September 29, 2009
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Fixed With 4 Questions
Matt Nettleton
As a Business Owner, President or CEO, you are asked to take on many responsibilities and to quickly make big decisions based on limited and unclear information. Typically when I talk to Business Owners, Presidents and CEOs, I discover that no piece of their business is more shrouded in mystery than their sales process. Even worse they often have one of two beliefs about sales and both beliefs are crippling. The first is that Salespeople are mysterious creatures that result from an impossible to measure and purely coincidental amalgamation of characteristics. The second belief is even worse. They develop a belief over time that sales processes are different for every salesperson and for each sales prospect. Both of these beliefs are damaging. In fact these two beliefs more than any others, hold small business owners hostage to unpredictable cash flow and unmanageable salespeople.
This is a story about the second belief.
Yesterday at lunch, I was having a conversation with a prospect, a highly commissioned salesperson. He was telling me how great he’s doing, making cash, he’s on FIRE. So I asked him 4 questions. First, what was the average value of a sale? Second, what percent of second appointments did he close? Third, how many second appointments per week did he have? Finally, what percent of his appointments were with new or existing clients?
He did not know, and the answers he gave me did not make sense. As we tried to line up his statements with the results, he made a discovery. He had landed a few big accounts and not done much new business activity. It sounded great, but in the back of his mind he knew better. By the time he was done buying me lunch, he was ready to fix his problem.
So he hired me. He was looking for help. A person to help him accomplish the goals he had set for himself and to help him take control of his business. Now just like a chef needs a recipe, salespeople need a cookbook. Just like a chef, a salesperson knows the ingredients of success but left to their own devices they prefer to simply use the ingredients they personally like. As a salesperson, you need to track two things -- how many dials are you making to get to talk to new prospects and how many second appointments are you setting. Those two ingredients can be combined to make any sales recipe work.
As a Business Owner, President or CEO, you are by default the highest level sales manager in your company and you need to be able to answer those 4 questions for each of your salespeople. First, what was the average value of a sale? Second, what percent of second appointments do they close? Third, how many second appointments per week do they have? Finally, what percent of their appointments were with new or existing clients? Then you need to adjust their sales recipe to get the result your business needs and to help your salespeople accomplish their goals and in turn help you take control of your business.
Click Here to Sign-Up for our FREE Newsletter.
Trustpointe, Inc.
6666 East 75th Street, Suite 150
Indianapolis, IN 46250
Copyright ©2009 Trustpointe, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
