Marketing Managers Must Know the Sales Quotas

Posted by Guest Blogger on Mar 16, 2011 10:30:00 AM

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James ObermayerJames Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint.

Ten years ago I asked an assembled 200 plus marketing managers how many knew the quotas for the salespeople/sales channels that sold their products. Two people raised their hands. I asked the same question last year (I do this at almost every speech) and this time 25% raised their hands. 25% is a common response.

75% didn’t know the quotas! 75% are creating programs and spending money without basing their objectives on quota.

How can marketing/marketing communications managers know how much interest to generate if they don’t know their salespeople’s quotas? How can they create a marketing plan? How can they go to a show, or commit to any lead generation program without knowing how the desired end result will contribute to the sales goals of the company?

The bigger issue is, how can the company president approve a budget without knowing the expected results and how that supports sales efforts? The answer is, many of the company presidents aren’t approving budgets without a plan based on sales quotas.

A company president I know said to his marketing manager, “We have to sell 5,550 XYZ products this coming year. This is $55 MM +. We have a pipeline that is averaging $150 MM and our close rate is 25% so $37,500,000 will convert. The remaining $18, 000,000 have to come from current customers (repeats) and new customers. Marketing must help guarantee this number and keep building the pipeline. How many inquires and qualified leads will you produce to build the pipeline and what’s the cost.”

For the uninitiated marketing manager without experience in ROI Marketing from lead generation, this kind of question creates a white-knuckled-mumbling-response with ample doses of fear, clammy hands and sweaty brows. For the experienced ROI marketing manager it is an opportunity to stand out.

The ROI marketing manager knows:

  • The quotas in dollars and units by sales channel (inside, direct outside, resellers, web sales)
  • How many inquiries are needed
  • How many qualified leads are needed
  • The percentage of leads that turn into proposals
  • The closing ratio of proposals
  • The most likely sources of the most qualified leads
  • How to create a marketing plan that projects the lead count and ROI for all lead generating tactics

If you’re a marketing manager, do you know the quotas for your salespeople? Do you have your own quotas? Inquiries, leads, dollars, or pipeline dollars? If you do you’re a builder of wealth.


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Topics: Marketing Strategy, Guest Blogs


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