Deliverables, Instructors, REALTOR Associations, Sales, Teams

Is Your Performance Measured on Activities vs Results

August 8, 2012
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Is your performance measured by the activities it performs or the measurable results it receives from the inputs/tasks aka. marketing activities?

Here’s how an activity-focused company measures its performance:

crazy busy

  • We created a letter that we sent out to the major publications in our industry that have the potential to view our offer or brand.
  • We have a committee that meets once a quarter that decides on which are the best channels to send our our value proposition found on our home page.
  • Here is our video that tells us all the benefits of our value proposition with a link to the home page (not the offer page).
  • We spent $4,000 in PPC advertising and were able to rank high in Google and other major search engines to link to our home page of our site (not the offer page).
  • Let’s have a meet up so we can talk more about the successes we are having so we can make each other feel better about all the hard work we are putting into the project.
  • Here is a sheet of all the benefits that our value offers and a link to learn more.
Sound familiar?
 
Honestly (in my humble opinion), people don’t want to meet more than they have to, no one wants to learn more, or watch another video that is more focused on the company rather than what’s in it for them.

Here is how a results-focused company/association measures its performance:

Sales = Results

  • The letter we sent out to 48 media partners directed 12,000 unique visitors to our offer page and converted 500 online inquiries as a result.  See attached list of media partners and Google Analytics report.
  • The video we created about our offer had 500 video views, on average watched 75% in its entirety and had 50 online registrations as a result.  See attached YouTube insight statistics.
  • Our committee of 10 had 8 in attendance who created accountabilities and deadlines for who was going to do what, when, and how often.  Each will report their own accountabilities at the next committee meeting in front of everyone and ask for suggestions on how to improve each’s objective.  See attached list of committee members along with their responsibilities and deadlines.
  • We sent an email blast out to 750 partnering groups/associations to include our call to action in their next communication using their media channels.  As a result we received 20,000 page views, 1,000 online inquiries, and 250 enrolled in our offer.  Please see list of partnering groups, job description on the various ways to share our offer using their channels, and analytics to shows the results of our efforts.  Please see analytic spreadsheet that shows our results.
  • We hosted a booth at a national tradeshow and received 475 inquires that were received during the event, and 200 more following the event.  As a result we had 50 registrations.  Please see analytic spreadsheet that tracks our results.

Are you in marketing or are you in sales? Because there is a difference.

Here are my definitions:
 
Marketing is a vast set of activities either traditional or online that may eventually lead to sales, brand awareness, and reputation.
 
Sales is a result of performance that is achieved by increasing conversion rates from the original inquiry to the confirmed acceptance and exchange of consideration (money).
 
The problem I see is that those that say they are in marketing are not measuring their performance on results, or their compensation/reward system isn’t based on sales.
 
The only one who makes these types of decisions are the CEO, VP of Marketing, VP of Project Development, or other person responsible for the budget for a specific program.

The results don’t lie.

What is deceiving is the excuses we make for what didn’t work and use that as the justification for bad planning, poor market conditions, or lack of resources.  The truth is covered up, budget is gone, and we move on to the next project to make the same fatal mistakes.  The condition is worsened when shareholders/members/owners ask where the money went and now our neck is on the line to show how the resources were used and there are no spreadsheets, joint accountabilities, job descriptions and end up with minimal results to prove it.
 
When you show meaningful results (like the ones listed above) then it becomes a true realization that the objectives behind the value proposition were not met, were a good choice from the beginning or that resources were not allocated properly.
 

Then you can blame the poor results on a lack of strategic planning and allocation of resources, not incompetent team members.

dougdevitre

Organizations bring in Doug Devitre from St. Louis, Missouri USA when they want to dramatically increase operational performance, create breakthrough value propositions, and serve customers beyond geographical constraints on a minimal budget. For more than a decade he has been setting trends with how organizations engage customers with social media, video marketing, and custom-built software applications. Doug’s book Screen to Screen Selling published by McGraw Hill pioneered the way sales professionals sold homes without being physically present before the COVID-19 pandemic. He is one of a select few who have earned the Certified Speaking Professional Designation from the National Speakers Association and has experience as a REALTOR.

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