Measuring Success: Your Renewal Depends on It – Info Sales

During the sales process, it’s important to have open and upfront conversations about how advertisers measures success. Clients will make their decisions to buy again based on the success, or failure, of the campaigns and solutions you sell them. 

Questions about success and client expectations should take place throughout the steps of the sales cycle, and your questions will differ based on where you are in the sales process.

Measure Success: When and What Questions to Ask

Here’s a guide to the questions you should ask to to ensure you get a solid understanding about success measures. Below are questions to ask and when to ask them.

Questions During Needs Analysis

Start your inquiries about how success is measured early in the process:

• How would you describe the ultimate measure of success here?
• What return on investment are you looking for?
• Given our conversation about the consumer journey, what are some ways we can measure engagement along the purchase path?
• What would be an early indicator of success?

Questions as You Build the Solution

Continue the conversation while you build the solution:

• How will you know if this plan is working?
• How has your advertising been performing lately? Tell me about the response you get in a typical week.
• What is it you want your potential customer to do? Make an appointment through your website? Increase your website traffic? Call on the phone or walk in? Click on an ad? What do your customers typically do now?
• Do you expect a broad response from people who may or may not be qualified to buy? Or a lighter response from more qualified consumers?

Questions When Going Over Final Recommendations

Carry your dialogue into the final recommendations stage of the selling process.

• If we were to go forward with this plan, what do you think the results would be?
• How much interest do you think you will get through the various channels (website traffic, social media, PPC, CTR, phone calls)? Would that be a profitable venture for you?

Don’t Settle For Just One Measure of Success

It’s a mistake to get just one measure. Go deeper until you have at least 2-3 ways that you both agree to use to measure success.

• Having one form of measurement can be as bad as having none.
• You will create a better solution if you have more than one way to measure success.
• You will also increase the chances of receiving credit for success.

For example, if a Ford dealer told you they needed to sell 20 more F-150s a month, you could probe further and add additional measurements like:

• More traffic at the dealership
• More time spent on certain inventory web pages
• More visitors engaging in chats on the website

Early and Often

World-class sellers do not overlook dialogue about how their customers measure success. Having a clear understanding of success measures and client expectations are essential components of the sales process. Don’t be afraid to engage in these types of conversations. Your success and renewal depend on it!