Measuring salesperson performance

The eight metrics

A worked example

Two salespeople, same month:

On sales alone, Amit looks better. But he visited 70% of plan, collected about 64% of what was due, and fewer than half his outlets ordered. His sales likely come from a few large dealers on stretched credit. Suresh visited 95% of plan, collected about 95% and kept 86% of outlets active. Suresh's territory is healthier, and Amit's needs a conversation about coverage and collections.

Getting the data right

• Use net sales after returns and credit notes, not order value booked.
• Map each customer to one salesperson in your books, for example with a cost centre or a field on the party. See Tally cost centres for salespeople.
• Record collections against the salesperson who collected them, the same day.
• Record visits as they happen, not from memory at month end.

Using the numbers fairly

• Compare each person with their own previous months first, then with others in similar territories.
• Account for things outside their control: a big dealer closing, a supply shortage, a new area.
• Share the numbers weekly, not as a surprise at appraisal time.
• Link part of pay to the metrics you care about; see salesperson incentive structures.

Finally, celebrate the right things. Recognising the person with the best collection efficiency or the most new outlets, not just the biggest sales total, tells the whole team what the business values.

Setting up a simple weekly scorecard

Put the eight metrics on one sheet per salesperson, one column per week, with the target in the first column. Keep it visible to the salesperson as well as the owner.

Set your own targets from your best people's normal weeks, not from outside figures. Colour or circle anything below target and discuss only those in the weekly review. This keeps the meeting short and focused on what can change next week.

Lines per order deserves special attention. A salesperson selling only the three items a dealer asks for is an order-taker; one who introduces the dealer to the rest of the range grows the account.

Metrics that mislead

• Orders booked instead of net sales: rewards orders that are later cancelled or returned.
• Calls made by phone counted as visits: inflates compliance without any shop presence.
• Total collections without overdue context: collecting easy current bills while old dues grow looks good on paper.
• Comparing territories of very different size: a city salesperson and a rural one cannot be judged on the same sales number.

Choose definitions once, write them down, and use them for every person.

Performance view in Cashflow OS

When visits, orders and collections are recorded in the Cashflow OS staff app, the owner gets a performance view of the field team, alongside visit check-ins with location, notes and photos. Orders posted to TallyPrime keep the sales figures in your books. Reports export to Excel for the weekly review. See field force tracking and staff app.