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Increase B2B Sales by Managing Your Prospecting and Sales Ratios

Guest post by: Michael Schell

Article Overview: Are you a B2B salesperson looking to increase your annual income goal? If you're responsible for generating new business, you need to track and manage (improve) your ratios. And the best way to start is by looking at a meaningful number... your desired income. From there we'll work backwards to let you know exactly how to make that happen.

Increase B2B Sales by Managing Your Prospecting and Sales Ratios

I asked a six person sales team I was coaching if they knew how many sales meetings it took (on average) to generate one qualified proposal. No one knew for sure.

A business owner I coached didn't record the stats from her direct mail campaigns. She always made a few sales so she just kept it going. (But at what cost?).

A manager of a small B2B call-center I met didn't know how many decision-maker conversations it took (on average) to set one appointment. (It's different with every caller he said...).

Not-Working.com!

Management guru Dr. Peter Drucker said, "What gets measured gets managed." Want to avoid sales mediocrity? Then track your numbers and improve your ratios. If you're responsible for generating new business, start by looking at a meaningful number worth tracking...your desired income.

As a salesperson, what's your annual income goal?

Let's say your goal is to earn $84,000 a year ($7,000.00 per month). To figure out how to do that, work your ratios backwards as follows.

On average:

• How much revenue is required to earn $7,000 monthly?
• How many sales does that equate to each month?
• How many proposals are required to yield one new sale?
• How many prospects do you need to set appointments with to yield one qualified proposal?
• How many decision-maker conversations must you have to generate one appointment?
• How many dials (see definition below) are required for one decision-maker conversation?

And there you have it. Schedule X dials a week and you're on plan.

A "Dial" means:

• You reach a prospect's voice-mail
• The receptionist says the prospect is not available
• The number is not in service
• You connect with a live prospect

You can't control how many decision-makers (prospects) you connect with, but if you make the dials and have an effective introductory call process, the decision-maker conversations and appointments will come.

The number of dials you make per week is completely in your control. The key is knowing how many you need to make each week and scheduling them.

Let's review:

• Elements completely out of a salesperson's control - conversations with decision-makers
• Elements partially within a salesperson's control - Number of appointments made and qualified proposals submitted (your effectiveness has a bearing on results)
• Elements completely within a salesperson's control - Number of dials made!

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Article Tags: b2b sales ratios, b2b sales tips, sales career, sales expert, sales meetings, sales metrics, sales process, sales questions, sales skills, sales training



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