Measure sales performance like we remember cricket

Something business leaders can learn about sales performance from what we love about cricket

Measure performance like cricket

I was listening to the cricket this morning, Australia and New Zealand at the MCG, nothing new there, but I heard it differently today. The cricket fraternity are an analytical bunch with statistics on just about everything, but what I realised is that no one ever remembers the final run score. Batsmen are remembered for the sixes they hit, the centuries they made, the partnerships they lead, how long they stayed in or how much they can drink on a long haul flight. Bowlers are remembered for the wickets they took, the maidens they bowled, how many times they played for that team, or their country.

The team picks are remembered for decades, so are the epic run chases, the infamous dropped catches, and some pre-DRS 'look the other way' decisions, who won and lost by the most. But no one remembers the final runs scores. Apologies to the total tragics that do, but you get the point.

Imagine being Langer and standing in front of the Australian cricket team before the first test and saying "all you need to do is go out there and score 340 runs because you scored 320 last game". No consideration of the conditions, the quality or form of the team they would be playing against or indeed who was batting first or what the other teams score would be. Sounds ridiculous right?

This is what business leaders do with their sales teams every year. Once the graph (see below) has been drawn, that's the goal, the only thing that matters.

Performance measurement for most sales people is one invoiced sales number divided by 12. Forgotten by sales leadership, but not by the sales Rep's is: the effort and time required to win that big contract, the shortness of celebration. Which prospects are likely to convert and whether the performance of marketing budget is even measured, the private and loud 60 second celebrations in the car when yet another prospect converts after an awesome sales call, the 14 hour days, the long drives, the competitors 20 year relationships in the industry.

If we were to manage sales performance like we measured cricket, we'd reward those great efforts, invest in helping our team develop and execute strategy, invest in the best training tailored for our team, analyse the market and our competitors, spend more time celebrating the small and big wins. Acknowledge that success comes from the effort put into successful habits repeated daily, and not from having an arbitrary goal with no strategy or process to achieving it.

For successful habits read my next article.