Download sales department audit methods. Audit of the sales department in a loss-making business. The effectiveness of the sales system is determined by three factors

A sales audit is necessary for a number of reasons:

High risks due to the fact that the existing sales system is unstable;
The untapped potential of the sales system, which proper management help the company to reach a new level;
Wrong approaches in building a sales department in the past;
Outdated sales methods of the company and so on.

We take everything into account possible risks related to the functioning of the sales department, each recommendation of our specialists leads to the fact that the work at the enterprise becomes more efficient. Unstable sales system, wrong methods of department management can show their disadvantages even in the most unexpected situations. For example, the dismissal of an employee who has been a key figure in building the sales department and in the existing sales system for many years can lead to a sharp decrease in the efficiency of the sales department and the entire company as a whole. It is to avoid such situations that the audit of the sales department is carried out: our specialists will provide a report on the work done, an analysis of the situation, and you will also be given a recommendation that will help you improve the company's activities and ensure the development of the enterprise. It may be necessary to rebuild the sales department, in which case you will also be able to get the necessary recommendations from our professionals and draw up a work plan. The sales system will become stable and efficient, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the efficiency of the entire company.

Sales audit in our company

The company "Hold-Invest-Audit" will help you organize efficient work sales department of your company: will audit the sales system and consult on possible ways her improvements. Our specialists have the necessary experience and knowledge, thanks to which the work on the audit of the sales department will be carried out efficiently and quickly. If you need to rebuild the sales department due to the company's too unstable sales system, we are also ready to provide you with any assistance: the recommendation of our specialists will help you draw up a plan and complete the work in the shortest possible time and with the highest quality. You can order the service using the order form on our website, the cost of the audit may vary depending on the scope of work, the specifics of the enterprise and other factors. You can calculate the price with the help of our specialist by ordering a callback in the appropriate field of the site. Contact our company: let the sales system realize its full potential, start developing your business and increase sales to an unprecedented level!

It makes sense to start any change in the sales department with a small or advanced sales audit. At the same time, the majority of specialists involved in sales were divided into two groups: some of them are in favor of an independent audit, the other is in favor of attracting independent specialists.

Tool number 1, or a classic of the genre

Many people know about SWOT analysis, but few people regularly take the time to analyze the entire company or specifically the sales department for 4 reasons.

SWOT analysis is a method strategic planning which will help identify strengths(Strengths), weaknesses (Weaknesses), opportunities (Opportunities) and threats (Threats) in the development of the sales department and the company as a whole. The method can be used for both short-term and long-term planning. Gives an initial assessment of the current situation in the sales department, on the basis of which a strategy for further development can be drawn up.

To conduct a SWOT analysis, the following table is filled out:

Positive

Negative

Internal

Strengths

Example:
- Experienced Sales Managers
– high-quality printing materials;
- recognizable brand.

Weak sides

Example:
– gaps in the system of training new employees;
- turnover of sales managers.

Capabilities

Example:
– reduction of the sales department of competitors (the ability to attract new experienced staff);
- Increasing demand for certain products.

Example:
- increase in prices in the market for such services;
– opening of new branches by competitors in the region.

Tool No. 2. Model 7S McKinsey (7S McKynsey)

The McKinsey 7C model got its name because it is based on 7 basic elements that begin with the letter “c”: strategy, structure, management system, relationship style, staff composition, sum of skills, value system. All 7 elements are very closely related to each other, so a change in one of them entails changes in all the others.

The McKinsey 7C model is a tool that is well suited for analyzing the organizational structure and principles of the sales department. The model is also called the "Happy Atom" because of its visual display:

All 7 elements are divided into "hard" and "soft". "Hard" elements (strategy, structure, management system) reflect the formal side. "Soft" elements (style of relationships, composition of staff, sum of skills, system of values) are related to corporate communications. "Soft" elements are often underestimated, although their role is no less important than the role of "hard" elements. At the center of the diagram is a value system - this indicates how important influence is. corporate values, the company's mission to all other elements.

Typically, the 7C model is used for evaluation and planning in the company as a whole, but with some amendments it can be applied to the sales department as well.

To evaluate the sales department using the McKinsey 7C model, it is convenient to use the following table:

Description

System of values

Describe the system values of the company. To what extent is understanding and compliance with these values expressed in the sales department?

Strategy

Describe the sales development strategy. What actions are being taken to bring this strategy to life? Does the strategy take into account competitive environment? To what extent does the strategy correlate with changes in demand and market trends?

Structure

Describe the structure of the sales department. How does the sales department interact with other departments in the company?

Control system

Describe the sales management system. What control methods are used in the sales department? How is the quality of the sales department evaluated?

They care about the little things

Sympathize with all the weak.

Relationship style

Describe the management style of the company. Does the management style contribute to the effectiveness of the sales force? What is the interaction between employees?

Staff Composition

Describe the composition of the sales department. What positions need to be filled? Are all employees doing their job or should some of them be replaced?

Amount of skills

Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the sales force. What skills need to be developed in employees to increase the effectiveness of the sales department? How is employee competency assessed?

Tool #3: Sales Team Assessment Checklist

In addition to the two tools described, I recommend using a checklist that we have developed based on experience working with many companies. Filling out the checklist will help identify gaps and omissions in the work of the sales department.

When you evaluate your sales team using the tools above, you will have a ton of information to work with. Do not be afraid of the results of the assessment, because each identified shortcoming is a prospect, an opportunity to reach a new level of development.

The sales system is a complex organism that must work like clockwork. Once a well-built sales system gives a guaranteed result over time and requires much less effort at the maintenance stage. The latter is especially important, given the long (from 3 years) terms of any development project.

Audit initiator:

a representative of the developer of an existing suburban complex, whether it is a cottage village or a low-rise residential building. An external evaluation of an existing system is an inexpensive but useful service that allows you to give an independent look at the project, see the pros and cons of the concept, and most importantly, present the project to the buyer, advertising campaign and each stage of work with the client.
an external investor who evaluates the project in terms of input and must calculate the economic potential of the business project.

IMPORTANT: The customer must be ready to hear any result.

The effectiveness of the sales system is determined by three factors:

1. Characteristics of the product (does it correspond to the market in terms of price-quality ratio, is it in demand in this moment, whether it is positioned in that segment, etc.)

3. Sales department (whether the employee of the sales department worked out the first contact with the client qualitatively, did the potential buyer receive qualified advice when visiting the facility, does the seller regularly and kindly guide the client until the moment of the transaction, how is the client base maintained, etc.)

To evaluate the sales funnel, we, as a doctor, need statistical information.

1. You do not keep track of calls and do not know the price of the client. Giving marketing budgets at the mercy of the marketing and PR department, you cannot evaluate the effectiveness of a particular promotion channel, the impact of seasonality on it. Well, congratulations - you are on the needle.

2. You own statistics, but you see risks in sharing such information third-party campaign staff. It's a pity, but we could be of service to you. A confidentiality agreement prepared by your motivated lawyers will enable us to assist you.

3. Feel free to share the accumulated data. Great, because after 3 months you will not know your performance, forgetting the previously achieved “results”.

EXPERTISE / AUDIT OF THE SALES SYSTEM (one-time consulting service): 250,000 rubles, 20-25 working days

Technical task

EXPERTISE OF THE SALES SYSTEM OF AN OPERATING COTTAGE SETTLEMENT OR A LOW-RISE RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX

Are you dissatisfied with the work of the department that specializes in sales, or are you striving to grow them? Do you want only well-trained personnel to work at the enterprise?

Strive to eliminate errors even at the initial stages? Then you should definitely audit the sales department. Let's see what order to follow.

As statistics show, more than 90% of companies are closed even at the initial stages of their existence. The reason is low sales figures.

If you do not deal with the difficulties in this industry, you just have to close the company. But is it worth it to rush to make such a decision? After all, you can figure out the shortcomings and correct them. And that's what an audit is for.

What you need to know

An audit is a test that many business leaders simply must carry out if they want to see their business succeed.

And for this, it is worth determining what is meant by the expression "audit of the sales department" and what standards should be used when organizing and conducting it.

Definitions

A firm's sales audit is carried out to determine the reasons why sales are not growing. Management is looking for the reasons for such failures, and one of the tools used is audit.

An audit of the sales department is called an examination, with the help of which it is possible to establish whether the work is effective. They also determine which option to use to improve it.

For what purpose is

Such a process is aimed at identifying the reasons for the lack of conversion from calls of employees on the phone to customers, and audits of sales proceeds make it possible to determine whether production is profitable.

How to audit the sales department?

There are several stages of a sales department audit that should be followed by those who are responsible for the audit.

First, check positions are determined.
Collect the necessary data and analyze it from the submitted documents.
Conduct interviews with key employees.
Interviews with key clients.
Collect data on the activities of competitors and analyze them.
Analyze the general data and prepare a report on the verification of sales departments.

The elements of a basic audit are the enterprise, employees, customers and competitors. During the test, it is determined whether the organizational structure sales department tasks that were assigned. Determine if there is a customer base and its compliance with the requirements.

Checking the sales system

Audits should be carried out regularly. Only in this case is it possible effective promotion forward. Often, such a check is entrusted to a professional.

But it happens that the heads of the sales department and the marketer decide to conduct an audit on their own, without taking into account a number of important parameters, criteria and methods of analysis.

The main subject of the audit is the sales system. Specialists must use analytical tools to identify strengths and weaknesses, find out what the threat is.

A SWOT analysis is carried out, which allows you to describe the activities of the company and determine the implementation of the marketing policy and the sale of goods at the moment. Determine what adjustments to make.

They determine what the size of orders is, the popularity of the company among the clientele, monitor among consumers to identify effective methods product promotion and .

Consider how many employees work in trading floors and how many do you really need. They also answer the following questions:

What do clients prefer?
What is the motivation system?
What kind motivational systems at a competitor?
How are the employees organized?
What sales models are used?

Be sure to analyze the reason for the departure of the clientele, because without this it will not be possible to begin to eliminate the shortcomings. When analyzing lost business, don't rely solely on the sales rep's lost business reports.

Consumer complaints, warranty service requests, the role of support staff in sales are analyzed, pricing systems are analyzed.

Sales management check is carried out:

Head audit

When conducting an audit, management should not be neglected or bypassed. When checking, it is worth determining how the founders participate in the activities of the company, what style and methods of working with employees they adhere to.

The degree of centralization of management, the methodology of the reports received are determined. The effectiveness of the management of sales departments is analyzed in the following areas:

Experts evaluate	Is the management of the sales department able to develop and implement a key business process to ensure the efficiency of the department
Assessing the quality of department management	How the manager’s work is planned, tasks are set for managers, the quality and timely completion of the task is controlled, the regular use of sales technology is controlled, the maintenance of the information base from reports is controlled
Assesses how management exercises control	How the monthly plan is carried out according to the reference point, it is assessed whether it is realistic to fulfill the plan, it is analyzed what is the reason that the plan is not fulfilled at the next control points

Based on the results of the audit, it is compiled, which prescribes the qualities of the manager, his competence, recommendations on how to develop the head of the department.

business process

How effective the work of the sales department will depend on whether the business processes are organized correctly. And for this it is necessary to register all the moves in a typical situation.

Such a sample can be obtained by contacting a specialist, which can create a business process. All processes are created according to action algorithms.

Authorized professionals adhere to certain technologies:

looking for a customer;
then send a commercial offer;
an agreement is drawn up;
if the cooperation is long, the contracts are extended;
orders are processed and invoiced to customers;
control whether the conditions and obligations of the contract are fulfilled, accounts are controlled.

For coherence, employees must organize their workplaces.

Formation of a checklist

are called key parameters and requirements for assessing the state of the company and the quality of the work of employees, which should be systematically checked by managers and internal quality control departments of the enterprise.

It is the basic foundation and guide to action, on which the implementation of the actions of the auditor, inspection is based. There are paper and electronic checklists. Depending on the type of activity of the company, they can be various forms and content.

When checking compliance with the merchandising standard, the following actions are indicated in the checklist:

monitoring the goods that are in stock;
evaluates the quality of work and compliance with standards;
availability of POS materials;
it is checked whether the price tags on the products correspond to the expiration date of the goods;
shares are checked;
prices, distribution, degree of availability of advertising material are controlled;
the work of the sales representative and promoter is evaluated.

If a store is audited, the checklist is divided into several audit categories and audit criteria. The formation of a checklist is carried out according to the following category:
adjacent territories and entrance zones;

trading floors;
cash desks and checkout areas;
cash discipline;
merchandising;
advertising campaigns, promotion;
utility rooms;
security, protection;
work of employees.

Then, according to the checklists, the employee’s activities are evaluated, they determine what kind of appearance he has, whether he knows corporate standards, whether he knows how to communicate with potential buyers.

An example of what a checklist should look like when auditing a store:

By appearance	compliance is determined appearance approved standards; determine the cleanliness of clothing, whether it fits well; does the employee keep the item in accordance with the regulations; the conformity of the hairstyle to the standards is determined
When establishing contacts with buyers, pay attention	posture, facial expressions, gestures; whether the seller met the buyer; whether the buyer is welcome; on the use of background phrases that open communication; whether it appears to the buyer; to use compliments
When identifying what needs	is there an appeal by name; Are questions being asked? whether it is an active listener; whether customer data is collected; is there an intermediate summary of the conversation
In presentation and argumentation	whether priority is given to working with product arguments; whether the arguments are based on the needs and benefits of the client; the seller also talks with emotions; whether the demo rules apply; whether information about the benefits of the company and products is communicated; whether the benefits of the service are described
When reselling a related product	whether the goods were offered; whether the needs and benefits of buyers are identified; whether it is explained why the product is needed; whether the interim summary of the conversation was held
When dealing with objections	does it give answers according to established algorithms; whether the objection about the high cost, the desire to think, etc. has been processed.

More detailed rules on how to prepare a checklist and how to conduct an audit of the sales department are presented in tables on various Internet portals.

The audit is not an end in itself. This is a tool used to detect problems and weaknesses, as well as to develop proposals for business development.

And in some cases, a company can conduct a free audit of the sales department if it does not turn to specialized firms.

One has only to study the rules for conducting an audit, develop a plan and strictly follow it. After all, the above information does not reveal all the smallest nuances of analyzing the work of the sales department.

Usually at the enterprise, it is the sales department that becomes part of the company, where they are responsible for the sale of products. Compared to the profitability of the enterprise, sales volumes should be 20-30 percent higher if the work is done correctly. Maintaining this mode of operation contributes to the fact that the company always receives a profit from sales, even in the event of force majeure. This is what a good audit does. Let's look at a few examples of auditing a sales department.

How do you know if work is being done effectively?

Before conducting a sales audit, there are a few questions you should ask yourself to try and answer honestly:

How difficult is it to evaluate the work of a particular person in sales? Is everything that happens in the department transparent?
Do department managers prefer to work with existing clients? Because of what the flow of new ones is constantly interrupted?
How often are sales deals made? Often managers can leave management without margin because they are trying to sell the maximum quantities of goods, but at the lowest prices. In this case, an audit is required.
How often does it happen that the most successful employees of the department go to other employers, transferring clients along with them?
How high is the turnover rate in sales?
Does the department head himself have to meet with clients in order to close deals on his own?
How often do deals fail at the department?
Is the sales warehouse still full? And modern production facilities are not used as they should?
Competitors' products sell better, although the company's own products have an excellent balance between reasonable price and high quality level? You need to identify the problem.

If the answer to at least some of the questions is yes, then the sales department becomes a useless ballast for the enterprise, because it does not bring any results.

Check your sales team with our free online audit and get practical advice for its development in automatic mode:

Pass an online audit

Conducting an express audit

If you order an audit for the results of activities in the direction of sales from specialists, customers will be able to learn a lot of useful things:

Ways to deal with staff turnover of the department, which reveals the audit.
Problems due to which plans do not become real. They are not always easy to identify.
List of documents and regulations, the implementation of which for the department leads to an increase in efficiency.
Existing tools that allow you to organize work more efficiently to increase sales.

Examples of auditing the sales department in different companies

Clothing manufacturing enterprise

For the owner of the company, from the very beginning, there were many incomprehensible things in this area. The head set himself the goal of increasing the turnover from sales ten times, not only at the expense of the Russian, but also the foreign market. Such goals were quite realistic, but, like many, the owner of the enterprise did not know about specific ways to achieve a result. That is why analysis is necessary.

It was then that the idea came to use the services of specialists, purchase books, attend trainings. And then start creating a sales department with the proper level of efficiency. And then real actions began to be carried out when the audit ended.

During the first month, new personnel were recruited to form a full-fledged sales department.
After that, new customers began to be attracted.
With those that already existed, the contracts were renegotiated after the audit was carried out. Business has benefited more from this.

One of the partners agreed to increase the volume of purchases. One such contract was enough to get a serious additional profit. Of course, the original goal of a tenfold increase in profits with the participation of the department was not immediately achieved. But sales figures have grown, and seriously - there is no doubt about it. The business has become more profitable.

About the trade and production group

In this case, the need to attract the right number of highly qualified personnel arose in order to correctly bring a new product to the market. After all, the competition in this segment was quite high. There was a sales department before, but it consisted of only five employees, and the work was not efficient. Therefore, a thorough audit was required.

Books on the relevant topic were studied, but it was also decided to attend trainings. This made it possible to better understand how the technology and the solutions used correspond to the conditions that have developed precisely on Russian market. The results were not long in coming. For employees, the results are also noticeable.

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