Benchmarking Edge For Successful Sales Execution1
Benchmarking Edge For Successful Sales Execution1
Benchmarking Edge For Successful Sales Execution1
Title
Sales Benchmark Index (SBI) conducts the most in-depth ongoing study of sales management
benchmarking and best practice usage in the world. This white paper, brought to you by NetSuite, is
designed to help sales managers succeed by implementing data driven decision-making. Here the
five steps for developing a sales benchmark are identified.
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NetSuite White Paper
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Sales benchmarking represents a source of sustained competitive advantage for corporations today. The
second largest cost item on a company's financial statement is SG&A expense which typically represents
30%-40% of revenue. This is second only to cost of goods sold and in some cases three times research
and development. Yet, most corporations today can not calculate the return they are generating for each
sales dollar spent and do not understand how their return compares objectively to their external
competitors. Bringing the discipline of benchmarking to the sales and marketing functions can solve this
problem. The benefit of mastering this technique can be can be found in manufacturing companies using
Six Sigma statistics to benchmark product quality, in finance functions using financial ratios such as return
on equity to benchmark capital efficiencies, or in customer service organizations which gather statistics to
benchmark customer loyalty. Benchmarking the sales function will bring data driven decision making to the
mission critical process of acquiring and retaining customers thus allowing for the deployment of a
continuous improvement program in sales.
Benchmarking is a process where companies compare their performance over time against their
competition. You'll find there are areas where you are better than most. You'll also see areas where
significant improvement may be desirable.
The point of benchmarking is to focus your efforts where you can get the best return. The five steps to
performing an operational sales benchmark are identifying your metrics, collecting your data, comparing
and contrasting that data with best practices, planning the focused actions to address gaps, and creating a
strategy for sustainable improvement.
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NetSuite White Paper
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The first step in executing a sales benchmark is identifying the metrics to measure. The Formula for Sales
Success™ assists in selecting metrics as it helps determine the key drivers of an organization’s sales
performance.
Each non-constant variable in the equation (Activities, Conversion, Transaction and Talent) is defined in
the company’s business terms. For example, how is an Activity defined? Is it a lead? Is it an e-mail, a
phone call, a virtual sales call? Or is it a face-to-face sales call, a proposal or something else entirely? Is it
all of the above? The goal is to identify the key activities currently being performed by the sales team that
have the most significant impact on whether a deal is won tomorrow, next week, next month or next year.
In addition to productivity metrics, there is another non-constant variable – cost – that underscores the
Formula for Sales Success™ equation. Benchmarking your sales costs results in a decrease in Selling
Expense just as benchmarking productivity results in an increase in Revenue. By simultaneously doing
both, a firm can significantly boost earnings and its Return on Sales (defined as profit return for each dollar
of new sales generated).
Once each of the non-constant variables has been defined in the company’s business terms, it is time to
select the metrics to measure. Appendix A contains a full list of metrics to consider. This list should be
pared to the top 10 - 40 metrics that will make the biggest impact on the organization through internal
measurement, external benchmarking and frequent reviews with the sales team. Use the following
selection criteria as a guide when deciding which metrics to benchmark:
Internal data collection. The first objective in benchmarking is to have a detailed, clear understanding of
how the firm is performing internally. The process for gathering data about the chosen metrics is highly
dependent on the individual company and the systems it uses. The information is already in the company
somewhere and though it may take a little digging, it can be found.
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NetSuite White Paper
Title
Typical sources of information include:
• CRM system
• Finance systems
• Payroll system
• Expense reporting system
• HR systems
• Sales management team.
External data collection. To deliver a sustained competitive advantage, the firm must understand how it is
performing relative to its peers. Armed with internal data, the organization now needs to compare this
information externally to a statistically valid sample derived from the overall population. A population is the
set of all items of interest – for example, all likely voters in the next election or all sales receipts in
November. A sample is a subset of the population that is non-biased and representative of the sample as a
whole. Examples of a sample might be 1,000 voters selected at random for interview or every 100th receipt
selected for audit.
Sales benchmarking uses sampling to draw conclusions about the population as a whole. Sampling is used
because it is less time consuming, less costly, more practical to administer and if done in the proper, non-
biased manner, it supports statistical results with sufficiently high precision. The data should reflect both
good and bad findings, should be presented in a fair and objective manner and should not use
inappropriate summary measures that distort the facts. Therefore, the key to Step 2 is having a statistically
valid, non-biased sample to compare your organization in relation to peers.
Living in the information age, a monumental storehouse data is available. There are several ways to find a
statistically valid sample for comparison purposes. This report is one example, although this information
can be supplemented with:
• Internet search - points to thousands of sites that have pieces of the needed data - Salary.com or
American Customer Satisfaction Index
• Trade associations – the National Association for Sales Professionals or the Sales Force
Effectiveness Benchmarking Association
• Universities - Harvard University or Georgia Institute of Technology
• Market research - Buzzmetrics or Business Validation Resources
• Research firms - Sales Benchmark Index (SBI)
The goal of data collection is to have a statistically valid sample that will be used in the next step –
Compare and Contrast – where an organization identifies where it is under-performing or over-performing
in relation to its peers and other world-class organizations.
The third step in executing sales benchmarking is comparing and contrasting the internal data with the
external data. There are two sets of inputs – the internal data about the organization’s sales force and the
external statistically valid sample.
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NetSuite White Paper
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Before the data can speak, an organization must first transform the raw data into information that can be
compared and contrasted. Two calculations are necessary – identifying the central location and measuring
variation. For measuring central location, it is recommended to use four indicators: the mean, the median
and the 25th and 75th percentiles. For measuring variation, the range and standard deviation are
recommended. These are simple to use and can be simplified by using a tool such as Excel. These six
calculations for each metric allow ease of implementation while still delivering the desired result.
Once the calculations are complete the organization’s performance is compared externally against its peers
and internally against history. The illustration below notes performance on a distribution plot which shows
how the company compares to peers and to world class organizations.
On this distribution, a company will plot its mean, median, 25th and 75th percentiles to determine how it
stacks up to the peers and world class organizations. The high and low ends of the computed range will be
compared to the distribution plot above to determine if the company has outliers residing above or below
the 90th and 10th percentile marks. And lastly, the standard deviation is computed to determine how
dispersed the data is. In general, if standard deviation is 1.5 times greater than the difference between the
25th and 75th percentiles, the company should focus on reducing the variation in the current performance. If
the standard deviation times 1.5 is less than the difference between the 25th and 75th percentiles, the
company should focus on moving the entire group at once.
The last piece of the Compare and Contrast step is to quantify the opportunity in terms of increased
revenue or decreased cost if performance is improved to match the peer group. To do this, measure the
company’s current revenue at its current performance level and compare it to the revenue produced at the
peer group’s performance level.
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NetSuite White Paper
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The fourth step in executing sales benchmarking is Focused Action, where a company develops a plan to
create and sustain a competitive advantage. The organization has identified where it is over/under
performing the market and has quantified the opportunity each area presents. Now that the high return
areas of focus are known, the company needs to put a remedy plan in place and test it over time to
measure its effectiveness, constantly tweaking it to get the results it is looking for. The focus is on reducing
the risk of missing the sales targets and improving the chances of consistently hitting them.
This step is based on hypothesis testing. Hypothesis testing provides managers with a structured analytical
method for making decisions. It lets them make decisions in such a way that the probability of errors can be
controlled, or at least measured. Statistical hypothesis testing does not eliminate the uncertainty in
managerial environments, but the techniques allow managers to identify and control the level of uncertainty.
2.
2. Develop
Develop
1.
1. Frame
Frame Problem
Problem 3.
3. Gather
Gather Data
Data
Hypotheses
Hypotheses
4. Test
4. Test Hypotheses
Hypotheses 5.
5. Create
Create Solutions
Solutions 6.
6. Develop
Develop Plans
Plans 7.
7. Select
Select Solutions
Solutions
• Frame the Problem – Define the problem that is being addressed in specific terms.
• Develop Hypotheses – List potential causes for each problem and the key drivers that impact or
influence each cause.
• Gather Data – Gather relevant data, information and background on the key drivers that will allow
each to be proven or disproved.
• Test Hypotheses – Analyze each possible cause to determine if the data proves it is a cause,
effect, unintended variable or irrelevant.
• Create Solutions – For hypotheses that prove valid, identify possible solutions and examine each
solution’s feasibility for successful implementation.
• Develop Plans – For viable solution(s), estimate all necessary tasks, investments, milestones,
resource commitments, metrics and returns.
• Select Solutions – Use hurdle rate or other decision-making criteria to determine which solution(s)
should be implemented.
The fifth step in executing sales benchmarking is a sustained improvement plan that transitions the project
from a one-time event to being embedded in the operating procedures of the company. Sales
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NetSuite White Paper
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benchmarking should become standard operating procedure – without replicating the heavy lifting over and
over again - through Statistical Process Control.
Statistical Process Control is a methodology that uses graphic displays known as control charts to monitor
the quality of conformance and level of variation.
In control. A process is said to be “in control” when points are randomly distributed around the centerline
and all points are within the control limits. Below is an example of a process control chart for a process that
is in control:
Out of control. A process is said to be “out of control” if any of the following conditions are true:
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NetSuite White Paper
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Sustained improvement plan. If a process is determined to be out of control, the cause of variation must
be understood. This sustained improvement plan will allow a company to stay appraised of:
• Appointment of a Sales Benchmarking project manager responsible for ongoing administration and
oversight of the process
• Monthly internal review of company performance
• Monthly review of company performance against a fresh external data source
• Monitoring of Focused Action implementation ensuring expected results are produced
• Monthly monitoring of the benchmarks in the context of Statistical Process Control
The ultimate goal is sustained competitive advantage. After all, your competitors are not going to stand still.
Sales Benchmarking must become a standard operating procedure and part of your long-term strategy for
success.
Case Study
Background
Recently, one of SBI’s clients was running what they believed to be a very successful call center. The
organization was growing revenue at over 30% a year and thanks to a very profitable business model, had
net margins approaching 15%. Sales people were being measured on total revenue production per month
and the historical trend of revenue per head was increasing. On the surface, it appeared this sales force
was knocking it out of the park. However, all it took was a quick look under the hood and it was obvious
the organization was falling well short of its potential.
The client was spending approximately $20M a year on marketing campaigns to get the phones to ring with
inbound interest. Depending on the lead source, the cost per inbound lead ranged between $50-$1,000
with the average around $200 per lead. The cost per lead closed ranged between $1,000 to $10,000 per
transaction with the average around $2,500. The company was not measuring sales person efficiency in
closing leads and therefore was unaware of how many quality leads were being lost in the process. With
each close representing annual recurring revenue valued around $10,000 per year with 50% gross margins,
the company didn’t question the cost to acquire each customer and was unaware they could be doing
much better.
This is the classic example of the mistakes typical organizations make when deploying benchmarking
principals. They measure performance internally and historically and settle for performance that is well
below average.
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NetSuite White Paper
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Benchmarking Phase 1 – Internal / Leading:
The first phase of rolling out an improved benchmarking approach was to measuring leading indicators of
sales success. This company rolled out the tracking the following metrics for each call center rep:
• Number of inbound calls taken
• Number of outbound calls made
• Number of appointment made
• Number of appointments kept
• Call to appointment conversion rate
• Appointment to close conversion rate
• Average deal size
• Total sales revenue
Immediately after deploying the new metrics, the company found that well qualified inbound leads, which
were easy to close with a little follow-up, were being cast aside and wasted. Because the phone was
ringing often enough, the call center reps were not required to follow-up under the old system. They could
just take a call, go for the “one call close” which would happen frequently enough that each rep could
achieve his or her quota. There was no need to put forth the additional work to follow-up on leads requiring
a couple calls to close. Management had no idea this practice was taking place and was appalled to find
that much of the $50-$500 the company was spending each time the phone rang was being squandered.
In addition to rolling out the new metrics, the compensation plan was changed to reward call center rep
efficiency. The “lead burners” who had close rates below 2% were penalized, while those who made the
most of their leads ― demonstrating at least a 4% close rate ― were rewarded. With the new metric
measurement program and revised compensation plan, revenue production grew by 35% within 3 months
while headcount remained constant. The $2,500 marketing cost per close had quickly shrunk to $2,000
and profitability was nearly 20%, up from the previous 15%.
As seen here, applying such metric-based methodologies to the sales department will produce dramatic
results.
For more information and updates on sales effectiveness benchmarking, please subscribe to the
SBI newsletter at www.salesbenchmarkindex.com.
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NetSuite White Paper
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Appendix A: Sales Metrics
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NetSuite White Paper
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Sales and Marketing Metrics Combined with Sales Force Metrics combined with External
Company Metrics Market Metrics
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NetSuite White Paper
Title
In order to analyze and act upon the metrics you select for your sales effectiveness benchmarking, you will
need to identify, track and report on them. And true sales effectiveness surpasses simple opportunity
management. Of course you want to collect the metrics about prospects before they become customers,
but those metrics only encompass less than a quarter of the full customer lifecycle. Here we look at that
entire lifecycle to ascertain the critical metrics you will want to focus on to improve your sales effectiveness.
First, you need to automate all parts of the customer life cycle. This ensures that you can systematically
capture the data for the metrics you have identified. You will want to maintain all the sales information from
a "suspect" browsing your business Web site, to an interested lead, to a qualified prospect, to a customer
who has actually placed an order, to servicing that customer and finally, to guiding that customer to re-
purchase. If you are an ecommerce company, you can begin by incorporating your Web site into the
selling process, by tracking all customer interactions on the Web and by providing a comprehensive self-
service customer portal. You will want to automatically capture campaign data from all aspects of your
marketing programs — such as your e-mail, online advertising, and traditional marketing lead generation
programs — for use in your relationship management processes and decision making. Automation allows
data to be entered once at its source and not require re-entry or export into hard-to-use and inaccurate
spreadsheets.
SBI cites the following typical sources of information as places to begin gathering data:
• CRM system
• Finance systems
• Payroll system
• Expense reporting system
• HR systems
• Sales management team.
and they point out that it may take some digging. This is where the clear advantage of an integrated
business management system is apparent: rather than looking at six separate sources for data that may
prove inconsistent or nonexistent, with one single integrated suite, you can see across all business
functions and have one consistent version of “truth.”
Good win-loss metrics come from in-depth analysis of your sales opportunities. Of course, this assumes
you can view all your opportunities, can easily assign different priorities to opportunities, customers and
leads, and give your sales managers a 360-degree view of all the leads and opportunities in the pipeline.
You need accurate metrics to analyze the deals your competitors have won against your team, according
to dollar and percentage amounts.
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NetSuite White Paper
Title
Most sales executives look at key performance indicators (KPIs) such as open opportunities, opportunities
won and opportunities lost compared against past sales periods to provide real-time forecast metrics. You
need to quickly see the most current pipeline, forecast and quota data and compare these in a single chart.
You may also want to see an instantaneous breakdown of bookings (sales based on orders) versus billings
(sales based on invoices). In addition, with NetSuite for example, you can also create your own KPIs to
measure other things important to measuring your sales success.
And if you are an ecommerce company that provides goods or services over the Web, look for a solution
that enables you to drill-down to any customer record and see a complete history of that customer’s
activities on your website, seeing exactly what pages he or she has visited, how often, and even the page
currently being viewed. With this kind of functionality, not only can you view the exact shopping cart
contents of each of your shoppers, including the date each item was added, you can create marketing
campaigns that are sent to customers based on their site activities – with the knowledge of what was
successful at targeting that customer in the past.
Metrics gleaned from forecasting give valuable insight into the effectiveness of your teams, and your
individual team members. A brief example of data most companies insist upon to begin to gather that
insight, include:
NetSuite, an integrated on-demand business management solution that includes all accounting/ERP, e-
commerce, and customer relationship management (CRM), provides all this data in built-in reports that
provide detailed forecast analysis. In addition, ad hoc reports can be built and saved for repeated use using
NetSuite’s reporting tools. Because actual booked orders can be seen in forecasts, your forecasts have
greatly increased reliability, predictability and accuracy.
A key metric source in NetSuite is the important intersection of customers and the orders they place. This
order management capability also allows sales people to work a deal through the pipeline, right through to
the actual close, allowing their management to see booked orders in your forecast, greatly increasing its
reliability, predictability and accuracy. Thus, the "actuals" information in “forecast vs. actual” reports is
based on real sales data.
Order management data is the key metric in ascertaining ROI. Because CRM systems often do not
capture the details of what a customer has actually purchased, they provide incomplete and inaccurate
results for marketing and sales decision-making. With no real record of what or how much has been
ordered by each customer, marketing has no way to know if the leads generated are actually converting to
customers nor the value of the customer to which they convert.
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NetSuite White Paper
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About SBI:
Sales Benchmark Index, is the research, training, and consulting company leading
organizations turn to when in search of cost effective revenue growth through
benchmarking sales performance. We help thousands of sales managers overcome their
most significant challenges that affect sales management effectiveness. SBI has the data,
expertise, and tools to move you quickly from diagnosis, implementation, and results.
Typical problems we solve include:
• Quota Attainment
• Talent Optimization
• Quality Lead Maximization
• Sales Cycle Reduction
• Increasing Product/Service Differentiation
About NetSuite:
NetSuite, Inc. is the leader in on-demand business software suites. NetSuite enables companies to
manage all key business operations in a single system, which includes accounting/Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and ecommerce. NetSuite is delivered as an
on-demand service, so there is no hardware to procure, no large, up-front license fee, and no complex set-
ups. For more information about NetSuite, visit: www.netsuite.com
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