The word “journey” is pretty much part of most topics of conversation. Whether that’s a career, life milestones, or even for an actual road trip. In this blog written for those working in the sales arena, the journey takes on a different route. We’re following the path from investing in the right SPM software platform for your business, through installation, and right on to the checkered flag that indicates sales success and increased efficiency. As well as making it clear what the rewards are for deciding on a customizable, single platform, we’ll make sure you recognize and swerve the hazards of a poorly managed sales performance management (SPM) system that can potentially block your way. So, please join us on an SPM software journey where improved operations and profitability are the prizes awaiting you at the finishing line.
This is a great example of where Sales Executives can partner with Sales Operations, and possibly RevOps. You may be asking yourself why this is. It’s the front-line sales team that can articulate what is and isn’t working for them right now, for example, a sense of frustration at an erroneous compensation scheme or an SPM software system that’s hard to access or understand. Sales Operations can take this feedback and create a case for a better system and how that installation could go. RevOps are there to work out whether there is a budget for this and whether the people in the boardroom will give the green light.
Therefore, if you and your team have been tasked with creating the business plan, make sure you provide more than costings and projections; present case studies and proven UX findings to give context, or physically demonstrate the difference a new or improved software system could make at scale.
Ahead of laying out the myriad benefits of a great SPM software system, some key features need to be on your shopping list.
1. Functionality: What does the SPM do? At the very least, it should be an integrated platform for all elements of the sales function, including automating compensation, displaying quota, and territories that can be easily accessed from any device at any time.
2. Ease of Installation and Use: One of the bugbears of adapting to a universal system, is that it turns out it’s not very universal at all. We can add this to the business case, finding out how long will it take to install, how much training will be needed, and does IT support come as part of the package?
3. Customization: Every business has a different set of needs when it comes to SPM software, so it’s reassuring to know that as requirements change, that with a robust platform, numerous extra functions can be easily incorporated into your existing system.
4. Dashboards that are more than nice to look at: A great dashboard is certainly an improvement on an over-complicated, hard-to-decipher spreadsheet, but the information displayed needs to have both value and meaning. It’s the graphical output to all that data, so make sure that if you want to know, for example, which territory is on target, that’s what’s on the screen.
5. Access to both historical data, current reporting, and projections/strategy for the future: Many SPM software systems, possibly those that you have worked with, are up to the job when it comes to producing historical reporting on products or person performance, but not so much when it comes to the projected analysis of how to set quotas for a new sales strategy. Or conversely, you may simply want to look at how a team has achieved targets going back over five years and that information is not available, or not entirely accurate. A good system covers this equally well and won’t block out essential personnel that needs to view or download the data.
No SPM software system is of any value — no matter how cool it may look — without it being able to pin down some tangible and long-lasting benefits to your business. After extensive research and interviews with sales organizations, we published the results within the Forrester study, identifying the main advantages.
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A new or updated SPM software system has the power to be transformational. No longer just a repository for information, a great one can drive sales, strategy, and performance.
Discover more about how Varicent’s software solution could help boost your ROI and bottom line by downloading the Forrester Economic Study today.