All of us get into our own seemingly minor routines that often become massive ruts. When a salesperson gets in a rut their sales don’t meet quotas, they go from sales superstars to middle of the pack, and the newer salespeople pass them by. Getting out of a rut seems like it would take a massive change in the way we run our business, but it doesn’t.
Certain activities form the foundation of sales success. These activities must be completed reasonably well on a consistent basis in order for us to maximize our sales potential. Sales organizations define these activities in a variety of ways, but on the most primordial sales level these critical sales factors are as follows:
- Prospecting
- Presenting
- Objections
- Closing
Salespeople have a tendency to look for the “next big thing”, when what is really needed is incremental improvement in these basic sales activities. It doesn’t take a massive change in activity to produce big results. The reason is that sales success is a PRODUCT of these four critical factors, and quality AND quantity BOTH COUNT! For example, if you graded yourself on each of these factors with one (1) being the worst, and five (5) being the best, and you were “perfect” in each area, the product / score would be 625. Let’s take a look at two typical examples:
Score
Prospecting 3
Presenting x 3
Objections x 3
Closing x 3
Your Score 81
By improving your score in one are by a factor of one, (in this case, by doing a better job of prospecting,) your score would change as follows:
Score
Prospecting 4
Presenting x 3
Objections x 3
Closing x 3
Your Score 108 … 33% better!
One more example:
Score
Prospecting 4
Presenting x 4
Objections x 4
Closing x 4
Your Score 256 … a 300%-plus improvement over our first example!
In other words, incremental improvement in a couple of these critical sales factors makes a HUGE change in your sales results. You don’t have to be twice as good or work twice as hard to double your sales! Take a look at each of these factors, and ask yourself these questions?
- In what areas can I improve the quickest?
- What resources do I have available to help me improve?
- WHO can help me get better?
- Would sales coaching make a difference?
Self-examination is seldom easy, but it pays off in a big way. Examine your sales techniques and activities, make small changes, and I promise you that big increases in sales will appear… it is inevitable!
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