Smoke and Mirrors Sales Figures

Posted by Patrick Stakenas at 6:10 PM


More often than not, when it comes to companies meeting their sales figures, there is a disconnect between what the CEO expects and what the vice president of sales can realistically deliver. The true challenge for the head of sales lies in how to substantiate to the CEO why the numbers were missed, or, if they were made, how they were arrived at.

A recent article published on MarketingProfs.com titled “Lies, Damn Lies and Dashboards,” stated that CRM and business intelligence dashboards are often manipulated by managers and marketing execs to present a positive outcome that doesn’t necessarily promote the truth.

The key to establishing a trusting relationship between sales and the boardroom is to put in place a process for determining how a representative or team is doing against expectations. This often involves using technology that can track, measure, and report on both the leading and trailing indicators of the company's sales goals. It also provides you with a system for tracking the progress of your salespeople.

Done properly, senior sales leaders can deliver the truth that CEOs can and want to handle. If things are going well, the vice president should be able to explain what is driving the success of sales and why, and also how those sales will be sustained. If it is a rebuilding model, the same applies. The vice president must be able to show where the bad news is; he or she should have an explanation for what is happening with the sales trajectory, and what the plan needs to be to correct the situation.

CEOs make the connection between fluff and what matters. And with sales, it can't all be smoke and mirrors.

Patrick Stakenas is president and CEO ForceLogix, a Chicago-based company that builds on-demand sales performance management solutions.