Sales people come in all shapes, sizes, and skill level. The very best fire up every day and go. The others not so much. The best ones improve skills, product knowledge and industry knowledge. The not so good, work hard to appear busy. How can sales management know, with certainty, what sales guys are doing?

One way, is to track the conversations sellers have with buyers. With modern sales tools, activity is recorded. But using a full blown CRM may be over kill for a fast moving prospects and salespeople. A simple method is to use Sales Messaging, and here is an example of a note or email sent to a prospect after a qualification session: 

Dear Bill, 

Thanks for your time. I have learned that Acme seeks a new widget supplier due to the changes in your procurement strategy. Your requirement is for the new vendor, to be selected by March 1st, by you, to provide Vendor Managed Inventory. You know that out sourcing inventory replenishment to a vendor like us, will save time, cut line stoppages, speed your production process and cut administrative costs. 

We decided that a demonstration of our service is next and we scheduled this for February 23rd, to be conducted in your conference room. At this meeting we will decide if a next step is needed. The next step is crafting a quotation together for Acme, followed by the set up of references for you to talk to.

I am confident we are the right vendor for Acme. And please note the steps, decided together, to take which will prove the solution. 

I will call tomorrow at 10AM, the time we set during our meeting, to go over this note. 

Best to you, 

Joe Pro
Sales Guy

This note, emailed or mailed, becomes part of  the sales process. This letter, templated, is used by all sales. Now all the sales manager does is verify it's existence to know what the sales guy is doing.