I often hear businesses or agencies discuss volume of 'visits' or if you prefer 'appointments' as a success determinant in the sales or cross sell process. Many of us know there is nothing like a face-to-face meeting with a decision maker to drive a deal forward. It is that magic period of time where you have the full and undivided attention of the person whom controls the fate of the opportunity.
For so many organizations with outside representatives or producers this is one of the tangibles. Something you can measure. When I talk to sales managers this is always something that comes up as a factor in the success matrix because as the old adage goes, "with activity comes success." Correct?
Well I would say maybe. You would assume that if there is lots of activity, lots of face time then success should follow; but, so often there is not a clear relationship between activity, face time and success.
So I bet you're asking why?
I would argue that there is a misunderstanding of the definition of a visit. Too often a visit is misidentified as a calendar event. That magical entry in the Calendar that denotes when you will physically arrive and meet a prospect.
So what is the correct definition of a visit?
By my definition a visit is a process. It is the process of planning what goes on prior to the actual calendar visit. It is what happens during the event itself and it is the actions that are executed following departure. The actual calendar event is only one part of a multi part process. Success is ultimately determined by the sum of those parts.
So if you agree that the planning and execution of a process is a key factor in a successful visit then the next question becomes how do you identify best practices and ensure that these best practices are replicated throughout your organization.
This is where Salesforce.com can help. Yes, Salesforce can sync with Outlook, Google Mail or Lotus Notes but these are only events. What you really need is a business process that helps your representatives or producers plan, execute and follow up on prospect interactions. All of this can be done using the incredible set of tools that is the Salesforce.com platform.
The take a way here is - focus on the process and not just the visit.
For so many organizations with outside representatives or producers this is one of the tangibles. Something you can measure. When I talk to sales managers this is always something that comes up as a factor in the success matrix because as the old adage goes, "with activity comes success." Correct?
Well I would say maybe. You would assume that if there is lots of activity, lots of face time then success should follow; but, so often there is not a clear relationship between activity, face time and success.
So I bet you're asking why?
I would argue that there is a misunderstanding of the definition of a visit. Too often a visit is misidentified as a calendar event. That magical entry in the Calendar that denotes when you will physically arrive and meet a prospect.
So what is the correct definition of a visit?
By my definition a visit is a process. It is the process of planning what goes on prior to the actual calendar visit. It is what happens during the event itself and it is the actions that are executed following departure. The actual calendar event is only one part of a multi part process. Success is ultimately determined by the sum of those parts.
So if you agree that the planning and execution of a process is a key factor in a successful visit then the next question becomes how do you identify best practices and ensure that these best practices are replicated throughout your organization.
This is where Salesforce.com can help. Yes, Salesforce can sync with Outlook, Google Mail or Lotus Notes but these are only events. What you really need is a business process that helps your representatives or producers plan, execute and follow up on prospect interactions. All of this can be done using the incredible set of tools that is the Salesforce.com platform.
The take a way here is - focus on the process and not just the visit.
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