Foreword
How do you keep track of sales in small business? How small business is different from big players? Why you should have different approach when you are in mid market?
I’ve been in sales since the beginning of my career, and I’ve worked for big and in small companies. What I’ve learned over that time is that what big companies do has very little in common with what small companies do.
Smaller companies have the privilege of using more advanced tech. Yes, you read that right—more advanced tech. I’ll dive into the reasons and provide exact examples.
In this guide, I’ll explore how small businesses can keep track of their sales. It’s simple, no rocket science. You can start using these methods today, and you don’t need expensive technology or an army of consultants.
Disclaimer
Before we jump in, note that this guide is not for everyone. If you’re in retail or e-commerce, this guide might not be the best fit for you.
When I was writing it, I was thinking about companies with longer sales cycles—like B2B companies or B2C businesses that sell more complex products, such as kitchen manufacturers, blind producers, or lawyers. Anyone whose transactions take time and involve follow-ups will benefit from this guide.
If you’re selling in an offline shop where the decision is made on the day of purchase, you can still find useful information here, but that’s not the type of business I had in mind while writing this.
Start with a Simple Sales Process
To start tracking your sales, you’ll need to do a bit of homework. At first glance, it looks easy—and it is—but it also requires some creative thinking and abstract imagination.
Establish Universal Sales Stages
The first thing you’ll need to do is establish universal sales stages. It sounds simple, right?
However, I’ve rarely seen this done correctly in a company. The issue is that many businesses disconnect their sales process from the customer experience.
For example, companies often use internal statuses as their sales stages, but this is incorrect. To give you an idea: “Quote in progress” or “Quote approval” are not customer-related stages and should not be used in the sales cycle.
A correct sales stage should increase the probability of closing a deal with each subsequent step.
Take a look at the comparison below.
In the wrong scenario, you see internal stages included in the process. But if you look at the probability numbers, you’ll see they aren’t increasing with each stage.
I won’t dive deep into the theory of how this should be done, but here’s a hint to simplify the process.
When designing sales stages, define ultra-specific criteria for when a stage should move to the next one. Always include one key criterion: the probability of a customer making a positive decision about your product should increase with each stage.
This is a crucial step that will allow you to track sales effectively. If this is done incorrectly, you won’t be able to track and predict sales reliably.
Lead vs. Opportunity
Before diving into more specifics on tracking sales, I need to cover the difference between Leads and Opportunities.
Maximizing sales productivity is crucial for small businesses looking to grow efficiently. To effectively track sales, you’ll need to establish multiple sales processes. The principle should remain the same as I’ve mentioned above, but you must distinguish between two types of sales processes:
- Selling to your existing clients
- Selling to your prospective clients
Normally, when selling to prospective clients, you will have a Lead management process involved. This means you will need to “qualify” your potential customers before creating a so-called Opportunity with them.
Leads are contacts of clients who have not yet “converted” into Opportunities. Essentially, these are your prospective clients.
Opportunities are your prospective deals—potential business you may close, where you already know quite a lot about the deal.
What I’m discussing next pertains to Opportunities, not Leads. Lead management is a relatively simple topic and deserves a separate discussion, but it won’t be covered within this article. Let’s keep going.
Key Elements to Track
Once you’ve established your sales process, you’ll need to track these simple metrics.
I’ll dive into how you can track them and what tools you could use, but honestly, the tools don’t matter. Once you know what you want to track and why, choosing the right tool becomes easy. Most tools today offer similar features (though I do have a personal favorite).
Amount
The first thing to track is the prospective amount of the Opportunity. As simple as it sounds, it’s often unclear what the prospective amount will be.
I always advise my clients to implement some mechanism for “guestimating” (guess + estimate) that amount. An experienced sales rep can usually do this quite precisely.
Once you’ve created a quote or learned more about the customer’s needs, you can always update the amount in the Opportunity with fresh customer data. Some customer relationship management software even allow you to track those changes and see how accurate your estimates are over time.
But in any case, you must start with an amount. Think about how you could estimate the Opportunity’s value from stage one or two—you’ll need it later.
Close Date
Next, you need the closing date of your Opportunity. This is another controversial and often disputed piece of information I ask clients to provide.
You might ask, “How on earth do we know when the client will make up their mind?” My answer: ask them.
Introduce a new step in your sales process by asking the customer a simple question: When do you plan to make a decision?
The close date has far more implications for sales than you might think. You can tie your offers to the customer’s deadlines, stay on top of more deals (I’ll explain how in a moment), and improve your forecasting.
A closing date also helps you manage your time more effectively. It enables you to prioritize opportunities that need immediate attention and set aside those that don’t require your focus for the next few weeks or months.
This is a tool for prioritizing your work and can allow you to handle far more deals. You’ll focus on the most critical opportunities and put less emphasis on those that aren’t as urgent.
Probability
Next, you need to establish a probability estimate. This is the hardest part, and I usually suggest starting with arbitrary, incrementally increasing numbers. Let me explain.
In theory, probability is your estimate of how likely a deal is to close as “won.”
It’s used in forecasting by multiplying the Opportunity amount by the probability. While you can’t rely on a single prediction, you can pool your deals and compare their total amounts, each multiplied by its probability. This will give you a better sense of where your sales are trending.
Salesforce claims sales forecasts are within a 10% accuracy range 50% of the time—essentially, they’re accurate half the time. I’ve seen much higher accuracy with clients who are disciplined and follow certain guidelines.
Next Step
Finally, you need a field to track the next step with the client. This should be a one-sentence, clear instruction on what to do next.
This is likely the single action that could multiply your sales. You’d be surprised how a well-structured, thought-out next step can improve both the speed and quality of your sales process.
Create Opportunity Reports
Now that you’re tracking Amount, Close Date, Probability, and Next Step, it’s time for the final step: creating an Opportunity report.
This report should be organized by Sales Rep.
I’ve created a sample Opportunity Report in Google Sheets—feel free to use it. I’ve generated random sales data using ChatGPT to help with examples, but this is essentially how your basic sales report should look:
Excel: Sample Opportunity Report
Once you’ve created a report like this, you’ll immediately gain visibility into your pipeline. Even more importantly, you’ll be able to act on that information.
Use probability to adjust Opportunity amounts and check if your sales plans are being met. Be pragmatic and realistic.
Tools for Tracking Sales Performance
Now, let’s talk about tools. While I always emphasize focusing on outcomes rather than tools, it’s worth noting that many successful sales teams track and report their sales with nothing more than advanced Excel sheets. And it works.
On the other hand, I’ve seen sophisticated CRM systems with millions of dollars invested that offer zero visibility into sales. It all comes down to how you implement the system.
Customer Relationship Management Systems
Let’s dive a little deeper into CRMs. A CRM system, or Customer Relationship Management system, is a customer relationships tool that enables you to track and manage all your Opportunities.
Today, CRMs have evolved into much more—they’ve become the operating system for entire businesses. But that’s a topic for another day.
The sample report I showed you, if created in a CRM, could contain even more useful information and be far more practical.
For example, in a CRM software, you can click on an Account, open it, and see all related Opportunities—whether they were lost, won, or still in progress.
As for specific CRM recommendations, I am a Salesforce consultant, so guess what I’m going to recommend? That’s right—Salesforce.
But honestly, I’ve tried all the popular CRMs, and they can all get the job done. The reason I lean toward Salesforce is that it has a vast ecosystem and, as a result, higher competition among consultants. And what does competition do to the quality of service? Correct! It improves it. That’s essentially the main reason I advocate for Salesforce.
Excel Spreadsheets
As I mentioned earlier, you don’t necessarily need a CRM software to track your sales.
One of the beauties of small businesses is their agility. You can try new approaches, discard what doesn’t work, and experiment with other methods without the risk of losing “political points” in a large organization.
You can start with Excel, analyze what works and what doesn’t, and then iterate. This flexibility is one of the key strengths that make small companies such beloved suppliers.
So, use the sample report I’ve provided as your starting point.
But remember—before implementing complex solutions, start small. Begin with the report I’ve shared, and once you can reliably use it, only then should you move on, gradually, to the next steps.
Advanced Features to Consider
The thing with big players is that they have… policies. How this works is someone with very little tech knowledge, sitting in the legal department, thinks, “How do I protect our company (and myself) from a lawsuit?” That person then looks for all sorts of risks.
When you read the agreements from most software solutions, you’ll quickly notice some areas that are at least questionable. Smaller companies tend to overlook these risks since the danger of losing a client or providing poor service is often seen as greater than the legal risks of using certain tech.
In big corporations, priorities are different. This is one reason I believe small businesses are far superior to large businesses, and why I prioritize small companies in my work (though I’m not saying big companies are pure evil—they have their own benefits).
AI Tools
Recently, while working with a larger client, I discovered an interesting policy that no one was aware of.
Apparently, the company forbids using ChatGPT at work. Even after speaking with IT staff, it became clear that no one actually knew this policy existed. Yet it does—though it’s not enforced. At least, not yet.
Smaller businesses, however, are more agile and can start using AI tools right away.
For example, Salesforce recently announced a tool called Agentforce. This tool could potentially replace your service and sales reps.
And no, it doesn’t seem to be a gimmick like similar tools in the past. Based on what I’ve seen in demos and live presentations, this looks like a real solution that could transform your customer service from 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, to 24/7/365. It may also help your business achieve high levels of customer satisfaction and turn one-time buyers into loyal advocates for your brand.
That said, I won’t fully stand behind this claim until the tool is released (this article is being written just before the launch, so I may update it afterward. If it’s not updated, feel free to drop me a line and I’ll provide my latest insights).
Now, guess how many big corporations will implement the solution on day one? I can tell you—if it weren’t affiliated with Salesforce, the answer would be zero. They’ll adopt it eventually, but it’ll take forever.
As a small business, you can start using these tools right now.
Telephony Integration
Another interesting feature that smaller businesses are adopting more frequently is telephony integration. Big players often have to go through layers of approvals to get this done, while small companies have the flexibility to implement it quickly and start benefiting right away.
You can set up a phone system where all your calls are automatically logged in your CRM system. You can even create scenarios where, if an incoming call arrives, the caller’s details are immediately available to your team.
Pricebooks and Quotes
Lastly, you can enhance your quoting process. By automating quotes and including your products in the system, you can track product sales and use that data for your sales team to make informed business decisions.
Final Word
Sales tracking in a small business is not only effective but also fun. I love implementing these kinds of solutions because they can lead to impressive results in a relatively short period.
You can check out our case studies for examples of such successful business achievements, but I’d recommend talking to me directly. Leave your contact details on the “Contact Us” page, and I’ll get back to you shortly.
Oh, and don’t forget to follow me on LinkedIn!
Cheers,
J.