In many industries, some rough ratios to work with are:
to get one contract, you need to be invited to submit three proposals,
to be asked to submit three proposals you should be talking to three to six qualified prospects. A qualified prospect has 1.) a budget, has 2.) a specific and current need, and 3.) makes the decision or at least the recommendation. Qualified is not a subjective term, as in they "ought to be" qualified, "they fit the profile" or "I wish" they were qualified.
To generate six qualified prospects -- that´s the tough part. There are an awful lot of suspects out there, i.e. people who have some of the qualifying criteria or people whom you think might/should have it. I´d put those "good" leads in the latter category. Suspects may be very interested in what you do, or they might have the title of Director of Whatever, or they may be both, but if they have no budget for a specific need, don´t waste time with them.
You probably have to screen at least 100 suspects to find five or six qualified prospects. Sorting out suspects and prospects is what direct mail, trade shows, advertising and telesales do best. You should be spending most of your time with qualified prospects, not playing telephone tag with unqualified suspects.
My own experience here may be instructive. I built a successful training firm that generated significant annual billings by hitting the phones myself. Starting with referrals, first, of course, but moving quickly on whenever it became clear that a suspect was not qualified. I made 168 cold calls before uncovering Burroughs Business Forms Division, a qualified prospect who became my first significant client. So it can be done if you have enough fire in your belly.
If you can scrounge up some money, invest it in lead generation (well-targeted direct mail is still best). If not, hit those phones! And the very best of luck -- that´s in the equation somewhere, too.
Business Development by the Numbers - To learn more about this author, visit John Brennan's Website.
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John Brennan
(Visit John's Website)
John Brennan Ed.D.
Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal
Development, LLC, a training and
development firm. Interpersonal
Development has provided sales training
and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps
from over 100 companies.
A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan
received his doctorate from the University
of Rochester. His dissertation researched
the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling
Technology in training people in
interpersonal skills. While he has spent
most of his career designing or delivering
training, he was also a Vice-President of
Sales of a training and development
franchise with operations in 25 markets.
Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered
sales training in North America, Asia,
Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He
has been a guest speaker at numerous
national and regional professional
conferences.
When Microsoft wanted Best Practices
articles on sales for their web site, they
called Dr. Brennan. The results are at office.microsoft.com/e
n-us/FX011387391033.aspx
His firm’s clients have included Volvo,
The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman
Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the
Economist Group and countless small
businesses.
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