We’re at the halfway mark of the year. This means you have six months left to meet targets, hit quotas, convert leads to deals, and increase the bottom line.
You can move forward to the next months as is OR you can use this time to step back and review the first six months. In other words: do a mid-year review.
A mid-year sales review is an assessment of the performance of the sales team and sales management for the first six months of the year. Some sales managers see the mid-year review as just another mundane admin task that will entail more paperwork. And that’s a shame. A mid-year sales review is a necessary and strategic process that can help boost your sales team’s performance.
Why do You Need a Mid-Year Sales Review?
- You can make an honest self-assessment. This goes for both sales managers and sales representatives. Sales managers can check their implementation of processes, systems, and metrics. They can review which ones work, and which don’t. They can review their command of the team. Are you training enough, motivating enough, challenging enough? Sales representatives can check their performance and review their daily and weekly activities. Which tasks/habits contribute to your productivity? Which strategies did clients respond to positively?
- You get a window for corrective measures. You probably do a pipeline check every month or so (which we recommend). For your mid-year review, you can begin implementing corrective measures for some setbacks from the first half of the year, like hiring and/or firing, training, changing account assignments, etc.
- You can plan for the second half of the year more strategically. Do you need more upselling tactics? Do you need to review pricing? Will it make sense to do a special offer for the third quarter? These are just some of the things you can plan ahead.
- You can spot the cold and dead leads and resuscitate them. Most teams are too busy prospecting and/or moving on to the next lead that they forget those leads that weren’t ready to buy in the first half of the year. The mid-year review is a good time to look through your database for these cold or dead leads and re-engage them.
- You can celebrate wins. This is another goal for mid-year reviews that managers forget. They’re too busy “correcting” during an assessment that they forget to highlight and celebrate the wins. Celebrating the wins motivates your people—and you would want to keep your sales team motivated for the rest of the year.
How do You Conduct a Mid-Year Sales Review?
You need to cover these areas when conducting your mid-year sales review:
- Goals and Objectives
- Activities and Behaviors
- Team Performance
- Management Performance
- Business Development / Strategies
Here are some of the questions you can ask during the assessment. Of course you can add or edit as necessary. There are many other questions you can add to the list.
- Goals and Objectives
- What goals and objectives have been accomplished?
- What contributed to the achievement?
- What goals and objectives have not been accomplished?
- What contributed to the non-achievement?
- What can be done to achieve the goals and objectives that have not been accomplished?
- Are there new developments or priorities that necessitate the need to create new goals and objectives?
- Are there goals that are redundant and/or no longer relevant?
- Activities and Behaviors
- What activities had a positive impact on individual and team performance?
- What activities had a negative impact on individual and team performance?
- What setbacks or challenges had an impact on individual and team performance?
- What can be done to address these setbacks and challenges?
- Are there new developments or priorities that necessitate the need to create new tasks or activities?
- Team Performance
- Which team members are doing well?
- What factors contribute to their stellar performance?
- Which team members need further training or coaching?
- What areas are they failing at?
- What is the overall morale of the group?
- What can be done to keep the team motivated?
- Do current account assignments work?
- Management Performance
- What can management do to improve team performance?
- What systems or processes work and what don’t?
- Are there new developments or priorities that necessitate the need to create new systems or processes?
- What kind of training, new knowledge and skills are needed to improve team performance?
- What kind of training, new knowledge and skills are needed to meet goals and objectives?
- What resources are needed to meet goals and objectives?
- Business Development / Strategies
- Which area / product / service of the business is doing well?
- Why do clients respond to this area / product / service?
- Do we need to add another area / product / service to the business?
- What is competition doing well?
- Where is competition failing?
It’s very important that companies recognize the need for mid-year reviews. It’s a great opportunity to check on pipelines and performance, re-align team and management targets, fine-tune strategies, and keep the team pumped and ready for the second half of the year.
