To inspect whether salespeople are performing activities correctly, you either need to see them in action, or you need to conduct post-activity inspections. To see your salespeople in action, go on “buddy calls” with them. Listen in on the telephone when they are speaking with suspects, prospects and customers. Sit in the audience when they are delivering speeches or presentations. Go to networking events together.
Post-activity inspection consists of asking detailed questions about completed activities. For example, you can ask a salesperson to explain what they did during a sales call, how they did it, and how their suspect/prospect/customer responded. Another form of post-activity inspection is performing pipeline reviews. When you inspect each opportunity in a salesperson’s pipeline and ask them to justify the confidence percentages that they have assigned to opportunity line items, you will gain valuable perspective into how effectively they are performing key sales-related activities.