The number of calls you make per sale depends on the level of buy-in your customer has.  The risk associated with what you are selling. And the approach you apply for each conversation.

Salespeople that go for the jugular on every call may get the odd quick win here and there, but more often than not a measured approach is more effective.

I have a saying, “Keep the lines tight!” My father is a mad fisherman and he taught me everything I know about fishing. One of my first lessons was always “keep the line tight”. This means when you get a fish on your line dont give it any slack to throw the hook.

In sales the same principle applies. When you get a good opportunity dont give the customer an excuse to go cold or lose interest. Keep the lines of communication tight, and ensure you are following up methodically and leading the customer via your engagement process.

I received another pearl from my old mentor, Big Kev.  One of his principles was never judge a book by a cover. Dont try and guess if someone is a potential buyer or not. Instead initiate a conversation that leads with a genuine interest in them. Have a process you know works, dont question it, and always stick to it!

Here are some metrics on Calls to Sales. Keep in mind there are exceptions to every rule and of course different horses for different courses.

• 1% of sales are made on the 1^st contact
• 2% of sales are made on the 2^nd contact
• 5% of sales are made on the 3^rd contact
• 12% of sales are made on the 4^th  contact
• 80% of sales are made on the 5^th contact (or above)

Most salespeople give up after the 2^nd  and 3^rd contact. You can see from above how that approach limits their results. Conversely, please dont make calls for the sake of making calls ― that’s called harassment!

One of the most effective methods to help you understand how many calls you make should make is to measure your empirical data. This data should reveal some ‘magic’ numbers.

How many calls on average do your salespeople conduct to make a sale? What is the best case call scenario? What is the worst case? Which metrics translated into happy and profitable customers? Which created dissatisfied ones?

In my own business the magic number is ‘5’. A combination of email, face and phone.  How many calls you make is up to you, just make sure you’re sticking to a tested and successful follow-up process and the sales should follow.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan, Founder BOOM! Sales

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 11:05 am and is filed under Sales Training, sales process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.