One of the most important components to a credit repair company is its sales staff. The effectiveness of the sales team can make or break a credit repair company, no matter how large or small. However, evaluating this level of effectiveness can sometimes be difficult. The best way to determine how your sales team is performing and what can be improved is to regularly gather and analyze data on predetermined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This is a great way to identify whether underperformance is due to your staff, sales script, lead set, or other factor. Below is a list of the 10 most important KPIs that our experts use to determine sales performance.
- Cost per Contact can be determined by calculating the value of the time it takes for each salesperson to reach out to a potential customer. This should include successful conversions, but also hang-ups, blow-offs and other unsuccessful contacts. This indicator will help you determine whether lagging sales numbers are caused by bad lead sets.
- Cost per Handle is different from the Cost per Contact because it delves down into the specific cost of a successful conversation with a prospect. If your sales script is too long or confusing or your salespeople are improperly trained, the cost per handle may be more expensive than the revenue you would make off the same handle.
- Salesperson Occupancy is the actual time that each of your agents are in their seats and available to talk to customers. This is fairly obvious, but important. If your salesperson occupancy rate is low, you will not have the capacity to convert many new clients. Conversely, if your salesperson occupancy rate is high but your conversion rate is low, you may have a problem with employee training, sales scripts, or lead sets.
- Salesperson Utilization measures how busy your sales agents are while they are working. This number should be very high. If your salesperson occupancy rate is high but the utilization rate is low, you are paying agents to work and not giving them enough to do. A high salesperson utilization rate will maximize the effectiveness of your investment in your agents and keep them happy.
- Salesperson Turnover Rate and Satisfaction correlate directly with each other and can have a huge effect on the cost effectiveness of your sales process. If you are constantly replacing salespeople, you have much higher hiring and training costs and miss out on the efficiency of a full and experiences sales force. Agent satisfaction is so important to maintaining a profitable company. Even if your sales agents are remote, make sure to communicate often, provide support, and make them feel like they are a part of something. Offer small perks, like free snacks or coffee to make agents feel appreciated.
- Salesperson Trainingis often overlooked by business owners who are eager to have agents begin working. However, salespeople that are well trained will feel more confident in communicating with prospects and will be more effective in converting new clients.
- After First Contact Work Time is often handled by sales agents, but it should instead be passed off to administrative professionals. The goal of a profitable credit repair company is to have salespeople contacting as many prospects as possible. If they are mired in after call paperwork or procedures, they are unable to speak to many prospective clients. Additionally, many salespeople thrive in situations where they can interact with people and may not have strong clerical skills. Limit the amount of time salespeople have to spend on the after first contact process to maximize capability and growth.
- Answer Speed may seem like a small detail, but the longer potential clients wait to speak to a member of your staff, the less likely they will be to convert. Fast answer rates improve customer confidence and lessen the chance that a prospect will hang up before speaking to your agents.
- Abandon Rate is the frequency with which callers hang up before speaking to an agent. This can be very damaging to your business. If you use an automated calling sequence, make sure that there is not a significant wait time between when prospects answer the phone and speak to a representative. This first contact is the first impression that prospects will have of your business. Make sure that it is a good one.
- Conversion Rate is often the KPI that credit repair businesses focus on the most. This should include not only when prospects convert to clients, but also when clients move along various steps in the credit repair process. Keep track of how long each step takes and try different ways to improve conversion times.
By continually monitoring these KPIs, you will begin to understand your company’s sales capabilities inside and out. This will help you determine which salespeople are most effective, how to better support those who aren’t, which marketing campaigns to continue, and what steps to implement or discontinue in the process. Continual monitoring and tweaking will help to create a smooth, effective, superstar sales process.
We wish you all the best for your business, and if there’s any way that we can assist, please reach out.
