• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Jan 29, 2023
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

taxbandits banner
Home / Sales and Marketing / Sales Activities / Do You Know How Your Customer is Measured?
Do You Know How Your Customer is Measured?

Do You Know How Your Customer is Measured?

1395 Views

Aug 27, 2014 By Dave Brock

As sales people, we’re used to being measured. We have pipeline metrics, quotas. We may have weekly call or meeting goals. We have prospecting goals, and on and on and on.

Metrics are important to knowing how we are doing in achieving our goals. Some of those metrics are critical in evaluating performance or to our compensation plans. Every sales person understands how they are measured and are driven to achieve their goals.

Our customers are no different, they have goals for which they are accountable. They have metrics that let them know how they are doing.

Do you know how your customer is measured?

I ask sales people this question; most don’t know—or are guessing. But until we know how our customers are measured, we don’t know what they really care about, how we can help them, or how we create the greatest value, how we catch their attention.

Everyone has performance goals and objectives (or they should have). The goals can be very high level for their organization—achieve the launch goals for a new product line, bring a new manufacturing line up, reduce IT costs, reduce receivables by a certain amount, improve employee retention, ……..

The goals can be very specific and focused on the individual. Develop new skills, achieve certain goals in your function. Think—sales people have very specific goals, it’s no different with our customers.

Just as metrics are important to us, they are important to our customers. It’s the basis for how their job performance is evaluated every year. It may be the basis for how they might be promoted. It may be the basis for how they are compensated or their bonus. It may be the basis for whether they even get to keep their job.

Several organizations I work with have very formal performance planning/management processes—each person has a performance plan in place which guides what they do and how they set their priorities. Often, I’ll ask to take a look at their performance plan. Reading the performance plan tells me exactly what’s important to them. I know what drives them, their priorities. In some sense, I know the key issues that will make them heroes to their management.

Once I see their performance plan, I can figure out how I can be most helpful to them. What can I do to help them achieve their goals? How can I impact the metrics?

Even in organizations with less formal performance management processes, people have goals and objectives. It’s important for us to understand them. It’s important that we know how they will be measured, and what we can do to help each achieve their goals and metrics.

We each know how we’re measured, but do you know how your customer is measured? Knowing this is the key to your customers’ success and your success.

This article was originally published by Partners in Excellence

Filed Under: Sales Activities Tagged With: Dave Brock, Relationships, Sales Strategies, Tracking Data

Dave Brock

Dave Brock

Dave Brock is the founder of Partners in EXCELLENCE, a consulting and services company helping to improve the effectiveness of business professionals with strategy development, organizational planning, and implementation. Dave has spent his career working for and with high performance organizations, ranging from the Fortune 25 to startups, including companies such as IBM, HP, Nokia, AT&T, Microsoft, General Electric, and many, many more. The work Dave does with business strategies is closely tied to personal effectiveness of the people in the organization. As a result, Dave is deeply involved in the development of a number of training and coaching programs.

Related Posts

  • Proven Ways to Simplify Data Collection and Management
  • 5 Tips For Tracking Your Sales Effectively
  • entrepreneurs-face-serious-communication-barriersDo These 4 Things to Improve Business Communication

Primary Sidebar

Random

How to Decorate Your Email Signature in Gmail

Jan 27, 2023 By SmallBizClub

6 Ways To Optimize Work Schedules of Your Team Members

Jan 27, 2023 By SmallBizClub

Is Local SEO Worthwhile for Small Businesses?

Jan 26, 2023 By Annie Button

b2b-marketing-must-become-more-humanly-relevant

Building A Winning B2B Sales Enablement Strategy In 2023

Jan 25, 2023 By Michael Dunlop

employers-face-stiff-affordable-health-care-act-excise-taxes

5 Simple Tips Employers and Insurance Providers Need for 2023 ACA Reporting

Jan 25, 2023 By Stephanie Glanville

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy