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Sales Coaching Tip: Stop Confusing Motion with Progress to Increase Sales

Written by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Are your sales suffering? Maybe, it is time to determine whether you are in the motion business or progress business?

Sales Coaching Tip: Stop Confusing Motion with Progress to Increase Sales

Motion is a part of life and a part of business. We move to:

Business networking events
Collecting leads from business cards to referrals
Making phone calls to connecting with decision makers
Scheduling appointments with decision makers
Making the actual meetings

All of this motion is to achieve the goal to increase sales.

However, all that motion has a tendency to confuse sales people. They think that they are busy and yes they are. But are they making progress? Are they just reading water? Or are they swimming toward the finish line to get that sale?

To help sales people from the inexperienced to the experienced to end this confusion are a plethora of tools. Yet, I believe in simplicity because simplicity allows for greater sustainability.

Years ago my father who was a salesman his entire professional life shared some advice with me and gave me a tool. His advice was know your numbers. The tool that he used was a point system to keep this motion always focused on making progress toward the sale.

His tool recognized some critical performance indicators necessary for sales success and ultimately business success.

Leads
Meetings made
Presentations given
Commitments (sales) earned

No matter what he sold from rubber products to radio advertising to security systems, these 5 indicators were always present.

Dad then awarded himself points:

1 point for each lead collected
2 points for each meeting scheduled
3 points for each meeting made
4 points for each presentation meeting
5 points for each commitment or sale earned


These points always kept his focus on his progress toward making the sale. His weekly goal was to achieve 15 points as he had national territories.

When I started my business, Dad shared his dashboard with me and I modified it by eliminating the making presentations. I then set my goal at 20 points per week. Later while attending numerous sales training seminars and reading sales training books, I then learned that this system has been around for quite a while in various formats.

By maintaining 20 points each week. I am always progressing toward the goal to increase sales. I now share this tool with my clients who upon use have also increased their sales. What I have learned is that the marketing funnel stays full and this leads to a much fuller sales funnel.

This tool has recently been used by one of my clients involved in new car sales. Their results reveal the following:

20 weekly points earns 2 vehicles sold
30 weekly points earns 3 vehicles sold
40 weekly points earns 4 vehicles sold

So stop confusing motion with progress and embrace tools that will get you closer to your goal to increase sales.

Related Articles
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  Increase Sales by Focusing on Qualified Prospects Who Turn into Loyal Customers
  How the Choices You Make Will Determine Your Sales Results
  Top 7 Pitfalls That Keep Sales Professionals from Their Goals to Increase Sales
  Leave the Island of Ain’t It Awful to Increase Sales

Article Tags: business cards, business networking events, business success, commitments, critical performance, dashboard, decision makers, finish line, national territories, performance indicators, plethora, professional life, radio advertising, rubber products, sales success, sales training seminars, security systems, simplicity, sustainability, training books



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