What is a sales audit and how to do one in 5 steps?
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 12:08 pm
The world of sales is ever-changing, every day there is a new and different opportunity to attract potential clients and seek to close deals . However, sometimes looking back regularly and implementing performance evaluation processes - such as sales audits - is essential to maintaining high team performance.
This is why forecasting and business planning go hand in hand. Without a year-end revenue target, it’s difficult for teams to create sales plans that meet their growth goals.
Furthermore, if we dig a little deeper, we see that without solid ios database forecasting techniques it is difficult to make a business case for marketing expenditures and activities.
Like anything with “audit” in its name, it sounds intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.
In fact, a sales audit is essential to align your sales team with business objectives and thus, succeed in what you set out to do.
There are many ways to do this process, the best known is an assessment done by internal or external auditors, as preferred by the organization.
On the other hand, representatives of the marketing team are also usually included in the audit, since both departments tend to align their goals and collaborate on initiatives or projects.
Keep reading, in this content you will find everything you need to know about sales auditing , what it is, how to do it effectively, and more!
Sales Audit: What is it?
What are the most common questions in the sales audit process?
5 steps to a successful sales audit
Don't forget about customer service!
Sales Audit: What is it?
A sales audit is a review of a company's entire sales process, from the use of certain types of software to personnel and management strategies.
This type of audit is different from a financial audit in which a company evaluates its operating costs against its transaction revenues.
It evaluates the effectiveness of each aspect of the sales process and helps organizations determine whether or not their methods are cost-effective and beneficial in generating the necessary profits.
Specifically, it is a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of historical sales and marketing data to gain a complete view of the sales funnel from prospects to current customers.
Many organizations combine this quantitative audit work with qualitative audit work in the form of win/loss metrics.
What are the most common questions in the sales audit process?
During the sales audit process , the goal is to answer the following questions:
What is the average number of leads we generate in a given period of time?
How many of those leads can be qualified through marketing activities?
Of the leads we can launch, how many become sales qualified leads?
Of the qualified sales leads, how many do we close?
On average, how long does it take for a prospect to become a customer? Does this vary by acquisition channel?
For marketing teams: Which nurturing flows are most effective at attracting qualified leads, and which have low-performing open and click rates? The goal here is to increase the number of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQS).
For sales teams: What content tends to be successful in increasing the number of marketing qualified leads we can convert? The goal here is to increase the number of Sales Qualified Leads (SQL).
What are the most effective types of content to optimize the average closing rate of leads?
Do we have enough leads for our sales team to work with?
Do we need additional sales team members?
About team members: What are the statistics per person? How can this data contribute to their work and improve or train them?
Wait a minute! I'm going to suggest 3 valuable contents to complete your reading:
Don't know which sales tools to use? Here are 31 for you to take a look at!
Closing sales is essential to improve results: Discover 7 impeccable strategies!
Do you know how to get more leads? Read our complete guide on the topic!
5 steps to a successful sales audit
There are several sales audit methods and techniques based on the CRM software we use, the business model, and more.
In general, there are 5 components that every company needs to evaluate, including:
1. The sales process and roadmap must be analyzed
This is an analysis of the process, customer journey or funnel you have created for potential customers on their way to becoming customers.
In this case, you will have to rethink 2 impeccable questions:
Is this current process helping the team achieve its goal?
Where are the cracks that customers are falling through?
This is where percentages of visitors who are potential customers can help us detect gaps.
2. Sales tools and content assets
Are there manual tasks your sales team is doing that are disrupting the flow or distracting them? You may need a new tool, or to streamline and better organize the ones you currently have.
The same goes for content created for the marketing team:
Is it still relevant?
Does it need to be updated?
And is it easy to find and share with potential customers when needed?
Finally:
Are there additional assets the sales team has for the year to fill the gaps, perhaps a webinar?
3. Quality of leads:
Be sure to account for potentially low lead quality when looking at sales percentages and gaps.
Perhaps prospects are being handed off from marketing to the sales team too early and the marketing funnel lifecycle needs to be adjusted.
Or, maybe the team invested heavily in PR the previous year, which drove a ton of visibility, but they were more at the top of the funnel and leads need to be better nurtured and their trust in the company built.
Whatever it is, both sales and marketing are responsible here and have a role to play in improving the quality of leads.
4. Continuous reporting
At the end of a sales audit , a company typically receives a report that outlines its strengths and weaknesses and suggests ways in which they could improve their overall sales tactics.
The overall objective of this strategy is to improve overall performance relative to management expectations and increase the predictability of results.
Repeatable and predictable results regarding sales productivity generally ensure that this process operates with a high degree of reliability and efficiency.
To improve reporting management, reports must respond positively to:
Are they serving the team well?
Are they accurate?
Do you need to do some data cleansing to get a better picture and help keep your team on track?
Do you have the tools you need to provide sales (and marketing) with robust reporting and analytics that help them understand MQLs and SQLs inside and out?
Does your sales team need training on how to best leverage CRM features and prospecting information collected at the contact level?
5. Sales effectiveness
Some people call this “sales synergy,” but we’re not going to use that word.
What this means is how sales reps work with leads, each other, and the company as a whole.
Your sales team is not on an island totally isolated from the business world, neither is your marketing team, therefore:
How are individuals performing?
What is that acting archetype?
How can they be better motivated?
The people side of sales starts with an internal perspective on who and what talents we have on our team , whether people are in the right roles, and how to enable people to succeed.
Don't forget about customer service!
The final step to a successful sales audit is to look at customer service; we cannot forget that the integrity of our business rests on their shoulders.
We have created a lead nurturing and conversion machine within the sales and marketing departments and the alignment of both teams, and we are investing time to conduct an effective audit to update tools, create more content and evaluate the effectiveness of the team.
All this work is not only to get more leads, but also to encourage repeat purchases from existing customers.
The best way to boost and increase qualified leads at the marketing level is word of mouth, which is known as a strategy to promote brand ambassadors.
This is why forecasting and business planning go hand in hand. Without a year-end revenue target, it’s difficult for teams to create sales plans that meet their growth goals.
Furthermore, if we dig a little deeper, we see that without solid ios database forecasting techniques it is difficult to make a business case for marketing expenditures and activities.
Like anything with “audit” in its name, it sounds intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.
In fact, a sales audit is essential to align your sales team with business objectives and thus, succeed in what you set out to do.
There are many ways to do this process, the best known is an assessment done by internal or external auditors, as preferred by the organization.
On the other hand, representatives of the marketing team are also usually included in the audit, since both departments tend to align their goals and collaborate on initiatives or projects.
Keep reading, in this content you will find everything you need to know about sales auditing , what it is, how to do it effectively, and more!
Sales Audit: What is it?
What are the most common questions in the sales audit process?
5 steps to a successful sales audit
Don't forget about customer service!
Sales Audit: What is it?
A sales audit is a review of a company's entire sales process, from the use of certain types of software to personnel and management strategies.
This type of audit is different from a financial audit in which a company evaluates its operating costs against its transaction revenues.
It evaluates the effectiveness of each aspect of the sales process and helps organizations determine whether or not their methods are cost-effective and beneficial in generating the necessary profits.
Specifically, it is a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of historical sales and marketing data to gain a complete view of the sales funnel from prospects to current customers.
Many organizations combine this quantitative audit work with qualitative audit work in the form of win/loss metrics.
What are the most common questions in the sales audit process?
During the sales audit process , the goal is to answer the following questions:
What is the average number of leads we generate in a given period of time?
How many of those leads can be qualified through marketing activities?
Of the leads we can launch, how many become sales qualified leads?
Of the qualified sales leads, how many do we close?
On average, how long does it take for a prospect to become a customer? Does this vary by acquisition channel?
For marketing teams: Which nurturing flows are most effective at attracting qualified leads, and which have low-performing open and click rates? The goal here is to increase the number of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQS).
For sales teams: What content tends to be successful in increasing the number of marketing qualified leads we can convert? The goal here is to increase the number of Sales Qualified Leads (SQL).
What are the most effective types of content to optimize the average closing rate of leads?
Do we have enough leads for our sales team to work with?
Do we need additional sales team members?
About team members: What are the statistics per person? How can this data contribute to their work and improve or train them?
Wait a minute! I'm going to suggest 3 valuable contents to complete your reading:
Don't know which sales tools to use? Here are 31 for you to take a look at!
Closing sales is essential to improve results: Discover 7 impeccable strategies!
Do you know how to get more leads? Read our complete guide on the topic!
5 steps to a successful sales audit
There are several sales audit methods and techniques based on the CRM software we use, the business model, and more.
In general, there are 5 components that every company needs to evaluate, including:
1. The sales process and roadmap must be analyzed
This is an analysis of the process, customer journey or funnel you have created for potential customers on their way to becoming customers.
In this case, you will have to rethink 2 impeccable questions:
Is this current process helping the team achieve its goal?
Where are the cracks that customers are falling through?
This is where percentages of visitors who are potential customers can help us detect gaps.
2. Sales tools and content assets
Are there manual tasks your sales team is doing that are disrupting the flow or distracting them? You may need a new tool, or to streamline and better organize the ones you currently have.
The same goes for content created for the marketing team:
Is it still relevant?
Does it need to be updated?
And is it easy to find and share with potential customers when needed?
Finally:
Are there additional assets the sales team has for the year to fill the gaps, perhaps a webinar?
3. Quality of leads:
Be sure to account for potentially low lead quality when looking at sales percentages and gaps.
Perhaps prospects are being handed off from marketing to the sales team too early and the marketing funnel lifecycle needs to be adjusted.
Or, maybe the team invested heavily in PR the previous year, which drove a ton of visibility, but they were more at the top of the funnel and leads need to be better nurtured and their trust in the company built.
Whatever it is, both sales and marketing are responsible here and have a role to play in improving the quality of leads.
4. Continuous reporting
At the end of a sales audit , a company typically receives a report that outlines its strengths and weaknesses and suggests ways in which they could improve their overall sales tactics.
The overall objective of this strategy is to improve overall performance relative to management expectations and increase the predictability of results.
Repeatable and predictable results regarding sales productivity generally ensure that this process operates with a high degree of reliability and efficiency.
To improve reporting management, reports must respond positively to:
Are they serving the team well?
Are they accurate?
Do you need to do some data cleansing to get a better picture and help keep your team on track?
Do you have the tools you need to provide sales (and marketing) with robust reporting and analytics that help them understand MQLs and SQLs inside and out?
Does your sales team need training on how to best leverage CRM features and prospecting information collected at the contact level?
5. Sales effectiveness
Some people call this “sales synergy,” but we’re not going to use that word.
What this means is how sales reps work with leads, each other, and the company as a whole.
Your sales team is not on an island totally isolated from the business world, neither is your marketing team, therefore:
How are individuals performing?
What is that acting archetype?
How can they be better motivated?
The people side of sales starts with an internal perspective on who and what talents we have on our team , whether people are in the right roles, and how to enable people to succeed.
Don't forget about customer service!
The final step to a successful sales audit is to look at customer service; we cannot forget that the integrity of our business rests on their shoulders.
We have created a lead nurturing and conversion machine within the sales and marketing departments and the alignment of both teams, and we are investing time to conduct an effective audit to update tools, create more content and evaluate the effectiveness of the team.
All this work is not only to get more leads, but also to encourage repeat purchases from existing customers.
The best way to boost and increase qualified leads at the marketing level is word of mouth, which is known as a strategy to promote brand ambassadors.