4 Sales Analysis Questions to Ask at Mid-Year

You've practically made it halfway through the year. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? The answer will naturally vary from person to person. One constant remains though - mid-year is a natural time to analyze your current status as an organization. There will be many important sales meetings to fully understand where you stand, and if it is still possible to have a successful year.

As you prepare to thoroughly analyze your sales performance for the first half of 2012, below are a few questions that you should keep in mind:

1. Are your sales territories still balanced / aligned / optimized? There are tons of ways to optimize and balance your territories (revenue potential, average revenue, customers, opportunities, etc.). Not only that, but there are tons of factors that can affect your sales territories from week to week (market shifts, competitors, etc). When was the last time you checked to see if your territories were producing the way you envisioned? If your numbers are behind where they should be during June, mid-year provides an excellent platform for reviewing and fixing up your sales territories.
2. Do you truly understand your space? Identifying your target market is not easy to do. This is one of the major reasons why so many businesses fail to reach their potential. There are steps you can take to make sure that you do understand the full spectrum of your market potential. (Click the link to check them out!) Use the formulas and tools at your disposal to get a grip on how you can succeed within your organization's space. Think about it this way: if you don't understand the field you are playing on, or the rules of the game, how are you supposed to win? Don't let that happen to you.
3. Do you understand your clients? In addition to understanding your target market and potential customers, you must also understand your current customers. These clients often make the difference between a good year and a great year. If you can predict what your A Clients will give you in terms of revenue, and also continue to work the B and C Clients to maximize their potential, you will find that your end results are extremely favorable. However, if you don't really know your customers, you will find that projections will be inaccurate and team members will become frustrated. Mid-year is a great time to do a quick customer analysis to see if things are shaping up.
4. What is the status of your Sales Team? This one almost goes without saying, but it's so important that it's still worth mentioning. Make sure everyone is performing to expected standards, or find a way to get them to that level.

Hopefully these questions will allow you to understand your organization's current position, as well as plan ahead for the success of 3rd and 4th quarters.

by Bryce Record
http://www.salesbenchmarkindex.com/