Sales performance is one of the toughest things for most small business owners to measure. Yet it is vital to have a system in place to evaluate yourself after any presentation. This will help you uncover areas that need improvement and coaching. Here is a system that has been helpful to many people.

Rate your sales performance on each of the following items, using a scale of 1-5 as follows:

__ How effectively did you plan the opening sales interview? To what extent did you review available information about the prospect and devise a strategy for conducting the sales interview?

__ How well did you prepare the prospect for the sales interview? To what extent did you explain the benefit of thinking about a topic or gathering documents and asking the prospect to prepare?

__ How well did you open the interview? Did you break the ice and explain the purpose of the call? Did you establish the credibility of your company and yourself? Did you put the prospect at ease with your ability to solve his or her problems?

__ To what extent did you lead with questions, rather than state-ments? The one who has the power is the one who asks the questions. Were your questions prepared and rehearsed or did you "wing it?"

__ How well did you demonstrate that you were really listening to your prospect? Did you show understanding, take notes and restate important points made by your prospect? Did you respond to their comments and questions?

__ To what degree did you prepare your presentation? Did you rehearse or role-play? Did you create a strategy for leading your prospect to a logical, beneficial conclusion to buy, applying your knowledge of the steps in the buying cycle? Or did you simply rely on your wits?

__ How effectively did you use visuals in your presentation? Did you "show" your prospect your proposal or did you merely "tell" your prospect what you wanted to convey? A picture is still worth a thousand words.

__ How well did you "think through" your prospect's questions before answering? Did you ask clarifying questions to isolate real issues and objections from stalls, alibis, lies and excuses? Or did you respond to every question as though it were an objection?

__ How persistent were you in trying to close the sale? Did you keep asking closing questions, or did you back off too easily, failing to give your prospect the chance to buy the solution to his or her problems?

__ To what extent did you follow up on your sales call? Did you call or write to thank the prospect and agree on the next step, or did you leave that to your prospect's own recollection? Leave a good image in your prospect's mind if you can.

Total your score for these ten questions. Review each sales call, looking for both improvement in your overall score and a good blend of skills in each critical area of the sales path. Build on your best skills and strengthen those that need improvement.

Work to increase your score as well as each part of the selling process. If you work jointly with another person, ask for input and listen to how you are rated in each category. Be careful not to overreact by becoming offended by the other person's observations, or by believing everything and trying to make too many adjustments.

To help you further improve your effectiveness, here's a simple tracking form that will help you check your sales results for each sales period.

A. New bids presented and lost Number: _____ Volume: ___________

B. New bids presented and pending Number: _____ Volume: ___________

C. Prior period bids still pending Number: _____ Volume: ___________

D. Total bids pending (B + C) Number: _____ Volume: ___________

E. Number of prior sales ____ divided by prior bids ____ = Closing Ratio: _____

F. Volume of prior sales ____ divided by prior bids ____ = Avg. Volume: ______

G. Forecast for pending bids (D x E)(D x F) Number: _____ Volume: ___________

H. Total sales this period Number: _____ Volume: ___________

I. Average size sale this period $____________

J. Average size sale past _____ periods $____________