Sales activity tracking, using a daily sales tracker, is a way of determining how each component in the sales process individually impacts the overall sales outcomes.
When someone is planning on losing weight, they track their daily eating habits and their calorie intake. Similarly, using a daily sales tracker is a helpful way to check whether a business is seeing results.
Keeping track of the entire sales activity may be daunting, but an effective tracker will help take care of the details. (Side note: losing weight can be as challenging as increasing sales!)
What is a Daily Sales Tracker?
A daily sales tracker is a tool that salespeople use to measure and report their sales activities, such as calling, follow-ups, in-person meetings etc., on a daily basis. Businesses seek to implement daily sales trackers that can automate sales tracking, and break down quarterly goals into daily actionable activities to improve your sales team’s productivity.
How does a Daily Sales Tracker help?
The first and foremost benefit of having a daily sales tracker is that you have all the information needed for review in one place. For sales managers, it can serve as a basis for evaluating the performance of their team. In addition, you can also use the information from the tracker to identify trends and make any improvements, if required.
Business owners and entrepreneurs usually have the same question in mind – “How do I increase sales?”. They would typically find the answers in sales metrics. However, most business owners and entrepreneurs do not have an answer to that because they don’t know their metrics. It is impossible to improve anything without tracking the parameters that affect it.
What metrics need to be tracked?
One can divide sales metrics into two categories – quantitative and qualitative. Combining insights from both sets of data will help you get an unobstructed view of the sales activity.
Quantitative metrics to record in your daily sales tracker
Quantitative metrics include raw data that is completely unbiased. Analyzing this data is generally easier and straightforward. Some examples of quantitative data that can be recorded are:
1. Number of meetings set up and opportunities created
An opportunity is basically a conversation that can end up in a meeting, making way for a further sales discussion. It is important to identify the KPIs at this stage, which serves the overall goals. It is difficult to have too many meetings set up, so tracking the meetings daily, using a tracker, is useful.
2. Top sources of opportunities
By recording the sources, businesses can focus on the most beneficial source of leads. With this, they can keep track of how they invest in each of the sources and leverage their budget.
Analyzing lead sources also serves as an indicating parameter in improving and modifying strategies. It helps you acknowledge the dynamic nature of your business, and craft your plan accordingly.
3. The average amount of time spent on a lead
Before deciding how much time to spend on a lead, it is crucial to define what a lead is for your business. This enables the business to identify the cost per lead. Tracking the amount of time spent on a lead every day will help you recognize how efficiently the time and resources are utilized.
4. Number of leads in different stages of sales pipeline
This is the average time taken by a sales representative to follow-up with a lead. You can use different strategies like – deciding to contact the prospects requesting an offer at the earliest and waiting for the right time to contact the prospects who have simply downloaded a free trial.
5. Number of deals closed
This metric enables the manager to analyze the performance of sales agents. If you are tracking the total number of deals closed by an individual sales agent, you can easily identify what challenges are they facing.
Managers would be able to assist their team better by revamping improper strategies. Not only will it improve your sales process but it will also boost motivation for your team when sales start increasing.
Which Qualitative metrics to record?
Qualitative metrics give meaning to quantitative data. It is subjective, hence, more difficult to assemble. While it cannot be gathered from any source, qualitative data is derived from the quantitative data collected.
Here are some of the examples of qualitative data that can be recorded in your daily tracker:
1. How well your salesperson performed?
This data can be derived from the earlier mentioned quantitative metrics such as – number of leads generated, number of meetings created, and the number of closed deals per day per salesperson.
2. Why do people choose to buy or reject your products?
This can be calculated based on the reasons leads were lost. From this example, we can see how important it is to track the feedback from each lead.
3. How productively is time being utilized?
This can again be based on the amount of time spent on each source that has the potential of generating leads, and ultimately sales.
Now that we have discussed what data can be recorded in a daily sales tracker, let’s look at how it can be incorporated into daily practice.
How to track data in a daily sales tracker?
Daily sales tracker enables sales managers devise a clear plan instead of relying on hope as a strategy. By examining the sales results, managers have a proper insight into what worked and what did not. Taking inputs from here, they can create and implement optimized sales plans and lead their team towards success. Here is how you can do it.
1. Set goals and expectations
The first step to recording any activity is to have a vision for the future. Without having clear goals, the recording is mere sales statistics and a waste of time. So, the first step should be to set up the goals and expectations for the sales team and share the plan on an individual level. Onboarding new hires is faster when you have a sales tracker, so they know how and where to start.
2. Decide what you are going to track and be consistent
The next step would be to make a list of the activities that lead to a sale. Then, you can list out all the activities that each person would need to do daily to reach the next step. It is essential to set a standard for the sales team, so they know what is expected out of them.
3. Deciding how to track to maintain accuracy
Having a designated CRM will keep everyone informed on how the team is doing, as well as track progress on an individual level. Some businesses still use spreadsheets, although using a CRM ensures that the data is recorded accurately and consistently.
CRM does not only tracks your sales, but it also enables you to create a streamlined sales process that is highly efficient and effective in your business. It tracks your leads, opportunity, and sales throughout their journey in your company and empowers you to forge long-term business relationships.
Are you ready to start tracking your sales now? Looking for a CRM that does the job impeccably? We have just the daily sales tracking tool you need
