You're a sales manager and you want to know how you're doing. What's the best way to find out?

The happiness index of my CUSTOMER is one of the smoothest ways I check. Are my customers happy with me? Are they happy with my brands? Are they happy with my service levels? Are they engaged? Do they see me as a partner? When my customers are happy, the rest of the metrics such as revenue, cash flow, margins, EBIT become easy. Happy and engaged customers will gladly pay me cash vs credit, happy customers will push my brands at or close to the recommended price points, and at a price that will deliver the right margins, etc. So if I can spend time delivering this, I get closer to achieving my objectives. This is why I recommend an annual or bi-annual customer survey for every customer facing organization.

As a sales manager wanting to assess your performance, start by reviewing key sales metrics such as revenue growth, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, and customer lifetime value. Compare these figures against set targets and industry benchmarks. Seek feedback from your team on your leadership and support through anonymous surveys or one-on-one meetings. Evaluate customer satisfaction and retention rates as they reflect on sales team effectiveness and customer relations. Engage with peers and superiors for their perspective on your strategic approach and team management. Regularly reviewing these areas will provide a comprehensive view of your performance and areas for improvement.

An effective sales manager should be guided by sales metrics in their daily activities, as they show how things are progressing. These metrics can vary, but the most important ones are sales revenue and conversion rates, which provide valuable insights into the team's performance. We typically analyze weekly sales reports, incl. individual and team performance metrics, to identify areas for improvement. Every two weeks, we conduct one-on-one meetings with team members to gather feedback on communication within the team, providing valuable perspectives. Moreover, we obtain feedback from our customers through surveys, reviews, or even meetings with them to understand if our services meet their expectations.

As a sales manager, it is crucial to regularly assess the performance of your team to identify areas for improvement and ensure continued success. Here's a comprehensive approach to evaluating sales performance effectively: 1. Set Clear and Measurable Goals：Establish specific, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for each salesperson. 2. Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 3. Review Sales Reports 4. Conduct Performance Reviews 5. Gather Customer Feedback By implementing these strategies, you can effectively evaluate sales performance and make informed decisions to enhance the effectiveness of your sales team and drive revenue growth.

I think when you are into sales , what matters is numbers!! No matter if you are at manager level or executive level, if there is no number, it means you are not doing good, also if you treat your customer well and if they are satisfied, you would know you are doing good, it will reflect on your numbers

Sales leaders can be on top of the game by taking learning through self-correction by developing “signal advantage” from their customers. As Sir Terry Leahy, retired, former CEO of Tesco advised, “The best place to find the truth is to listen to your customers. They’ll tell you what’s good about your business and what’s wrong. And if you keep listening, they’ll give you a strategy”.

To figure out how well I'm doing as a sales manager, I'd gather feedback from my team, assess our sales performance, and review customer satisfaction. Open communication and regular check-ins with both the sales team and clients would be key to understanding our strengths and areas for improvement. This way, I can make informed decisions to enhance our overall performance.

One of the metrics i have measured my success is the level of meaningful activity I'm able to generate within my line of business, customer interactions, leaning and development etc.

Analyze team performance: the individual and collective performance of your sales team. Identify which members are performing well and which need extra support. By setting up clear KPIs and tracking them regularly, you can understand trends and make informed decisions to improve performance. Alongside this, it's always worthwhile (and even crucial) to get input from your team members, as you can sometimes have good performance figures vs. targets, but have a team that is at risk, psychologically speaking. Especially in these times of change and innovation.

Not only do you need to set SMART objectives, you also have to be sure you have communicated the objectives to your team members and they have received the communication. In order for a sales manager to be successful, their team needs to be successful not only individually but as a team. Taking the time to walk through objectives with your reps and coaching on a path of achievement allows buy in from the team.

Before asking members of your team for feedback, explain the why behind your request. My recommendation (and language I've used many times) is something along the lines of, "You know how committed I am to development, and that is why we invest time regularly into coaching sessions, observing one another, practicing, and so forth. I need development as much as anyone else does, so I would really appreciate you giving me some candid feedback. Would you mind sharing some thoughts with me via...." It's also important to let people know what you've done with their feedback once received. "Based on everyone's feedback, it sounds like my top few development opportunities are X and Z. I appreciate this feedback and will be working on these areas."

Leave a recording device by the water cooler and see what Marcy from accounting really thinks of you! If your ego isn’t already utterly deflated, impersonate a team member on WhatsApp and moan about yourself to anyone who will listen. You won’t believe what they will say! Or, y’know, simply ask for feedback. 🤷♂️

Actively seeking feedback demonstrates a commitment to open communication and continuous improvement, fostering trust and rapport with your team, peers, and customers. When individuals feel heard and valued, they are more likely to provide honest and constructive feedback, leading to stronger relationships and collaboration.

Additionally, incorporating regular feedback loops and performance reviews can help in identifying areas for improvement and celebrating successes, fostering a culture of continuous development and recognition

Create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns. Once the environment is established you can begin ask in multiple ways through surveys, 1:1s, team meetings, etc.

Utilize feedback from various channels to gain a holistic perspective on your performance. Customer feedback offers insights into satisfaction levels and areas needing improvement. Team members can provide valuable input on leadership effectiveness, communication, and support. Peers and mentors offer guidance and best practices. Managers and executives provide alignment with organizational goals and expectations. Self-assessment aids in recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses, fostering continuous growth and development.

One of the telling surveys we do is a 360 degrees look. It involves peers, team members and top management. The survey is anonymous and participants can identify areas of strength and areas to improve. In my experience a manager generally knows how well they are doing by the success of their team. This includes sales numbers, turnover and career development. Of course every sales manager should be getting regular feedback from whomever they report to. This feedback is hopefully covering areas to improve on in order for that manager to be more effective and reach their career objectives.

Escolha com cuidado quais pessoas irão contribuir, deixar o processo muito aberto pode travar a entrega do projeto. Escolhas pessoas específicas de cada área e seja claro em relação ao que espera de cada uma delas.

El analizar diferentes métricas te permitirá evaluar tanto el resultado como el proceso de ventas, lo que te ayudará a identificar áreas de mejora y oportunidades para optimizar tu desempeño como gerente. Al medir y analizar estos indicadores, podrás tomar decisiones informadas y ajustar estrategias para impulsar el crecimiento y la eficacia en tu equipo de ventas.

Regularly analyzing data fosters a culture of continuous improvement within your sales team. By setting benchmarks, tracking progress, and iterating on strategies based on data-driven insights, you create a feedback loop that enables ongoing learning and optimization of sales management practices.

Break down data by product, region, sales representative, or other relevant segments to identify trends and areas for improvement. Establish benchmarks based on historical data or industry standards to assess performance against expectations. Generate regular reports to monitor KPIs and track progress toward sales objectives. This could be daily, weekly, or monthly depending on the business cycle. Compare current performance with past periods to spot trends and understand the impact of changes in strategies or externally.

It is important to periodically review the progress of sales. If stagnation or downwards trends are showing then there must be some serious issues calling for our immediate action / attention. Therefore, it is important to see the sales trend with market potential, customers feedback, addition of new customer base, retention of old customers, feedback from sales team on market trend and sales. Above are some parameters which we must analyse periodically to retain our market share of sales. Customers behavior is rapidly changing and so is the market trends. So, keep checking and analysing all the trends to remain in the market with your pie of market share.

Constantly looking at data and metrics is important. Data does not lie and is not emotional. Keep it visual, handy, set a calendar appt weekly to review for yourself, your team and regular 1:1s. Review the data and take action, and tweak when glaring data discoveries are made. Analyzing data is important but taking action on the data is where the secret sauce is made.

In the spirit of understanding "how YOU are doing as a sales manager" - I like to think of it as an ROI equation, where you as a sales manager is the investment, and the return is your team's performance. Over time - are you driving increased ROI - is your team's performance increasing at a greater rate, than your compensation as a manager. Another way to look at it is - is your team better off with you in the role directing, supporting, guiding, and coaching them, than without? Also - be sure to double-click into your team's performance. A good manager tends to drive higher revenue contribution and quota attainment across the team.

In my experience, this is a big one. Always know your numbers and how you got to those numbers. Convert those number to key metrics like conversion rates, time to close, etc. If you know your numbers this will make it easier on both you and your manager to discuss improvements/strategy on how to hit other metrics or go above your current.

I agree with Blake, not only knowing your numbers but also how you got to those numbers is key as well as knowing where the next sales are. Reviewing pipeline, making sure you have enough in the funnel in case a deal falls out unexpectedly know what you have to replace it. Look 3 ways - ahead, where you are currently and where you have come from.

This is the most important. Track everything. Show it on sales boards, dashboards, in the office, online. Every stat tells its own story. Phone stats, outbound calls, inbound calls, quotes, leads, contact ratios, retention, conversion rate, commission, fees, numbers per fte. You can measure your own performance and then work to improve it next month. You will never know if you are growing the business if you don't track everything. You may think you are doing better than you are, or vice versa. You can manage people's performance and motivate them with a sales board. It still works if done with respect and taken seriously.

Self-Reflection Template: Goal Review: Reflect on set goals and achievements, identifying areas of success and improvement. Training Impact: Assess the impact of training programs on team performance. Cross-functional Collaboration: Review collaboration with other departments for a holistic perspective. Mentorship and Learning: Seek mentorship and continuous learning opportunities. Adaptability: Evaluate adaptability to market changes and responsiveness to customer needs.

Reflecting on actions and outcomes through coaching in my team involves a structured approach to self-assessment and growth. I begin by examining specific situations or interactions with my team. Using open-ended questions, I encourage introspection and exploration of the decisions made, the effectiveness of communication, and the impact on outcomes. Through reflective questioning, I guide discussions on how different actions contributed to outcomes, whether positive or negative. We explore alternative approaches and strategies that could lead to better results in similar situations in the future.

En mi experiencia, analizar y reflexionar sobre la data generada por el equipo de ventas es imprescindible para entender a qué se debe el resultado, sea bueno o malo, potenciar áreas de oportunidad o construir sobre el éxito que se está teniendo. La data resumida en dashboards o construida de manera manual, necesita ser analizada para apoyar a cada individuo del equipo; según los resultado que arroja esta data podríamos redefinir objetivos, construir las capacitaciones correctas y entender que un resultado negativo no necesariamente significa que el equipo no está al nivel correcto; al contrario podríamos estar frente a un error en el proceso de nuestro funnel y por ende sobre los objetivos planteados.

Review the initial goals or objectives associated with the actions. Understand what was aimed to achieve. Evaluate the specific actions taken to reach those goals. Consider whether they were well-planned, executed effectively, and aligned with the overall strategy. Celebrate successes or achievements resulting from actions. This helps reinforce positive behavior.

Sales management is dynamic, and what works in one situation may not work in another. Reflection enables you to iterate on your approaches and strategies based on past experiences, continuously improving your effectiveness as a leader. Also, through reflection, you develop the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and market conditions. By analyzing past successes and failures, you can identify patterns and trends, allowing you to pivot your strategies when necessary to stay competitive.

If you set a goal, the worst thing you can do is not follow it up. Otherwise it just becomes a piece of paper. You will earn so much respect by following up, because people will know you're serious and mean business

Look at previous patterns of successful out comes, collect data of the approaches that where more successful than others. also look at failures, sometimes old failures bring new success opportunity.

Each week, take time to reflect with these self-coaching questions: What worked well this week? What didn't go so well for me this week? What should I do more of next week? What should I start doing next week? What should I do less of next week? What should I stop doing next week?

Effective sales managers constantly assess their performance. Reflection on actions and outcomes is key. Here's how: Self-assess: Identify strengths and weaknesses in your sales management approach. Journaling: Track daily activities and their impact on team performance. Seek feedback: Get insights from coaching or mentoring sessions. By reflecting on these aspects, you gain valuable understanding to improve your decision-making and team's success.

You will never please everyone, not all actions will yield the results you expect, and the outcome may not always come in the time you desire. But try to understand in a measurable way how the results were affected by each action.

This one isn't always easy as many folks have habits that are set in stone. Make sure to make small achievable goals that work towards a bigger goal. Make sure to have someone hold you accountable to those small goals to break bad habits and make better ones. Even if you don't have bad habits, still do the same steps. Also make sure you make metrics that are achievable and will allow you to feel accomplishment throughout your process.

This is allowed. You have to take yourself seriously and understand that if you procrastinate, no other single person will do this for you. You are not bullying people if done correctly and with respect and not with judgement or sarcasm or being personal. Follow it up and keep it simple.

Implemente com um mínimo de entregas viáveis, esperando resultados sem muita ilusão, com os pés no chão. Assim que rodar, acompanhe cada detalhe e vá criticando o processo para corrigir rápido, se necessário.

Ohne Plan erreichen Sie Ihre Ziele nicht, so einfach ist das. Das Formulieren von möglichst detaillierten Plänen ermöglicht die realistische Beurteilung der formulierten Ziele. Sie setzen damit den Startschuss des Vorgehens. Was dann folgt sind möglichst detaillierte Meilensteine, die es unter gewissen Rahmenbedingungen zu erreichen gilt. Das tolle an Aktionsplänen für mich: Durch die Meilensteine hinterlassen Sie regelmäßig Brotkrumen, an denen Sie sich orientieren können. Biegen sie and einer Stelle falsch ab oder verlaufen sie sich, finden sie anhand der Brotkrumen zurück zum letzten Wegpunkt. Von dort aus können sie ihre Handlungen analysieren und bei ausrichten. Ohne Plan keine Brotkrumen und dann landen sie garantiert im Hexenhaus.

Pienso que los planes de acción juegan un papel crucial dentro de una buena gestión de ventas. Los problemas son constantes, los mercados cambiantes y las situaciones en equipos siempre estarán presentes. Un líder de venta siempre tiene que estar atento a lo que esta afectando negativa o positivamente a su entorno. En caso de un situación positiva se debe evaluar cómo un plan de mejora puede hacer más eficiente el resultado para los períodos por venir. Cuando la situación no es la ideal, la innovación en soluciones planteadas como planes de mejora son imprescindibles. Es importante que cada plan de mejora quede documentado para que en el futuro puedan ser adaptados y mejorados según las necesidades del equipo y/o la organización

Assim como você avalia a performance do seu time, busque se conectar com líderes do mercado com a mesma posição que a sua para entender o que eles fazem e o quanto produzem. Entenda o que você deve estudar, reciclar e abandonar para sempre se adaptar as mudanças.

Implement an action plan for improvement based on insights gathered from reflection, feedback, and data analysis. This plan should include specific steps, timelines, and responsible parties to address identified areas for growth and achieve desired outcomes.

Develop and execute targeted strategies to address identified areas for improvement, leveraging resources effectively to drive measurable progress and achieve desired outcomes.

We can set goals, analyze results, and create plans, but all of this doesn't work if we lack the motivation to develop and grow within our field. That's why I believe the first and most important factor is your motivation and desire. If you love what you do and feel inspired, you will perform your work as the best in the field.

Yeah yeah know your number blah blah. All that must be a given, but… You’re a manager and this means you manage people. So how you’re doing is directly correlated to how your team Is doing. Their motivation, their mental health, their effort etc. You measure this by having you eat to the ground. Coaching and joining calls, providing support in weekly pipeline reviews and by asking for feedback. Your job is to make hero’s and not be one. So numbers yeah, but your people first! Good luck 👍

Being in any role is a forever learning process so not shying away from feedbacks is a key. Whether it’s from the upper management or the people you manage. I always circulate an anonymous Google form to my team where they can share concerns, rate daily activities and talk about almost anything. This not only helps us get great ideas but also improves multiple area as a team. There’s always a room for improvement. There are people who are more vocal in an anonymous form than calling it out in a team meeting or one on ones. Apart from this, if your team laughs in team meetings instead of having a poker face thinking about when it’ll end then it’s a huge sign of success. A happy team is a winning team! :)

Remember that every salesperson comes to work for different reasons and every reason is ok. Some come to punch a clock and do a job. Some come to grow and others come to high perform and make bank. Take time to get to know each person on the team, what motivates them, how do they want to be recognized and rewarded. Take note, trace yourself, take an active roll in their success and their way they want to navigate their work world. No two people on your team will need to be managed the same. It's up to you to bring out the best in them, and coach them to the success they never knew they had until you brought it out of them.

Consider having an external/third party sales consultant or coach evaluate your sales management competencies. Once you know where you are, you can then make a clear development plan and focus in on the areas that need the most work. You’ll also start to see these showing up in your team as your management style becomes more effective.

Most appropriate way to analyze your sales performance for any sales manager are.. 1. LFL growth, if the business is growing against LFL then you are on the right track. 2. Even if the LFL is down due to less customers but your Drop percentage is lower than the customer drop percentage then still you are on the right road but immediate unique action plan is required. 3. Expansion - How well have you expanded your business geographically & demographically also points out your growth. 4. Employee Turnover - If the employee Turnover is high that means even though you might be good in sales but you need to work on people management. 5. People Development - Creating leader and promoting your people is key to successfully managers.

I have to set goals every quarter and then see if these goals achieved or not. Also, I have to ask my team every year what do they think about our performance, what we have to improve, and involve them. If you want to be a great sales manager, you should look after your team; justice is the key. Treat them all equally so they can feel that nobody is better than the other. At this point, you will get the best out of them.

We all get lost in the daily, set time to regroup and take a pulse. Small issues can escalate very quickly if left unattended. Remember, you are in your role to support, coach and lead your team, be available to them!

Numbers can lie and they can also be misleading. Numbers should be used as a signal to dive deeper to understand. This applies to sales numbers every day. Your closing ratio is down. Yes, so why? Talk to the team members who created the numbers. They will let you know the facts on which you can use as the foundation for the change needed. I had instances where just a coding error in the CRM produced the incorrect numbers, and some produced an understanding slippage by our implementation team has severely impacted our reputation which was the primary cause for the low closing numbers. Don't ignore deep dives just because its much above your past results.

If you want the know how you’re doing as a manager, ask the people you manage two questions, and give them the freedom to answer openly and honestly. The questions are. What am I doing well? What could I do better?