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Sales Metrics: What to Track and Why · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome to the show. Today we're going to look at the
0:05
key sales metrics, the key metrics that you can use to
0:08
track sales performance. For those of you who've been
0:11
listening for the last two or three weeks, this is sort of
0:14
like a carryover that we did from from that episode about I
0:22
know it had something to do about tracking sales team
0:25
performance. You know how to know if your
0:26
sales team is performing OK, But I, if I remember correctly, in
0:30
that episode, we didn't go into any kind of metrics that you
0:33
should be looking at. So that's the whole point of
0:35
today's episode, basically. How do you know that your team
0:38
is selling well? What are the metrics that you
0:40
can use to to track that? So First off, as usual,
0:45
definitions, what is a metric? For my own purposes on the
0:50
podcast or whatever, I'm giving training sessions, I just like
0:53
to say a metric is anything that you can measure.
0:57
Now, why would you want to measure?
0:58
What's the whole point of measuring?
1:00
The whole point of measuring is, well, you know how in management
1:05
circles they say whatever gets measured gets done.
1:08
That's the whole point really. You measure stuff so you can
1:11
have systems of accountability around it.
1:14
And also when it comes to sales and business development,
1:16
basically we're measuring so that we can scale for growth.
1:20
So if we measure something, we're doing good on it.
1:24
We now know that if we teach the next person, we can multiply or
1:27
we can't increase your efforts and then we're going to do
1:29
better. And that's the whole idea
1:30
basically. So we're measuring for
1:32
accountability sake and then also to scale for growth.
1:37
Then OK, we're also going to look at the types of metrics
1:42
now, because especially for those of you who are in, you
1:46
know, in that whole fintech digital, you know, product kind
1:49
of space, you guys really geek out about these sorts of things.
1:55
But even for people who are in the non tech ecosystem, you'll
1:58
be nice to know these sorts of things.
1:59
So whether you sell TomTom, you sell tissue paper, you sell
2:02
consulting services or you sell, let me see catfish or wedding
2:08
photography, some of the metrics things, some of the metrics that
2:13
we're going to discuss would be useful things for you to know.
2:16
And then I think after that, we'll just go straight into
2:18
which is the best metric because people keep, it's one of these
2:22
arguments is, you know, like people are saying this metric is
2:24
better than this metric. That metric is better than that
2:26
metric. And even though there's some of
2:29
us who keep saying time and time again that there's no such best
2:32
thing, you know, it is contextual.
2:33
It depends, you know, where you, what are you trying to achieve?
2:36
I guess the debate is always going to continue.
2:38
So I might as well, you know, put my hat in the ring and give
2:44
an opinion on these sorts of things.
2:46
So types of metrics, if you've done some research online, I'm
2:52
sure you found some stuff about metrics and people just kept on
2:57
going on about this tool and this ratio and this tool and
3:00
that ratio. And I don't think that's a very
3:02
helpful way to look at it. I think if you're going to start
3:05
thinking about metrics, are you going to track whether your
3:07
sales team is performing well or whether you are performing well?
3:10
Because there are some of us who are self-employed, you're a one
3:14
man show or a two man show at best.
3:17
You know, you and your business partner, you have to start
3:19
looking at some of these things. Now, the way that I tell people
3:22
to think about these things is when it comes to metrics, you
3:25
think in two terms. So First off they're activity
3:29
type metrics and then they are money or numbers type metrics.
3:33
The difference is activity metrics are just tracking what
3:37
did somebody do? How many of XYZ did somebody do?
3:42
Well, money metrics, number metrics are counting what came
3:47
in at the end of the day. So on one end, we can be
3:51
tracking how many of XYZ did you do.
3:55
And then on money and metrics, we're tracking how much money
3:59
came in at the end of XYZ. So of course, you can see that
4:02
they're kind of related. So let me just give you a brief
4:06
rundown. And remember, I'm not trying to
4:08
be technically correct here. I'm just trying to expose you
4:10
guys to that's for those of you who are unfamiliar with metrics
4:13
when it comes to tracking your performance or sales team
4:16
performance. I'm just trying to tell you
4:18
what's out there. So if you want the much more
4:21
technically precise names, you know, do some research, There's
4:24
Google, there's YouTube, and you will find them.
4:27
So activity metrics, one of the oldest ones or one of the really
4:32
old one is calls. That's the number of calls that
4:36
you made or the number of calls that you received.
4:40
Some people like to track the duration of phone calls,
4:43
although for me, I'm not really tracking a duration call kind of
4:47
person for different reasons that we'll explore later.
4:50
And so that is one of them. Before the phone call, of
4:54
course, there were industries where things were door to door,
4:58
you know, going to go and visit people door to door.
5:00
So like in Nigeria, for instance, back when photocopiers
5:05
were, I think I hear that Tony Illumelu.
5:08
I think it's Tony Illumelu the, the, the head of, I can't
5:13
remember his bank, but I think he's head of Heirs Holdings and
5:16
they are the ones that have bought Transcorp Hilton,
5:20
Transcorp Hilton and let's see what else.
5:24
I think he's the one, but I'm not sure, but I suspect he's the
5:27
one that they said he started off in photocopy sales.
5:29
So back then in the, I don't know, he looks like a young guy,
5:33
but let me just guess. He was born in the 50s or
5:35
something. So back then in the 50s and 60s
5:38
or whatever, folks like him, you would have been counting if he
5:42
was a call metric, they would have been counting the number of
5:44
doors. So you went to this street in
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Victoria Island and how many doors did you knock on?
5:51
You know, how many residences did you go to or how many
5:54
offices did you go to? So this is an activity metric.
5:58
Calls made can be phone call or if you're in one of these old
6:02
school businesses cause like in America, roof repairs, roof
6:08
repairs and what else? Roof repairs and solar sales
6:12
pretty much door to door. So currently there are folks in
6:15
America who, you know, that's they're doing, that's what
6:18
they're doing. So as you're listening to this
6:19
episode, there's currently somebody right now in America
6:22
selling solar and is going from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.
6:25
You knock on the door, you know, come, come, come, anybody, their
6:28
house or Madam, do you have solar, blah, blah, blah, you
6:32
know, that sort of thing. So, yeah, one activity that you
6:36
guys can track calls. So you check at the end of the
6:40
day, how many calls did I make or how many calls did my guys
6:43
make? Then another activity, another
6:48
metric you can check is emails sent.
6:50
And this is something that you, this is how marketing people
6:54
love you guys really love this thing.
6:56
You guys love to hear that We used this platform, we automated
7:01
this, we did this cadence and at the end of the week we sent out
7:05
over 750,000 emails. They really, really love this
7:09
thing, digital marketing people. So how many emails did you send
7:13
And of course emails sent. That's not just the end of the
7:17
whole story because like I like to remind people, it's not just
7:20
that you sent the e-mail, you know the people open the e-mail.
7:23
So we also have to check the open rate and, and for those who
7:28
was in sales, it's not just that people opened it.
7:30
We also concerned about whether they took the action that we
7:32
wanted them to take. So that is the click through
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rate. And then of course there's the
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reply rate. So those are some of the metrics
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you can check. How many emails did I send this
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week of the emails that I sent, how many people opened them or
7:45
the people that opened, how many people clicked on the link or
7:47
how many people booked the appointment or how many people
7:50
took the next step? You know, you ask yourself these
7:51
sorts of things, how many people replied?
7:53
So remember, when it comes to activity metrics, we're not just
7:57
counting for counting sake. Please bear that in mind.
8:00
So it's not enough to just see that all my sales people made 50
8:03
calls. Good.
8:05
Give them pass mark. You know that's not how it
8:06
works. All the marketing team sent out
8:08
750,000 emails last week. So give them pass mark.
8:11
It's not that simple. Let's see what else?
8:15
OK, now the kind of metrics that really, really makes my tummy
8:19
really nice and sweet is when we look at meetings, you know, so
8:24
that for me that that is where I pay attention because it's nice
8:29
to make 200 calls, it's nice to send 750,000 emails.
8:33
But if I didn't get one-on-one with someone, I didn't enter
8:37
their office or they didn't enter my own studio or we didn't
8:42
do Zoom call or we didn't do WhatsApp call where we discussed
8:46
a specific proposal or this or this or that or that there for
8:50
me or not really making progress.
8:51
So for me, I actually pay attention to this whole these
8:54
kinds of activities, you know, meetings, how many meetings did
8:57
you schedule of the ones that you scheduled, you know, how
9:00
many clicked? How many did people show up?
9:02
And now the people that showed up and you had the meeting, how
9:05
many of them had an outcome? And then we have a next clear
9:08
step. So this is where me, I live and
9:11
this is what I prefer. So if you made 250 calls in a
9:14
week, I mean good, well and good.
9:17
You know, I clap for you because quite frankly, I can't do 250 a
9:22
week. But you know, at the end of the
9:25
day, you make 250 calls a week. Next week you make 250 calls.
9:30
And so that is 2 weeks you've made 500 calls, but you didn't
9:33
get one single meeting. You know, there's a problem like
9:37
there's Valhalla. And remember when I say meeting,
9:40
for me, meeting does not have to be.
9:42
I go to the office or they come to my own office.
9:45
For me, meeting can also be let's have a WhatsApp call,
9:48
let's have a Zoom call, let's have a whatever.
9:51
But for me, meeting is just something that we prearranged
9:56
and we agreed that we're going to have dedicated time to come
9:58
and discuss a specific kind of outcome.
10:01
So that can happen over the phone as well.
10:02
So for me, I still count those sorts of things as meetings.
10:06
So deliberate time that we set aside so that me and the other
10:09
person or me and the other person and two other people on
10:12
the group call, especially with WhatsApp, you know, you can do
10:15
that sort of thing. You know, you call Chukudi and
10:18
you guys are having a discussion and then it looks like Ubernet's
10:21
watching went to be on the call. And then you say, OK, hold on,
10:23
let me ask you real quick. And then you bust you and then
10:25
the three of you start hashing out everything.
10:28
So for me, I would count that as a meeting, you know, depending
10:33
on the business or depending on who your boss is or your sales
10:36
manager, some people might say that is not really a meeting.
10:38
But anyway, that's that's an argument for another day.
10:40
But what I'm just trying to say is that this is the one
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meetings. How many meetings did you
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schedule this week? How many appointments did you
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schedule? How many people showed up when
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you finished? What was the next step?
10:52
That's the one that I find real sweet because I think that's
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where we start making progress in the business.
11:00
And then of course, you see how everything flows from another.
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So from the phone calls you make and from the emails that you
11:05
send that hopefully you're going to be booking those meetings.
11:08
So I prefer to pay attention to the meetings.
11:10
Then there's also folks who like to count the number of proposals
11:14
that I said the proposal, how will I put a proposal?
11:21
OK, well the definition that I've been that I use time and
11:24
time again or propose all over here on the podcast, I say a
11:27
proposal is just something that people can say yes or no to.
11:30
Now typically the proposal is also what people would call the
11:37
quotation, the price quote, the performer invoice, the OK, some
11:43
people, some places RFP, that's responsible proposal.
11:47
So whatever it is that it's called in your industry, that
11:49
document that you send that shows somebody this is what we
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can do for you. This is how much it's going to
11:54
cost. We'll be able to deliver this to
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you if you pay us, you know this by XYZ date.
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So whatever document it is, quotation, performer, invoice,
12:04
RFP, what else, whatever is called the industry, you know,
12:10
so that is one metric that you can track.
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How many of those did you send this week?
12:15
Because the idea is OK, let's say like in back in the
12:18
insurance space. But you know it, it depends.
12:21
That's on managers in insurance who don't like tracking number
12:24
of proposals because actually sending a proposal is, is very
12:28
easy. All you need actually is to get
12:30
the person's name, person's address, what else, what the
12:34
person's need. And then you send off a proposal
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document. But sending off a proposal does
12:38
not mean the proposal is going to be received.
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So there's some people who say less and not as many proposals
12:43
as possible. Because if we send out 100
12:44
proposal, 100 proposals this week, you know, anyhow, anyhow,
12:48
one or two months click. So that's the rationale.
12:51
Well, then there are some also some sales managers who say,
12:53
look, any idiot can send a proposal.
12:55
All I have to do is fill the form with the person's
12:57
permission and then I send the proposal doesn't mean that the
13:00
deal is going to get done. So you can see how, and that's
13:05
the reason why I keep saying when people say which one is the
13:07
best, it's a matter of, you know, it depends.
13:10
Who are you, What is the business?
13:11
What are you trying to achieve? You as the business owner or
13:15
your sales manager? What are you guys currently
13:17
working on? So it depends.
13:18
And then these things, they feed on each other, they lead into
13:21
each other. So for me, I like meetings.
13:24
How many meetings did you schedule?
13:25
How many people did you talk to this week as incorrect
13:28
conversations? And then what was the next point
13:30
of action? You know, for me, that's where I
13:32
live. But you're not going to be
13:35
getting those meetings if you are not making those calls or if
13:38
you're not sending those emails or if you're not going to
13:40
people's houses or going to people's offices.
13:43
And then proposals, you know, it's not just about sending off
13:48
the proposal if you didn't do a good part of a good rapport
13:52
building, need analysis, figuring out what people want.
13:56
Let's see what else. You know, if you didn't do all
13:58
the preliminary stage correctly, then you sending our proposals,
14:01
you're just keeping yourself busy.
14:03
It doesn't mean that deals are going to close.
14:05
So when we say activity metrics, these are the sorts of things
14:08
that we're talking about. You see.
14:10
So technically speaking, they all have their own names.
14:13
But like I said, you go and check Google, go and check
14:14
YouTube, you'll find what the technical names are.
14:16
Well, basically we're just trying to track how many of XYZ
14:19
did people do, how many doors did they knock on for, you know,
14:23
those of you who are in America and in solar sails and in roof
14:27
repair, how many doors did you knock on?
14:29
So you go to, I don't know, Blvd.
14:32
Lane or whatever, there are 50 houses there.
14:35
How long did it take you to knock on every single door?
14:37
You know, that sort of thing. Then how many phone calls did
14:42
you make? How many emails did you send out
14:46
or the emails that you sent out, how many people replied to you?
14:48
How many people open them? How many meetings did you have
14:51
for the meetings that you scheduled?
14:52
How many people showed up? What was the outcome of the
14:55
meetings? And then how many proposals did
14:57
you send? If you sent out 50 proposals
15:00
last week, how many people have you heard back from all those
15:02
sorts of things? So are tracking activities now
15:06
there are some of you who prefer money or numbers type metrics
15:12
and that is where people are concerned about total revenue
15:16
that came in. So there's some sales managers
15:18
who say, look, I don't give hoot what you're doing with your
15:22
time. Quite frankly, if you're
15:23
watching Netflix, I don't care. My own is at the end of the
15:26
month. I want to see a cool 5M per
15:31
person per head at the end of the month and that's their own.
15:35
So if you only work one day of the week, I don't care.
15:39
If you only walk, make one phone call, I don't care.
15:42
If you traveled to villa for two weeks of the month, I don't
15:46
care. If you watch Netflix for four
15:48
days of week, I don't care. Mahoney Shah, did you did you
15:53
hear quota? Did you get the money?
15:56
Can I see the the what's it called?
16:01
What do you call this thing though?
16:03
Sorry, forgive me, I've lost my train of thought.
16:05
But anyway, they just want to see the proof.
16:07
Did you did you hear the numbers?
16:09
How many people pinged or what are the, how much revenue are we
16:16
coming? Are we going to get at the end
16:17
of the month? So that some people that that is
16:19
the only thing that they care about.
16:22
And then of course there's that whole argument of look, it's not
16:24
just about revenue, but it's about profitability, which is
16:29
why I'm not a fan of this whole discounting thing because
16:31
there's some people that can discount, discount, discount at
16:33
the end of the day to get their number.
16:35
So if Olga, the business owner or the sales manager says, look,
16:38
I need the revenue per person, you guys need to bring in five M
16:42
revenue. So technically speaking, they
16:45
can be discounting 10/10/10 percent and closing these deals.
16:49
And at the end of the day, the total number of the deals adds
16:52
up to five M Well, because the guy was doing 10/10/10, ten 10%,
16:56
the business is looting, losing a shit load of money.
16:59
So it's not just about total revenue.
17:03
And so some people when they look at numbers, the what they
17:07
expect is profitability at the end of the day.
17:09
So it's not bringing 5 M in revenue, but whichever number of
17:14
clients that you're bringing in anyhow.
17:15
Anyhow, anyhow, at the end of the day, when we look at the
17:18
profits on top, that's by the time we, by the time we send out
17:23
the materials and fulfill the order and everything, the
17:26
profits, the one that remain should be 5 M you know, So those
17:30
are ways of looking at it. Some people are trying to track
17:32
total revenues, some people are trying to track so is it gross,
17:36
gross profits? So I didn't study accounting.
17:39
So, and like I said, I don't the technical, the technically
17:47
correct terms for all these things, I don't bother.
17:49
I'm trying to remember them anyway, So long as you know,
17:52
spiritually, I know what it's about.
17:54
So some people are tracking total revenue, some people are
17:56
trying to attract gross profits. If you check Google, check
17:59
YouTube, check your business books, you know, you'll find
18:02
what the metrics are called. Then there's some people who try
18:05
to track average deal size. So like, OK, OK, this is our
18:11
monthly. So, so, so for the month of
18:13
January, on average, you are bringing in, on average your
18:21
class was bringing in 2.82 point 8.
18:23
But for this month, the number has dropped down to 1.7.
18:26
You know what's going on, you know what's happening.
18:28
So there's some sales managers, some business owners who have
18:30
the conversation at that level that on average, OK, over the
18:34
last six months you've brought in 20 clients, each client
18:37
spending. So, so the average deal size has
18:39
been this, that, that, that, that let's make sure that that
18:41
money does not drop. So that's some business owners
18:45
and there are some managers that have the conversation on that
18:48
level. Then another set of numbers that
18:52
some people like to track is sales cycles.
18:56
That's how long did it take to close the deal?
18:58
For those of you who have been listening to the podcast for the
19:00
last week or two, you should already be familiar with the
19:03
sales cycle. Sales cycle is just the length
19:04
of time that happens between when somebody picks up the phone
19:07
to say hello, how far are you available at?
19:10
So, so, so or do you have XYZ and can you supply fifty of
19:13
them? So from that, hello, that good
19:15
morning, that initial opening conversation until when they
19:22
transferred the money into your OPA account, that is what we
19:26
call the sales cycle. So there's some people that
19:28
track that. And so for a business owner or
19:30
for a sales manager, you might have that meeting.
19:32
Someone might say, look, Chinelo, you know, you're
19:36
talking to people 12 weeks on average and look, that's too
19:39
long. Can you see how we, let's be
19:41
doing this thing 88 weeks? Because if you're taking 1212
19:44
weeks to close the deal, if you're able to shorten the cycle
19:47
and do it, you know in 888 weeks that you know your profitability
19:50
is going to go up because you're doing the same work in a shorter
19:55
period of time. So some people track sales
19:57
cycles, then you people in tech space, you know, fintech people,
20:02
blah, blah. You guys track customer
20:06
acquisition costs. So that one is a technical 1.
20:08
So I'm not even going to go into all the elements, the technical
20:11
elements that are involved in calculating.
20:14
But you're just trying to figure out how much did it cost to
20:15
acquire a customer? So how many emails did you send?
20:20
How many phone calls did you send?
20:22
What is the value of those phone calls?
20:23
How many advertisements did you send?
20:25
What is the value of those advertisements?
20:27
What is the value of the salesperson sale salespersons
20:30
time, you know, you add up all those conceivable costs and then
20:33
divide it by I'll be you know what, let me not deceive you
20:38
guys. What you you get, you get how
20:41
you arrive at these things, take all the costs and then try and
20:44
figure out, run the math, figure out, OK, how much money are we
20:47
spending to get one person in in as a customer at the end of the
20:52
day? So that is a customer
20:53
acquisition cost. Now that one is a very technical
20:56
definition. So if you guys like numbers and
20:58
you like math, then definitely check YouTube for this one.
21:01
As in you find guys and girls who will tell you that, Oh no,
21:05
this is the correct way to calculate it.
21:06
This is the correct way to calculate it.
21:07
This is the correct way to calculate it.
21:09
But I don't bother myself with these sorts of things, but just
21:11
notion that this is also something you can be tracking.
21:13
So are we spending? OK?
21:17
Well, the whole point of customer acquisition cost is
21:19
you're trying to figure out if it's worth all the hassle.
21:22
Because if you're spending, if you do the math and it looks
21:24
like you're spending 5500 naira to get one customer, but the
21:27
customer is only buying goods worth 800 naira, You now think
21:32
is it was worth the hustle for 500 naira to get the customer.
21:36
At the end of the day, the customer is only buying goods of
21:39
800. So profit is only 300.
21:40
By the time, you know, remove and pay tax, the Inland Revenue,
21:44
like what remains, you know, that kind of thing.
21:46
The one that remains is not enough for phone call, for
21:48
credit, for school fees, for this and this and that.
21:51
So that's the whole point of customer acquisition and costs.
21:54
But then again, if you're spending 5500 now and each
21:56
customer that comes in spends 25K now, that looks like a much
22:00
more. That's a good deal right there.
22:03
So that's the whole idea that customer acquisition cost.
22:06
Then there's also another one customer lifetime value.
22:12
The idea behind this, I've spoken about it on the podcast
22:15
is you recognize that it's not just about the money that
22:17
customer dropped. It's not just that they dropped
22:19
25 K now, but on average, how much do people spend while
22:23
they're with you over the course of a lifetime?
22:25
Now, of course, this thing is not lifetime, you know,
22:27
definitely because let's say, let me see mobile phone, OK,
22:34
yes, because I'm using a mobile phone right now.
22:36
So let's say mobile phones, you sell mobile phones.
22:39
There's no how that somebody's going to buy mobile phones from
22:44
you over the course of their lifetime because people move,
22:47
they have different preferences. Mobile phones is not the kind of
22:51
thing you have that kind of loyalty anyway.
22:53
So if you sell somebody 1 mobile phone today, I guess you can
22:56
expect that over the next three or four years, the person might
22:59
buy the next set of phones from you.
23:01
You know, buy some for the child, buy some for the wife,
23:05
you know, or you know, the wife wants to give the husband the
23:08
best they give to buy from you. But you can expect that if
23:11
somebody has bought a mobile phone from you and you do a good
23:13
job now, you can expect to hear from them for another maybe a
23:16
year or two. So lifetime doesn't mean that
23:18
they bought for the whole life shark.
23:20
So you know, it depends it's contextual.
23:24
But then OK, let me just leave it like that.
23:28
You guys get the idea. So over the course of time that
23:32
someone stays with you. So if if on average I'm not in
23:34
the mobile phone space, so I have no idea how they will
23:38
calculate in that space, but my guess is maybe 2-3 years.
23:41
So it's not just how much did the person spend.
23:43
Now the person bought phone 250K.
23:45
It's not just that all the thinking source will be three
23:48
years on average, how many phones do people buy from you
23:53
and how much is that total value?
23:55
So that's the idea behind the customer lifetime value.
23:57
Now, the first way I explained it on the podcast, my very first
24:00
customer lifetime value episode was I spoke about me and Kano.
24:05
And when I was leaving Kano after my National Youth service
24:09
call year and my bread guy was hard to see me go and they gave
24:13
me two loaves of bread and I told my flatmates, well, not
24:16
really my flatmates. I was squatting in his house.
24:19
DDA, really nice guy, engineer from Cameroon.
24:22
And we lived on Adesia Road back then, not far from is it Tahir,
24:28
Tahir hotels? I can't remember first Tahir
24:31
also, but nice place, nice restaurant, very good buffet
24:35
back then. I don't know about now.
24:37
So if you're a foodie and if the hotel is still on point and
24:40
you're still in Kano, I think it's Tahir, you know, go check
24:44
Tahir. The buffet is on point.
24:46
And yeah, go there, have some fun.
24:50
All right. Yeah.
24:52
So I told my guy DTA that look, I told bread guy I was leaving
24:56
and he was sad to see me when he gave me bread.
24:59
And DTA said, of course not, I won't be sad.
25:01
I think about it, since you came here, how many times you buy
25:03
bread from the guy? I was like, Oh, well, actually I
25:06
buy bread 3-4 times a week because me and DDA, we used to
25:10
have this thing where in the evening, especially during
25:12
Hamatan, we just sit down with bread and butter and then we'll
25:16
make tea because in Hamatan, Kano can get very cold.
25:20
And DDA used to put, what's it called, lemongrass, lemongrass
25:24
in his tea. And I thought that was weird
25:26
because where I grew up, you know, Abuja, for us, lemongrass
25:31
is a weed. You know, you cut the thing and
25:34
you throw it away when I say he'll go and cut it and then
25:36
he'll put it in tea. And I'm like, how can you drink
25:38
this thing? I'm like, oh boy, this thing is
25:40
medicinal, you don't know what you're missing, blah, blah,
25:42
blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, And I don't know,
25:46
there's some people that drink lemongrass.
25:48
Yeah, I think it's a Witcher. So those of you who drink
25:50
lemongrass, please consult your doctor.
25:53
I see no reason why you're drinking weeds.
25:55
So we'll be there, you know, with the bread, just chilling,
25:57
watching TV, abusing politicians and having a good time.
26:02
So I was buying bread from my bread guy.
26:06
Yeah, like four times a week. And each time I buy 2 loaves
26:09
because me at the chop, I was in a chop go.
26:13
Like I can eat a whole loaf of bread, although wifey doesn't
26:17
like it when I do that. So I try not to eat a whole loaf
26:19
of bread at least when she's not around.
26:21
Like if she travels or training and things like that, of course,
26:24
by all means I'll enjoy myself. Boy, she's around.
26:26
I try not to. So if you know her, don't let
26:29
her know that when she travels. I ate a whole loaf of bread, so
26:32
I'll buy 2 because me alone, I eat a whole loaf.
26:35
You know, DDA will clear maybe like half.
26:37
And then at the time his girlfriend Ulama, like if she
26:40
comes the next day, you know, be nice for her to have some bread
26:44
as well. But they're married now.
26:45
They have like, I think they have three wonderful kids.
26:48
It's been a while since I've seen them.
26:50
So 2 loaves of bread. So the guy said, hey, do the
26:53
math. Now you're buying this bread 3-4
26:55
times a week. But let's just say you only buy
26:58
twice. Each time you buy 4 loaves, how
27:01
much is the bread you guys would be shocked by?
27:04
Actually, at the time, I was buying this bread at 120 naira.
27:08
So yes, if you're listening to this podcast in 2024 and beyond
27:11
in Nigeria, you'll be shocked. But yes, there was a time in
27:13
Nigeria when some of us used to buy bread for 120 naira.
27:17
Right now, bread in Abuja is like one 1005, some places 2000.
27:23
In fact, 2 days ago I saw bread that was like 2003.
27:27
I think that was in facts, I think it was butter bread or
27:29
something, 2003, 2008. So yes, I was buying the bread
27:33
then. 129. So we just did the math.
27:35
If I was doing 120, I'll leave you guys to do the math.
27:38
By the way, I'm not good at numbers, so let me not do this
27:40
now and then. Plus the calculator.
27:41
I would have used this on my phone and I'm using my phone to
27:43
make this recording. So where was I?
27:49
So 2 loaves of bread, sorry, buying twice a week each time I
27:53
buy 2 lows. So that is for 120 assuming
27:57
profit margin and then do the calculation.
27:59
I was in Kano for a year and close to six months.
28:03
So that is 4 lows per week. 4 * 1 data is that 1616 lows a
28:12
month. Then 16 * 12 will give you the
28:16
number of loaves of bread, you know, per year.
28:19
And then, you know, multiply that by 120 naira.
28:23
So anyway, basically the guy was sad because when I was leaving
28:27
Kano, it was not just 120 naira that was leaving this guy, it
28:33
was 120 naira multiplied by 4 multiplied, that's by 4 a week,
28:40
multiplied by four again for the month, multiplied by 12 a year.
28:46
So actually it was quite a huge chunk of money that was walking
28:48
away with me leaving Kano. That is the idea behind costing
28:52
my lifetime value. So it's not just the bread, the
28:55
murmoy, the mobile phone, the computer, the exercise bike that
28:59
the person bought today is how much will the person buy from
29:03
you over the course of a lifetime.
29:05
Exercise bike doesn't really spoil every day, every day.
29:08
But you would hope that if the person buys exercise bike today
29:11
in 2024, the person uses it every day.
29:14
Maybe it packs up in 2029. You would hope that the person
29:17
will come back and buy that they gain from you or maybe by rowing
29:21
machine or something, so that over the course of maybe five
29:23
years the person is not just worth the 1.2 that it costs to
29:28
buy the exercise bike, but any I'm delivering the points, let
29:32
me just stop here. That has cost my lifetime value.
29:36
So there are some people who like to keep a note of that.
29:39
And then there's also sales quota attainment.
29:42
Yeah, sales quota attainment, especially big organizations.
29:46
So for those of you who are still selling financial
29:48
products, your line managers, yeah, they always look at these
29:51
sorts of things. So we have 50 people here.
29:53
The quota is supposed to be 10 M per head.
29:55
How many people hit the 10 M? How many people are above quota?
29:58
How many people are close? How many people are failing?
30:01
All those sorts of things. So with this brief overview of
30:06
what I've given, now you can see how when it comes to tracking
30:10
sales performance, you know the tools.
30:12
Plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty. So that's what I'm thinking in
30:18
terms of a specific tool. Just think in terms of activity
30:21
or think in terms of numbers. Which one are we going to track?
30:25
So now this is where our heading to.
30:30
The one that people like to argue about which is the best.
30:33
The best is contextual. I mean, it depends.
30:35
If you're selling slippers, the metric that you use is not the
30:39
same as if you sell insurance, and the metric you use is not
30:43
going to be the same as if you sell mobile phones.
30:47
And then of course, it depends on what you are trying to
30:48
achieve as the business owner or what the sales manager is trying
30:51
to achieve. So it is contextual, but the
30:54
only thing I would say is this activity based metrics.
30:57
How many phone calls did you make?
30:59
How many emails did you send? How many meetings did you book?
31:04
How many people's doors did you knock on?
31:06
How many proposals did you send? Activity metrics are wonderful
31:10
because they are granular. They're looking at the nitty
31:13
gritty. So that is where we can now
31:15
start diagnosing if there is a problem.
31:18
So that's why I love activity metrics and I say we should pay
31:22
attention to them. Even though some people say
31:24
let's go straight to the numbers.
31:27
When you're trying to manage your sales team, you're trying
31:30
to figure out what is the problem that we need to solve?
31:33
Where is the leak? Let us plug the leak.
31:35
Activity based metrics are good for that because you'll be able
31:38
to see that look, Chukuti is making 250 calls a week, but
31:41
he's not even setting one single appointment.
31:43
So there's a problem with how he's making his phone calls.
31:46
You will now sit down with him and say, OK, Chukuti, your phone
31:48
call was the script. OK, how do you start it?
31:51
When people say this, what do you say?
31:53
When people say that, what do you say?
31:55
You now try and fix that problem so that the phone calls can
31:58
start manifesting into meetings and manifesting into proposals
32:01
and manifesting into deals. So that's the reason why I like
32:06
activity based metrics because we're trying to figure out where
32:10
is the problem, Where am I falling short?
32:12
Where's my sales team falling short?
32:14
Activity metrics, I'm going to help you with that.
32:17
So if somebody is like those of you in America, solar sales, if
32:23
you go to something, something Blvd. and there are 250 houses
32:26
there and you went and you used three months, you knocked on
32:29
every single door. At the end of three months, you
32:31
didn't close one single deal. We now know now know that OK,
32:34
there's a problem. You knock on door, Madame opens
32:38
or a guy opens while you're fumbling the conversation.
32:41
We now know, we now know, OK, this is where we need to train
32:43
up. This is where you need to study
32:45
or watch this YouTube video. Let us start role-playing, blah,
32:48
blah, blah, all those sorts of things.
32:50
So that's why I like activity based metrics because it helps
32:52
you figure out what the problem is.
32:55
But then financial metrics, the answer the question, are we
32:59
making any money? And yes, at the end of the day,
33:01
we have to ask yourself that question because if people are
33:03
doing all the right metrics by the end of the day, your wallet
33:06
is is flat or the bank account is not the zeros in the
33:10
background is not is not motivating your emotions, then
33:14
there's a problem. So the answer actually is you
33:16
should be doing both. So in my own opinion, 1 is not
33:20
better than the other. You should be doing both.
33:23
But if you're trying to diagnose where are we losing money with
33:25
the sales team, then we start with the activity based 1.
33:29
So do both, but just start off with whatever comes naturally to
33:32
you. So for me, since my own concern
33:35
at the end of the day is personal sales, when I'm face to
33:37
face with someone, am I closing this deal?
33:40
Am I moving the business relationship forward?
33:43
That is where I start off eventually.
33:44
So you know, it will be nice to have somebody on the other end,
33:48
whether the business owner or your business partner also
33:50
trying to keep a track on OK, how much money are we making at
33:53
the end of the day, Let it not be that we had 50 meetings this
33:58
month and we think 50 of the meetings were promising.
34:00
And after the 50 we closed 30 but shared money they entered
34:04
the bank account is not looking real sweet, you know.
34:06
So we need to be keeping the track of both.
34:09
So please for your business, do the research, stop at whatever
34:14
catches your fancy. But please let me not catch you
34:17
arguing with people saying this is the best, that is the best.
34:19
It is a waste of time to start looking for the best metric.
34:24
So philosophically, you can see track the number or track the
34:28
activity you're leaning towards one.
34:31
Start from there, but realize you should be doing both.
34:35
So for now, start with what you fancy and I think you'll be
34:39
fine. So that's it for today.
34:42
Please connect with me on LinkedIn.
34:44
My name is Tava Shima Ayede, the host of the show.
34:47
You'll get the correct spelling of my name if you just check the
34:49
link where you're listening to this episode.
34:51
If you're watching YouTube, this bottom left above the subject.
34:54
My name is them Highlight, copy, paste in LinkedIn.
34:57
You see the right type of your map and yeah, connect with me
35:01
there. Then if you're listening on the
35:03
podcast, well, you know where to find my name on the podcast.
35:06
My e-mail address is also there in case you like to connect
35:08
through e-mail then WhatsApp. My details are 08064662140.
35:18
The country code is +234 for those of you who are not
35:21
Nigerian. So hit me up in the WhatsApp
35:23
inbox or SMS, you know, for questions, queries, insights.
35:30
Maybe you need something clarified, something in the
35:31
episode that just doesn't quite make sense.
35:34
Yeah, I tried to get back to everybody within 24 hours, 48
35:38
hours last last. But The thing is, eventually
35:40
you'll hear from me, so thanks for your time and attention.
35:42
I'll catch you guys in the next episode.