Strategic Sales & Marketing Solutions

This is part one in a ten-part series that provides the tools you need to obtain commitment and close sales by making the most effective (and profitable) use of your time.

Visualize the “You Are Here” signs commonly found in shopping malls. When you know where you are, it becomes much easier to reach your desired destination. That is the purpose of this series. Successful selling is nothing more than a series of deliberate, focused efforts executed with integrity and passion. You can always refine and improve your efforts and see the difference reflected immediately in your sales. You will be amazed by the degree to which a little fine tuning can boost the effectiveness of your overall sales efforts.

When you read each of the installments in this series and immediately put the principles described into practice, you will see an immediate increase in your number of closed sales. There are no “maybes” involved. If you invest a half-way, half-hearted effort, you’ll see half-way, half-hearted results. Make the daily application of the principles outlined in this series a top priority and you will experience an immediate, lasting, positive impact as you perform like a true sales professional.

The first reason that you are not selling more is that you must consistently acknowledge and respect the Law of Diminishing Returns, whether it is in regard to your prospecting efforts or maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with your current clients. Maintaining a healthy roster of clients is similar to tending a healthy garden. You must trim away the dead branches in leaves in order for the healthy ones to grow. An ideal client today might not be quite as ideal in one, five, ten years. Business is never about standing still. It is about growth and change.

In the ideal scenario, your clients grow and change with you and you are able to consistently meet and exceed their expectations. Occasionally, internal factors within your client’s organization may result in their no longer being a wise investment of your time. Perhaps they are having financial troubles and no longer pay on time, as they once did. They may reach the point where they are demanding and expecting levels of service and price concessions far above what you are already providing.

Many professionals find value in visual reinforcement. Of course, this can be taken to extremes. If excessive time is spent preparing and analyzing charts and graphs, there is no time left for selling. It becomes a matter of “activity” masquerading as results-oriented effort. Sales are closed as a result of selling, not quiet contemplation. Keep the “all things in moderation” rule in effect and the analysis phase of your sales cycle can be incredibly powerful.

Start with a simple pen and paper drawing. Mark “Point A” on the far-left side of your paper. This represents the moment of initial contact between you and your prospect. On the opposite, far-right edge, mark “Point B.” This represents the moment in which a sale is closed and generates measurable revenue for you. Point B is a strict “money talks” proposition. If a prospect responds with “Let me think it over and I’ll call you in a week or two,” you have not reached a valid Point B. Leave it blank for now.

Establish increments of time between Point A and Point B. The increments represent the length of your normal sales cycle. If your customary sale takes one month from initial contact to close, break the timeline into one-week increments.

Once you’ve created your graph, record every moment of time spent in pursuit of the sale: phone calls, emails, thank-you notes, items dropped in the mail, face-to-face meetings, everything. Then do the math.

If you have clearly established goals and targets, you know what your time is worth on an hourly basis. As an example, let’s say that a closed sale will represent $500 in revenue for you. You spent one hour researching your prospect on the Web. You found the decision-maker. You made a 5-minute call to your prospect and were put through to his or her gatekeeper. You left a message. Several days later, you have not received a return call, so you made an after-hours call, which allowed you to access the automated directory. You left a voice message for the decision-maker. You received a call back and spoke for ten minutes, securing a face-to-face appointment. You have a 30-minute commute to the prospect’s office. Your presentation lasts 30 minutes. You have a 30 minute ride back to your own office. Your prospect did not reach a buying decision and has asked for additional follow-up instead…an R.O.I., a re-worked price quote, or they want you to return to speak with other decision-makers in the organization. Freeze-frame…stop right there.

If your hourly amount…the amount you need to charge for your services…is $50 per hour, you’ve invested approximately 3 hours of your time, worth $150 to you, in pursuit of a $500 sale. In other words, you’ve “spent” (or “invested”) 30 percent of the value of the closed sale in its pursuit.

This is where the Law of Diminishing Returns enters into the picture. You need to establish a Point A, a Point B, and then measure the cost-effectiveness of your efforts to move from one point to the other. Multiply this by the number of prospects you are actively working through your pipeline and you will see that some form of quality control is critical in your prospecting efforts. Without this clarity and focus, you could easily find yourself devoting the majority of your working hours to the pursuit of clients who are unable or unwilling to buy from you. Don’t fall into that trap. Measure, qualify, then rule your contacts in or rule them out as viable prospects.

Understanding this law, as well as putting it into practice, will dramatically increase the number of hours in which your sales efforts will bear fruit.