management
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8 M
Imagine this: A sales rep clocks in early, stays late, and is always busy. Yet, the numbers just aren't there.
As a sales manager, you're scratching your head. They're clearly putting in the time, but where's the payoff?
This scenario isn't uncommon. It’s easy to hyper-focus on the end result: revenue, deals closed, quotas met. But this narrow view overlooks a critical factor: sales effort.
Traditional sales metrics don't tell the whole story. A rep might be building relationships, nurturing leads, and diligently following up, but those actions don't always translate to immediate wins.
That's why measuring the day-to-day grind is crucial. In this article, we cover why measuring effort is important and how to prioritize effort to help you focus on activities that translate to future wins.
Sales managers constantly seek the magic formula to boost team performance. While revenue and closed deals are the ultimate goals, fixating solely on results can be shortsighted and demotivating.
The true unsung hero of sales success? Effort—the consistent, focused actions your reps take every day.
Long sales cycles, complex buying processes, and unpredictable markets can make results-oriented metrics unreliable in the short term. Reps may work tirelessly for months with no immediate payoff, leading to frustration and burnout. Effort, on the other hand, is something your team can control daily.
When reps feel you value their hard work, they become more engaged, confident, and resilient. This creates a positive feedback loop—increased effort leads to recognition, which further fuels motivation and ultimately, better results.
By tracking and acknowledging effort, you provide a sense of progress and purpose even when deals aren't closing. This is especially crucial for newer reps or those in challenging territories, where results may take longer to materialize.
Beyond motivation, effort-based metrics offer invaluable insights for coaching.
Instead of simply telling your reps to "close more deals," you can pinpoint where they're getting stuck and provide tailored support.
Are they struggling with prospecting? Negotiation? Closing? Effort data reveals the bottlenecks, allowing you to focus your coaching efforts where they'll have the greatest impact.
By embracing effort as a primary metric, you're investing in your team's growth, motivation, and long-term success.
While recognizing effort is a game-changer, the true impact lies in turning this recognition into actionable strategies. How can you seamlessly integrate effort into your existing processes, tools, and culture?
This section dives into practical steps for you to define, measure, and reward effort.
Ever heard of the Pareto Principle aka the 80/20 rule? It suggests that roughly 80% of results come from 20% of efforts.
This principle holds true in sales, where a small number of high-impact activities often contribute the most to closed deals and revenue growth.
Focusing on high-impact activities ensures your team works on what matters most. Honing in on the most impactful actions helps your team achieve higher conversion rates, shorter sales cycles, and increased deal sizes.
Examples of high-impact activities might include:
But how do you identify activities that move the needle? Here are three methods.
Pro tip: the specific high-impact activities vary depending on your industry, product, target market, and sales process. Make it a repeatable process to analyze your data and refine your approach on how to optimize sales efforts.
Reps who consistently put in the work, day in and day out, are more likely to build momentum, develop relationships, and ultimately close deals. But revenue figures may not always reflect their results, especially in industries with longer sales cycles.
This is where Saleboat comes into play. It provides a comprehensive view of your reps' activities in a calendar format.
How does this help? Spot reps consistently putting in the effort, even if their results haven't yet materialized.
For example, see which reps are consistently logging calls, sending personalized emails, or conducting product demos, even if those activities haven't yet translated into closed deals. This visibility allows you to identify and reward reps building a strong foundation.
When you recognize and reward consistent sales effort, you create a culture of sustainable performance. You incentivize reps to maintain their momentum, even when faced with setbacks or challenges. This improves individual performance and contributes to a more predictable and reliable sales pipeline.
Prioritizing effort is not about micromanaging every minute of your reps' day. It's about helping them understand the specific activities that contribute to closed deals and revenue generation.
This involves:
This approach fosters a sense of autonomy and accountability, leading to higher levels of engagement and motivation.
Effort is important, but so are results. Closed deals, revenue generated, and customer satisfaction remain vital metrics for evaluating sales performance.
But effort-based data provides a critical layer of context that supports your understanding of why certain reps are thriving while others are falling short.
Consider the following matrix to visualize the different scenarios when comparing effort and results:
The goal isn’t to push everyone into the "High Effort, High Results" quadrant, but to identify each rep's unique strengths and weaknesses and provide the appropriate support to maximize their potential.
Think of effort data as a diagnostic tool. When a rep consistently demonstrates high effort but struggles to close deals, it signals a potential issue.
Perhaps they need additional training on specific skills, like objection handling or negotiation. Maybe they’re targeting the wrong prospects or using ineffective messaging. Effort data pinpoints these areas and provides targeted coaching to get them back on track.
Similarly, when a rep consistently achieves results with minimal effort, it could indicate untapped potential. Are they coasting on natural talent or a favorable territory? Effort data.
This way, effort data reveals these high-potential individuals and informs critical decisions like territory assignments, compensation structures, and promotion opportunities.
Balancing effort with results creates a more comprehensive view of sales performance. You move beyond simply celebrating top performers and instead focus on understanding the underlying factors.
Use Saleboat to tailor coaching conversations to each rep's unique strengths and weaknesses. Some may need help prioritizing tasks, while others may need support improving specific skills.
With effort data, you can pinpoint where reps excel and where they struggle. Then, customize coaching based on individual needs, like refining prospecting skills or practicing objection handling scripts.
Here’s how it helps:
Saleboat's visual representation of rep activities allows managers to easily pinpoint areas for improvement and opportunities for growth.
Suppose data shows a rep consistently spending a disproportionate amount of time on low-value tasks like administrative work or internal meetings. You can then take corrective measures by creating highly targeted coaching plans based on understanding these individual patterns. These plans involve:
Saleboat's detailed activity data lets you go beyond generic advice and provide hyper-personalized coaching that resonates with each individual.
Don't just measure sales effort—embed it into your team’s DNA. Cultivate a workplace where hard work is valued as much as the results it generates. Celebrate small wins, encourage open communication about challenges, and provide regular, constructive feedback.
And of course, measure the effort and use the data to reward both individual and team efforts. Saleboat gives you all the tools and insights you need to get the most out of effort-based metrics. Try it out today and discover how a culture of effort can transform your team.
