Inside Sales Telesales Tips Blog

Use KPIs during your telesales job interview to put yourself above competitive candidates.

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We don't just create and deliver world-class telesales training courses here. We also help great telesales reps who've excelled in our classes and at work to find jobs. We know reps that have never been under quota that were laid off this year. The other day, veteran inside sales executive Alicia Assefa interviewed a candidate we sent her, and she gave the candidate some outstanding advice on how to make a presentation in the interview that would be compelling to any sales executive. It's all about describing how you use KPI (key performance indicators) to increase your numbers and overshoot quota. I asked Alicia to share her perspective with my blog, and she did. I'll let her put it in her own worlds. Here's what Alicia says:

Everyone knows how difficult it is to find work.  It's tough out there.  Although job opportunities are more prevalent than they were say, six months ago, it is still a very competitive market.   A few months ago, you could expect hundreds of applicants for one open position.  Now, the number may be in the tens of applicants.  In any case, the odds are still against job seekers.  In order to get noticed, your resume must stand out.   To get to the next level of the interview process, you must stand out, during each interview.

If you are looking for a sales position, there is a sure fire way to stand out from the crowd and position yourself as the "right "person for the job.  Know your numbers. 

Your numbers are metrics that Sales Managers call Key Performance Indicators or KPIs.   A manager's performance rating is, in most cases, tied to KPIs such as pipeline growth and quota achievement. 

What are the KPIs for an Inside Sales Professional?   KPIs will vary, based on whether you do Teleprospecting or have a sales quota. 

KPIs for Teleprospecting Reps: If you are a Teleprospecting Representative and your primary focus is on generating leads for a Field or Inside Sales team, your KPIs might include the following:

• Average Daily Dials: You should know, on average, the number of dials you make, each day. If the product is a high ticket complex solution that requires that you speak to a Senior IT professional, you may make 40-50 dials per day, as you must get past gate keepers, etc., to reach the required high-level IT professional. If, however, your product is a lower-priced commoditized solution, you may be able to make 60-100 dials per day.
• Raw Lead (RL) to Qualified Lead (QL) Conversion: Raw leads are the leads that marketing provides you, each day. Depending on the type of solution and contact level you need to reach, your RL to QL conversion should be in the range of 15%-20%. If you have a position, currently, check out the RL-to-QL conversion statistics for your team, for a 2 week period. See what the average is and where you rank. If you are looking for work and don't know this particular KPI, try to remember the total number of leads you received and how many of those turned to a qualified lead.
• Cold Call Ratio: Cold calls are calls that you make to contacts that you uncover without the aid of marketing support. Sales Managers are, typically, very interested in Sales Representatives who are not afraid to make cold calls. In general 20% of your dials should be cold calls into your accounts or territory. Managers will want to know where you got the contact names and how you pitched your Company's value proposition.
• Contact Ratios: Dials and lead conversion are interesting to Sales Managers because Sales is a numbers game. The more dials you make and the more leads you qualify, the greater your chances are of successfully meeting sales targets. A very important KPI is the contact ratio number. For example, if your daily dial average is 50, you should expect to connect with a minimum of 5 important contacts, or 10% of your dials. Ten to fifteen percent of your dials should be with important contacts that can help you move your sales activity to the next levels.
• Pipeline Growth: Pipeline is not just for quota bearing reps. Teleprospecting Reps, who generate leads for a Sales team, will have a pipeline of Qualified Leads (QL). Know the Average Sales Price (ASP) of your solution. Know your team's quota. Once you have this information, you can start to build your qualified leads pipeline. Typically 33 percent of deals will roll off the sales forecast, 33 percent will close and 33 percent will stall. If you are supporting a Sales Team, in general, you will need a qualified leads pipeline of 3X your teams' quota targets.
• Emails: Emails are another touch point that connects you to prospects. Although the phone is the primary way to connect with prospects, it is often necessary to stay in touch through an email. Know how many emails you send out, daily. Emails, when added to your average daily dials, increases the total number of prospect touches you have, each day. On average you should send out 15-20 emails to key contacts, daily.

KPIs for TeleSales Reps: If you are a quota bearing Sales Professional, your KPIs will include most of the items above, including:

• Average Daily Dials
• Cold Call Ratio
• Contact Ratios
• Average Sales Price
• Emails

In addition, as a quota bearing representative, you have a quota (monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, etc.).  In order to achieve your quota, it is important to build your pipeline to ensure that you will meet sales targets. 

• Pipeline Growth: Depending on the type of solution you are selling (complex, high-priced or commoditized, low-priced) you will need to build a pipeline of 3X to 6X your revenue objective. If you are currently working in a sales position, ask your manager how large your pipeline should be to meet sales targets. Start building to that level, to ensure your success.
• Quota Achievement: Every Sales Manager is going ask you if you made your sales targets. If you did, you should know how (pipeline growth of X times of Sales Targets, X Cold Calls made per day, 50-60 Daily Dials, etc.). If you didn't, you should know why. If you didn't, make your numbers, were you within 85+ % (an acceptable range). If you didn't, how did you rank against your peers?

After you've derived your numbers: Now that you know your numbers, the next step is to ensure that your résumé lists your numbers (KPIs).  List your achievements, by company.  For example you might list:

• At ABC Company I achieved 92% of my quarterly objectives for 6 consecutive quarters. I was ranked number 2 amongst my peer group. I achieved my numbers based on:
• 1) Average Daily Dials: 65
• 2) Cold Call Ratio: 20% of all dials
• 3) Pipeline: 2.5X quarterly sales objective
• 4) Contact Ratio: 20% of my daily contacts were with senior level IT Executives

Once your resume is completed and lists your KPIs, your next and final step is to complete a one-page overview of your accomplishments.  This overview should list your major accomplishments, with the most important accomplishment listed at the top. 

Your overview should list the following:

Sales Highlights and Accomplishments

Company XYZ:

• 2009 Presidents Club
• Achieved 120% of Quota
• Pipeline 5X revenue objective
• ASP: $50,000
• Contact Ratio: 20%
• Cold Call Ratio: 15%

When you have an onsite interview, make sure that you give your Sales Highlights and Accomplishments document to the hiring manager.  Keep a copy in front of you, for the entire interview.  You have a lot of numbers to discuss and you don't want to forget your most important KPIs.

Knowing your numbers and communicating your numbers, during the interview process, will put you way ahead of the competition.  When you know your numbers, Sales Managers will feel very comfortable that they won't be hiring a junior person.  Rather, they will see you as a seasoned and serious Sales Professional who is goal oriented and highly motivated.  Start building your list of KPIs.  Know your numbers and communicate them in your resume, Sales Highlights and Accomplishments overview and during the interview process.

It's Geoff here again. So there's some important advice from an inside sales executive whose job entails determining who to hire and who to discard. One day while I was a juror, a judge told me after the case was finished that he was frustrated because he'd told the prosecutor exactly how he wanted the case presented, and the prosecutor went and did it his own way anyway. And lost the case. Here, we have an inside sales exec who's telling you how to get hired. Add Alicia Assefa's advice on presenting your KPIs to your Best Practices Playbook.