In the spirit of Billy Beane, here are examples of "Moneyball Metrics": uncommon and non-obvious metrics which we have found to have a major impact on performance:
Coaching frequency -- can be tracked using web Forms and is always highly correlated with subsequent agent performance management
AHT or ASA variation -- permits superior forecasting and scheduling -- which in turn permits smaller shifts -- as a result of separating controllable and random variation
Supervisor effectiveness indexes -- comparative impact of coaching, agent improvement under their management, and impact of rotating team leaders
Balanced scores -- indexes of agent or team performance with data from multiple data sources, weighted by importance
Bonus calculations -- weighted averages, eligibility rules (such as attendance or quality minimums), dollar payouts
Metric tracking sessions -- frequency with which Supervisors and other managers check and use statistics on their teams to make better, fact-based decisions
In the 2003 bestseller and now major motion picture "Moneyball," (opening nationwide on Sept. 23) we learn how Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane used data-driven management to reshape a laggard major league baseball team into a world-class winner. Instead of focusing on traditional metrics, Beane discovered that winning baseball games was more strongly correlated with lesser-known statistics. He also focused on elements of the game where success metrics hadn't been developed in the past due to lack of data. He trained his organization to track new types of statistics to gain a data advantage in recruiting and player development, and, critically, he got his entire organization aligned around the new metrics and philosophy. As a result, the A's became one of the winningest teams, with one of the lowest cost structures, in major league baseball.
Like the Oakland A's and other baseball teams before "Moneyball," many contact centers use time-honored measures but miss the opportunity to truly redefine and improve performance.
During the last few years many teams have begun emulating the A's "Moneyball" methods to transform their organizations to better compete. Given the large financial opportunity for operational savings and customer loyalty impact in the contact center, it's likely that as Performance Management proves itself in this environment, the same competitive ripple effect will take place.
Our Day Two winner of our second annual “Sales Performance Contest” was announced at the end of the day at Dreamforce 11 (#DF11) - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Check out the video to find out just how many steps it took to win an iPad!
Our first winner of our two day “Sales Performance Contest” was announced at the end of Day Two of Dreamforce 11 (#DF11) - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Check out the video to find out just how many steps it took to win an iPad!
CSO Insights, an independent 3rd party research firm, is currently in the process of launching its fourth annual Sales Compensation & Performance Management survey.
CSO Insights specializes in analyzing companies’ sales effectiveness and optimizing the way they attract, acquire and retain customers.
Merced Systems is proud to again be a survey sponsor this year. We would like to invite you to take part in this year’s new survey. In return for your time (less than 15 minutes) you will be able to compare your answers with those of your peers as you begin designing your plans for 2012. This report will be released September 15, 2011.
In appreciation for taking part in this study, you will:
Be able to immediately download CSO Insights’ recent study: 2011 CRM Sales Effectiveness Key Trends Analysis
Receive the full 2011 Sales Compensation & Performance Management report when it is released September 15th.
Thank you for your interest and for participation in this ongoing sales research effort.
Note: If during the course of taking this survey you need to take a break, simply sign off and when you sign back in again later you will be able to pick up right where you left off.
Gartner Research recently published a research report outlining the Top Six Sales Processes that iPads will have the most impact on within sales organizations, “iPads: Their Impact on the Top Six Sales Processes.” This report is extremely timely, as Merced has recently rolled out our own iPad functionality – a true first in the Sales Performance Management space. Our app (free to download via Apple’s App Store – search for “Merced Systems”) allows sales teams to access up to date sales and compensation analytics such as,
Dashboards for executive summary, team performance, inquiries and payments,
Sales, commissions, and attainment performance and trends by employee, plan, and product,
Performance projections against target,
Product mix by either sales, commission or order quantity,
Transaction summary data by product with drill down to transactions, and
Detailed inquiry data by employee.
Growing Trend
Tablet computing adoption in the field is on the rise, as corporate sales teams are eager to leverage the “ad hoc” data presentation nature that mobile devices provide. Medical-sector companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic Inc. and Boston Scientific Corp. are among the drug and medical-device firms making the move, while others say they are testing out the devices.
Sales staff at fashion retailer Benetton are using Apple’s iPad to enhance their knowledge of the company’s product range and improve customer service.
The business’s sales agent network will use the tablet device to keep up to date with the emerging collections across Benetton’s womenswear, menswear and children’s clothing ranges, as well as the Sisley, Playlife and Undercolors brands sold in-store.
Our second winner of our two day “Performance Challenge” was announced at the end of Day Three of Dreamforce - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Ben Ziegler was awarded an iPad after logging 30,502 steps on his Merced “Dreamtrekker” pedometer. Congrats to Ben!
This was Merced Systems’ first time exhibiting at Dreamforce, and what an experience we had! We met an extraordinary group of people, all with a common goal in mind: finding out how Merced can help them with their sales or service performance management needs. Dreamforce saw record attendance this year…final numbers are not in yet, but early estimates are that more than 22,000 people attended this year’s conference. Merced will be exhibiting at next year’s conference, to be held again at Moscone Center in San Francisco on August 31st. Hope to see you then!
Our first winner of our two day “Performance Challenge” was announced at the end of Day Two of Dreamforce - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Simon Kong walked away (pun intended) with an iPad after logging almost 58,000 steps on his Merced “Dreamtrekker” pedometer! Congrats to Simon !
Next month, Merced Systems will be a first-time sponsor of the Dreamforce 2010 conference. A few details on the conference:
Dreamforce will be held Dec. 6-9, 2010 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center
Registration is still open at www.dreamforce.com
Merced Systems will be in booth #1121
We will be providing regular updates via Twitter, Facebook and this blog.
We decided the time was right for Merced to sponsor Dreamforce for several reasons. Approximately 20,000 attendees are expected this year, and we see this as a great opportunity to meet customers and peers and learn from their experiences, while sharing ours. At our booth we will be exhibiting the solutions that have helped companies like ING Direct, Dell, Nationwide, Orange, and Sprint improve the effectiveness of their sales force, provide a superior customer experience, and meet objectives for greater operational efficiency.
With today’s consumer and business customers being informed like never before, the selling environment is far more competitive and customer retention is a demanding and critical task. Without active management of performance, sales and customer service, costs can spiral without getting the results companies want. In today’s difficult economy, this added challenge can be devastating to a business.
Merced Systems’ solutions have helped customers solve this challenge by providing an integrated suite of products including incentive compensation management, pay for performance, sales development and coaching, dashboarding, sales planning and analytics which help drive performance improvement. Customers have seen 14 percent increases in sales, 37 percent decreases in operating expenses and a 50 percent reduction in non-customer facing administrative work.
A few examples: At Sprint, customer satisfaction is soaring and the wireless provider has returned to a leadership position in service quality and customer experience delivery. Operating expenses are down and churn has declined.
Orange telecom has narrowed the gap between sales and customer service and raised the level of performance of entire teams (see Ventana Research for a recent report on Orange).
Carson Wagonlit Travel saw project payback in six months.
It’s successes like these that motivate us to help other customer-facing businesses to achieve the same type of results. We’re excited to talk to attendees about how we can make this a reality. We want to have fun, too. So at the beginning of December, we'll let you know how we plan to do that at the event, with your help of course. Look for us on Twitter, Facebook and on this blog for updates. We hope to see you there.
Next month, Merced Systems will be a first-time sponsor of the Dreamforce 2010 conference. A few details on the conference:
Dreamforce will be held Dec. 6-9, 2010 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center
Registration is still open at www.dreamforce.com
Merced Systems will be in booth #1121
We will be providing regular updates via Twitter, Facebook and this blog.
We decided the time was right for Merced to sponsor Dreamforce for several reasons. Approximately 20,000 attendees are expected this year, and we see this as a great opportunity to meet customers and peers and learn from their experiences, while sharing ours. At our booth we will be exhibiting the solutions that have helped companies like ING Direct, Dell, Nationwide, Orange, and Sprint improve the effectiveness of their sales force, provide a superior customer experience, and meet objectives for greater operational efficiency.
With today’s consumer and business customers being informed like never before, the selling environment is far more competitive and customer retention is a demanding and critical task. Without active management of performance, sales and customer service, costs can spiral without getting the results companies want. In today’s difficult economy, this added challenge can be devastating to a business.
Merced Systems’ solutions have helped customers solve this challenge by providing an integrated suite of products including incentive compensation management, pay for performance, sales development and coaching, dashboarding, sales planning and analytics which help drive performance improvement. Customers have seen 14 percent increases in sales, 37 percent decreases in operating expenses and a 50 percent reduction in non-customer facing administrative work.
A few examples: At Sprint, customer satisfaction is soaring and the wireless provider has returned to a leadership position in service quality and customer experience delivery. Operating expenses are down and churn has declined.
Orange telecom has narrowed the gap between sales and customer service and raised the level of performance of entire teams (see Ventana Research for a recent report on Orange).
Carson Wagonlit Travel saw project payback in six months.
It’s successes like these that motivate us to help other customer-facing businesses to achieve the same type of results. We’re excited to talk to attendees about how we can make this a reality. We want to have fun, too. So at the beginning of December, we'll let you know how we plan to do that at the event, with your help of course. Look for us on Twitter, Facebook and on this blog for updates. We hope to see you there.
