What Are Your Sales Numbers

 

No More Sales Slumps But You Need To Know Your Numbers! If you read though that last email I sent, No More Sales Slumps, you might have noticed the key was knowing your sales and marketing numbers. So what are your numbers.  Don't know? If you don’t know your numbers you will need a month to track them out, or at least week if you are in a rush to get started.   You need ___ Suspects (anyone in your lists that can or might buy from you) To get ___ Prospects  (anyone you have made some kind of contact with) To get ___ Leads (having direct interaction with) To get ___ Proposals (written proposal or estimate) To get ___ Sales (closed and paid for project) If this was me  I need 9501 to get 784 prospects Wit 784 prospects I get 42 leads With 42 leads I get 3 proposals With 3 proposals I get 1 sale Now I track everything from networking meetings to trade show walk-bys to social media views to phone calls and everything in between. If I can find a way to track it I do. I know I might have a lot of junk in my numbers but if they can fog a mirror they count. I learned a long time ago not to write anyone off. The key is to start tracking. If you reading this thank-you because you are 1 suspect or prospect or something to add to my numbers. I want you to advance to a proposal and a sale but win, loose or draw the numbers never lie. Now that you have YOUR numbers you can work the rest of this cost of sales analyst sheet.   The Sales Slump Planning Sheet will enable you to determine the average number of contacts per day you MUST make (or average) to achieve your goal for the next 12 months. Your name: _____________________________________________   Your average earnings per sale are? . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .             __________ How much money do you want to earn in the next 12 months?  __________ How many presentations do you make to gain a sale? . . . . .    __________ Divide your earnings per sale (1) by presentations per sale (3). This is your earnings per presentations . . . . . . . . . . . .             ___________ A) How many contacts do you make to gain a presentation?   ___________ B) Divide your earnings per presentation (4) by contacts per presentation (5A) This is your earnings per contact ___________   A) Divide your earnings goal for the next 12 months (2) by the number of      weeks you will work. This will give you your weekly earnings amount . ___________ B) Divide the result by 5 or 6 depending on te number of days you work.      This is your earnings goal per day.   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .     ___________ Divide earnings per day (6B) by earnings per contact (5B). This is your required contacts per day you need to achieve your earnings goal.   ____________ Now you have a good idea what you need to do to hit your goals, you know what a sale or lead costs you. Now maybe you can actually justify a service like mine. That is unless you like lead generation and cold calling, but what ever you do: Take Action Time is waiting so sit down and start tracking. One by one. If you have nothing to track get cooking. Go knock on some doors. Send out some e-mails. Work your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook social network and groups. Go to a trade show. Ask customers for referrals. Talk to any and everyone about what you do.   At Larson & Associates we are always ready to put forth that extra effort, to work hard and persevere in everything that we do for you. We can help you avoid the dreaded sales slumps, overcome marketing anxiety and map out new places to ‘dig’. When prospecting for gold or for sales, remember that your success is directly proportionate to your effort. If you do only the minimum, your payback will be minimal. The more you do, the more you get. It really is that simple.   And when you need help reaching out for sales, proposals, leads, prospects or suspects we will be here waiting for your call at 847-991-1294. Larson & Associates Making Good Business Great and Great Businesses Even Better

End Sales Slumps

 

End Sales Slumps Starting Now! We all have slumps: Those times when you just can’t quite find or maintain your rhythm.  No matter how good you are or how long you have been in sales, sooner or later you're going to hit a sales slump.     That time when you can’t seem to close the sale despite your best effort.  When each call or conversation that you do get seems that much harder than it ever was before.  The pressure is on, the volume is down and you just can’t get that deal to click. Understanding that we can influence this cycle, spot problems, change behaviors and avoid repeating mistakes that lead to slumps in sales is key. Wouldn’t it be nice to know when a slump was about to happen?  Larson & Associates we usually don’t like to brag, but we have a secret where we can successfully predict when a sales slump is going to happen, well, nearly 95% of the time that is. After all, no one is perfect, right? So do you want to know our secret to avoiding sales slumps? It really is quite simple, it all comes down to: Prospecting. Yes prospecting. Sales prospecting is one of the most important aspects of an organization, let alone a sales process. All companies (startups especially) have to fill their pipeline with good leads in order to acquire customers. Helping you understand prospecting and what it means for your sales is a big part of how our secret can work for you, the other thing you need to know is predicting when the slump will happen. The crystal ball to that answer is identifying the length of your sales cycle, is it 1 day, 1 week, 1 month 1 year?    Once you pinpoint that then you are in the driver’s seat. Knowing this will not only help you predict when you are heading for a slump but also how long you can expect it will take to get out of it. Sales slumps have a way of self-perpetuating, with the lack of sales eroding our confidence and expectations of positive results, which in turn makes it even more difficult to return to the good form we have lost along the way.  In sales the natural reaction is to fight off the pressure and panic with a quick fix, by ‘digging’ for more sales. Digging in places where you know the sales were, looking for that next pot of gold. This is what went wrong in the first place, stop ‘digging’ where the sales were, trying to work that same ‘claim’ endlessly and move on to new ground.  If there is a trick to prospecting it’s doing the work to make it ‘work’. The only real way is to get back out there and start making the calls,   working the leads. Initiating conversations with cold f2f sales calls and going to the events where your prospects will be, these are still the ‘nuts and bolts’ that hold the process together. Opportunity is out there, your job is to find it, through prospecting. At Larson & Associates we can fill in the potholes and help you be where you need to be, as your guide and as your partner in success. We can work with you to avoid mistakes and plan for the future.  So when you find yourself in a slump take a deep breath, a real, fill your lungs and hold it for a second, deep breath, acknowledge that you are in one and get rid of all that emotional baggage. Make the commitment and set aside a daily time for prospecting. Invest your time, energy and emotion into actions that you can control. Sales success is a process, do the basics and the rest will follow. Prospecting is less about luck and more about effort, hard work and perseverance, searching for that new ‘strike’ and being ready to move onto the next. So go on now. Sit down and pick up the phone. Go knock on some doors. Send out some e-mails. Work your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook social network and groups. Start asking for referrals. Talk to any and everyone about what you do.  At Larson & Associates we are always ready to put forth that extra effort, to work hard and persevere in everything that we do for you. We can help you avoid the dreaded sales slumps, overcome marketing anxiety and map out new places to ‘dig’. When prospecting for gold or for sales, remember that your success is directly proportionate to your effort. If you do only the minimum, your payback will be minimal. The more you do, the more you get. It really is that simple. Larson & Associates Making Good Business Great and Great Businesses Even Better

 

Secret To Avoid Sales Slump

We all have slumps: Those times when you just can’t quite find or maintain your rhythm.  No matter how good you are or how long you have been in sales, sooner or later you're going to hit a sales slump. That time when you can’t seem to close the sale despite your best effort.  When each call or conversation that you do get seems that much harder than it ever was before.  The pressure is on, the volume is down and you just can’t get that deal to click. Understanding that we can influence this cycle, spot problems, change behaviors and avoid repeating mistakes that lead to slumps in sales is key. Wouldn’t it be nice to know when a slump was about to happen? . Larson & Associates we usually don’t like to brag, but we have a secret where we can successfully predict when a sales slump is going to happen, well, nearly 95% of the time that is. After all, no one is perfect, right?   So do you want to know our secret to avoiding sales slumps? It really is quite simple, it all comes down to: Prospecting. Yes prospecting. Sales prospecting is one of the most important aspects of an organization, let alone a sales process. All companies (startups especially) have to fill their pipeline with good leads in order to acquire customers. Helping you understand prospecting and what it means for your sales is a big part of how our secret can work for you, the other thing you need to know is predicting when the slump will happen.      The crystal ball to that answer is identifying the length of your sales cycle, is it 1 day, 1 week, 1 month 1 year?  Once you pinpoint that then you are in the driver’s seat. Knowing this will not only help you predict when you are heading for a slump but also how long you can expect it will take to get out of it. Sales slumps have a way of self-perpetuating, with the lack of sales eroding our confidence and expectations of positive results, which in turn makes it even more difficult to return to the good form we have lost along the way.  In sales the natural reaction is to fight off the pressure and panic with a quick fix, by ‘digging’ for more sales. Digging in places where you know the sales were, looking for that next pot of gold. This is what went wrong in the first place, stop ‘digging’ where the sales were, trying to work that same ‘claim’ endlessly and move on to new ground.  If there is a trick to prospecting it’s doing the work to make it ‘work’. The only real way is to get back out there and start making the calls, working the leads. Initiating conversations with cold f2f sales calls and going to the events where your prospects will be, these are still the ‘nuts and bolts’ that hold the process together. Opportunity is out there, your job is to find it, through prospecting. At Larson & Associates we can fill in the potholes and help you be where you need to be, as your guide and as your partner in success. We can work with you to avoid mistakes and plan for the future. So when you find yourself in a slump take a deep breath, a real, fill your lungs and hold it for a second, deep breath, acknowledge that you are in one and get rid of all that emotional baggage. Make the commitment and set aside a daily time for prospecting. Invest your time, energy and emotion into actions that you can control. Sales success is a process, do the basics and the rest will follow. Prospecting is less about luck and more about effort, hard work and perseverance, searching for that new ‘strike’ and being ready to move onto the next. So go on now. Sit down and pick up the phone. Go knock on some doors. Send out some e-mails. Work your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook social network and groups. Start asking for referrals. Talk to any and everyone about what you do.  At Larson & Associates we are always ready to put forth that extra effort, to work hard and persevere in everything that we do for you. We can help you avoid the dreaded sales slumps, overcome marketing anxiety and map out new places to ‘dig’. When prospecting for gold or for sales, remember that your success is directly proportionate to your effort. If you do only the minimum, your payback will be minimal. The more you do, the more you get. It really is that simple.      Larson & Associates leaders in providing todays marketing for tomorrows success. 847-991-1294