Progress Beyond the Numbers

摘要

The owner of a printing company walks into her sales managers' office and asks, "How is the sales force doing?" The manager puts down his copy of Graphic Arts Monthly's Swimsuit Edition, turns to his computer screen and pulls up a report. Quickly looking at the numbers, he spews a monotone answer based on sales volume, sales activity, quote activity, number of appointments and number of phone calls made. His boss then says, "Great, but how is our sales force doing other than the numbers?" It was as if the manager had been asked to do long division in his head. He didn't understand the question. He frowns, blinks and his head explodes, leaving paper mache residue all over the office. Sales can be a cold profession. Our progress can be measured in any number of ways, and all of those ways involve cold, hard statistics. But where is the softer side? By the numbers, sales progress is about more. Beyond the numbers, progress is about getting better.