Understanding SellSharp Reports
Purpose:
Document your goals and the resulting target sales volume and labor rate.
Uses:
Print and save this report as a record of your goals. Post it where you will see it each day to always keep your eyes on the prize!
Tips and Tricks:
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Be sure to use gross commission income for your target, not your net revenue after expenses.
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Your goals have a dramatic effect on your reports. Once you have a full set of charts, try changing your goals temporarily and seeing the effect they have especially on the return on investment for your activities. For example, you may see that the higher your goals, the more important certain activities become.
Maintenance:
Review your goals regularly and adjust them when they seem unrealistic.
Purpose:
Define your pipeline and track its current status by entering the number of people you have at each stage.
Uses:
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Print this report and post it regularly as a visible reminder.
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Notice that a "red" status in an early stage of your pipeline is important, but perhaps not as important as a "red" status in a later stage. Later stages are closer to payoff!
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Choose activities that feed the stages with the most need and highest priority.
Tips and Tricks:
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Remember that "conversion rate" is the percentage of people that move on to the next stage, not the number that become closed sales. That "closure rate" is computed for you.
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Try making small temporary changes in conversion rates and seeing the difference it makes in the target levels for each stage. Earlier stages are very sensitive to small changes throughout your pipeline.
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Focus on maximizing your conversion rates. For example, in each open house try to see how many appointments can be made. Make conversion to the next level the primary goal of each activity!
Maintenance:
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Status your pipeline regularly to keep your "current levels" on the Pipeline page realistic. Your customer database may be a good source of information for this.
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Review the settings of your pipeline regularly. Over time SellSharp will "learn" and become an accurate reflection of your business, and help your business model remain current with changes in the market.
Potential Income - Waterfall Chart and Donut Chart
Purpose:
Show an your estimated potential income based on current data. The waterfall-style chart shows the stages of your funnel adds up. The donut-style chart helps you see where your potential income is in the sales process.
Uses:
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Print and post these charts to help keep focus on where your money is.
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Note the timeframe, especially on the waterfall chart. It is important to understand approximately when income will arrive when planning your personal budget.
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Compare the potential income to your goals. Begin selecting weekly activities based on where you need more potential income, and on the return on investment for the activity.
Tips and Tricks:
Over time you want your potential income to agree (roughly) with your goal. If it does not:
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Check to ensure your pipeline settings are realistic
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If your potential income is higher than goal and your pipeline settings look right, you may be able to raise your goal - you're earning more than you had planned!
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If your potential income is too low, review your weekly effort and the activities you're selecting so you can increase your potential income over time. If this doesn't help, you may have to lower your goal to be realistic.
Maintenance:
This data is driven by the parameters of your pipeline and the current levels you've specified for each stage of your pipeline. It is important to update the levels often, and to review the pipeline and goals parameters at least monthly.
Purpose:
To provide a record of your activity settings.
Uses:
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Print this report for your records each time you make changes to your activity settings.
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Note the "ROI" column on the right - it shows the return you get for that activity. Now you can choose activities based on how effective they are!
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Example: if two activities both move people to the "Pending" stage, the one with the highest ROI rating will move the most people for the least cost.
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Notice an ROI less than 1.0 is printed in red. That means this activity produces less value than it costs to perform, given your labor rate and other settings.
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Tips and Tricks:
Watch your bar charts! It is very common for users to start off with very optimistic activity settings.
Maintenance:
Update your settings continually as the market changes or as you gain more insight into your business.
Purpose:
This is one of the most critical reports! It shows the total estimated dollar value earned in your weekly activities.
Uses:
Print this report weekly to show your progress toward your goal. If your Earned Value is typically at or above the goal line shown on the chart and you maintain your current conversion rates you should expect to meet goal.
Tips and Tricks:
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When entering your activity record for the week be sure you are entering the number of times each activity was done.
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If an activity is defined as a quantity of actions, your record should be the number of times that quantity was done. For example, if the activity is to send 10 letters and you sent 25, you did the activity 2.5 times.
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Beware of optimism. Ideally the value you produce in a typical week times 52 would match your gross revenue goal. If the value you're seeing seems high, or if it seems too easy, lower the success rates in your activity settings!
Maintenance:
Review this chart to see if the typical value you produce each week is sufficient to reach your goal.
Purpose:
Indicate the estimated total costs of your weekly activities, including labor.
Uses:
Use this chart as an indicator of the cash investment you are making in your business.
Tips and Tricks:
Remember that each week includes a full week's worth of labor cost at your current rate, even if you spent your time on the golf course! Labor is usually your largest cost; the more wisely it is used, the greater your returns will be.
Maintenance:
Compare this with your actual experience to make appropriate adjustments to your activity settings.
Purpose:
Show weekly progress by displaying your produced value relative to your total cost (including a full week of labor). The higher your ROI, the more efficiently you are running your business.
Uses:
If you choose high-return activities and use your time well, the net ROI increases. Use this chart as an indicator of how well your business runs week to week.
Tips and Tricks:
Because SellSharp includes the labor rate you pay yourself, a net ROI of 1.0 means you're meeting your goal. The value will vary week by week, but if it seems consistently high or low you can adjust your settings - or your work week - to compensate.
Maintenance:
Beware of optimism! If your net ROI is consistently much higher than 1.0, review your goals, pipeline settings and activity settings to ensure you're not fooling yourself.
Purpose:
Shows how much of your work week is spent directly or indirectly in moving people through your pipeline.
Uses:
Print and post. Maximizing this chart will nearly always mean more income.
Tips and Tricks:
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Do include in your "administration time" any time associated with processing people through your pipeline that is not included in activities. For example, it should include filing sales contracts.
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Also include in your "administration time" any overhead work, like attending a sales meeting or taking a continuing education course.
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Start by targeting 67% of your work week in direct activity time, and adjust your efforts over time based on the actual business results you see.
Maintenance:
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Review regularly. If the chart seems wrong, adjust the hours setting in your activities.
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Many activities are best defined in volume because of things like preparation time.
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Example: mailing 1 letter may take 30 minutes, including a drive to the post office, but mailing 5 letters may only take 60 minutes. In this case, define the activity as "Mailing 5 letters" and set the time required to 1 hour.
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