Why sales’ reporting is important is because it benefits both the organization and the sales person. Unfortunately though, most sales reports are Oscar Award winning works of fiction.
Further, it doesn’t help that most are not read. A tweep captured this when he tweeted thus: “…in my fledgling days in sales we had a sales manager we nicknamed ‘ngapi’ coz he would call daily without fail at 4pm, the first thing he would utter was ngapi? Even if you sent him a text earlier on with your figures, he would still call to ask ngapi?” (Ngapi is Kiswahili for how many?)
So why is sales reporting important to you?
Well, first here’s another tweet from a different tweep, in the same thread: “B2B is tough, it could take weeks or even months to get your first sale and everyday your (sic) grilled.” To which another tweep responded: “My situation currently, praying for a breakthrough”
The foregoing captures the mood of the sales environment for many sales people. It is the norm not the exception. And yet all of it could be reversed by a (truthful) sales report. This is a critical reason why sales’ reporting is important to you. Imagine if your child’s school report, your financial (bank) status or business reports, were elaborate works of fiction. (Shudder!) You would throw a fit. And why? Besides the sin of fraudulence, they will deliberately misguide your education and financial decision making.
Benefits of sales reports
It is true that the B2B sales cycle can be long and naturally the pressure from the sales manager can be intense. However, if your sales report shows robust activity on your part, then the pressure is not negative but positive. A stern, “We cannot keep hosting you here with no results”, shifts to an encouraging, “I see from your report that you have plenty of client meetings and that tells me you are actively prospecting. Tell me about these three prospects and why you are struggling to convert them, I see how to help.”
And that’s important. Being helped. Ask any sales person. Now, there are managers (even executives) that do read sales reports. And it is not uncommon for a CEO to call a sales manager saying, “I see Kageche is going to This Place next week. Who is he meeting there? I know the CEO there and I can help.” This is likely to be in a B2B (Business-to-Business) sale. For instance, corporate bank relationship management.
Importance of sales reports
But what if ‘Ngapi’ is the sales manager and hasn’t read it? No problem. You have a record to refer to when push comes to shove and he must address your ‘non-performance’ in at a formal sitting. Now if your report was a figment of your fertile imagination, you won’t have a leg to stand on when it’s crunch time. You will be crushed under your own lies.
Besides the foregoing, the benefits of a sales report include giving you direction, and identifying any professional sales training programs you may need. A sales report tracks you; it tells you many important things. For instance, how many prospects you are seeing in month and how many of these convert. A sales report puts science into the art of selling. This is why sales reports are so important.
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