March Already?

If you've received an e-mail from me, most likely you've noticed my signature line: "Looking Forward." That wording has multiple purposes. First, looking forward is a positive statement. And two, looking forward is also a reminder to stay focused on a goal and your plans.

As a sales leader, you must be consistently looking forward to ensure all your plans and programs are well-designed and ready to activate and that your metrics/dashboard pipeline values are within acceptable levels.

The job of sales management is to make sure they put their teams in position to exceed their quotas each month. Notice I said "their quotas." I've said multiple times that it's the salesperson's responsibility to achieve his or her numbers; it's the sales leader's job to put the right people in place and put them in position to sell. Looking ahead 60 to 90 days will help the sales leader be more organized and give them enough time to take corrective action, if any is needed.  

That means that as you close out February, effective sales management must begin to make sure their

• marketing or lead-generation programs are developed and ready to execute.
  
  
• sales pipeline values and sales opportunities at Stage 3 are significant at March 1 to achieve May quotas.
  
  
• sales training programs are in place and planned for May.
  
  
• sales contests defined for April and May have been thought through.
  
  
• hiring and interviewing plans are activated to ensure talent is on board.

These are just a few actions that strategic sales managers must do to be forward-looking and build predictable revenue.

From a philosophical approach, I encourage everyone to be proactive versus reactive. This attitude means effective planning and looking forward rather than simply looking at historical performance -- or worse, finding out March 1 that you're out of control, lacking in sales opportunities to achieve quota, and have another month of scrambling ahead.

If you haven't yet received our white paper, "Top 40 Actions Sales Management Must Take for Building Predictable Revenue," e-mail me at [email protected] and I'll forward it to you.

Ken Thoreson, president of Acumen Management Group Ltd., "operationalizes" sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 12 years, our consulting, advisory and platform services have illuminated, motivated and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. Move up and move ahead! Acumen Management provides keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance. 3f4qb8v9ge

Posted by Ken Thoreson on February 22, 2010