When you're taking a look at your business' profitability, one of the factors to consider is whether your Principals and/or your Customers are generating a good ROI (return on investment). Being able to track the ratio of earnings to time spent on these partners gives you a general idea of the success of your sales efforts and your profitability.
We all have our favorites - favorite manufacturers and favorite customers. These are the people who we feel most comfortable with, who appreciate us, and who we spend most of our time working for (manufacturer) or selling to (customer). What we don't often do is check to make sure that the time spent is worth it - i.e. a good ROI.
While in the field it's often hard to keep a record of time spent on your sales activities, especially when you're talking about multiple lines during a sales call. With MRSweb, you can track your time another way - by tracking your activities and viewing the results by:
Last Activity
Twelve Month Touches
Link appointments and journals to the companies and individuals you see during the day and you'll have a record of touch points. Any time someone in your agency "touches" a manufacturer, customer, prospect, end user, or other partner, you can record the interaction to capture the activity.
At the end of the week, month, quarter (whatever you determine is best) go to:
"Companies -> Manufacturers" to see the "Last Activity"
Are you mentioning each line on a regular basis?
"Customers" to see the "Last Activity" and "Twelve Month Touches"
Are you spending time that's commensurate with the amount earned with your customers?
While there are other factors in looking at profitability, sales activities is a reliable indicator for your business success.