70%. That's how many prospects will never buy from anyone!
In the book
Selling to Zebras, Koser and Koser noted that the most competitive company in an industry closes only around 15% of its forecasted sales, while its competitors close another 15%. This means a whopping 70% of prospects in an industry will never buy from anyone!
So, if they hear this, most salespeople will try to double down on their efforts. They'll try to convince their prospects to buy. And with this attitude, is it any wonder that salespeople are often described as pushy?
Sales teams are tasked with coming up with better prospecting scripts in a bid to convince these prospects. The trouble is, 70% of them won't even buy.
But why do we waste time and effort on tasks that won't produce the result we're looking for?
One reason stems from the mantra that all new salespeople are taught to "work harder". For those trying to improve their sales further, they're handed the "work smarter" version. But is either way on its own the right answer?
Well, think about it and the answer is simple enough. If you're making 200 calls a day but not closing any, should you really be looking for ways to make even more calls? What are the odds that your prospects will stop rejecting you? And when will you finally accept that blindly chasing 1,000 leads is neither working smarter or harder?
As important as both styles are, it's more important to find the intersection between working hard and working smart.
Does your sales funnel look anything like this?
- Talk to 100 prospects,
- Get 25 appointments,
- Let's say you qualify half of them (12.5), and land another half of those in proposals.
- That's 6.25 possible proposals from a list of 100 leads.
When you chase every opportunity, you exhaust your resources (which are limited) and when ideal opportunities present themselves you're often running on empty...
There was a time when working harder and doing as much activity as you could produce great results. If 8 hours of worked produced X results, then surely 9 hours of work would produce X + 12.5%.
But too much has changed in the world of sales since those days. You have more competitors, your prospects have much better access to information, and frankly, every salesperson using the same recycled pitch sounds the same to them anyway!
Modern sales is no longer simply a numbers game. If your prospecting style is based on targeting leads based on sheer volume, you'll receive a level of rejection that, frankly, you deserve. Going all out to contact as many leads as possible won't make you stand out at all in today's hyper-competitive markets.
Salespeople often like to quote golf legend, Gary Player, saying "
The harder I practice, the luckier I get". This came after a comment was made after he scored a hole in one, which was something that statistically happened far more often to him than any of his contemporaries. Sadly, too many people take this advice literally and interpret it as "keep pounding down their doors, they'll come round eventually".
But this is a huge mistake. The keyword here is practicing: instead of constantly chasing quantity, take a step back and analyze the quality of your prospecting campaign.
And it's often a
really good idea to get a fewÂ
outside opinions. That's because other people can help with things that you may not pick up yourself, especially if they're professionals in that field themselves.
- What are the common objections you have received?
- What are the common threads of these rejections?
- Are you speaking to qualified prospects?
- Are you focused on closing from the initial call?
These are just some of the questions you need to be asking yourself. The more you question how you do things and the results obtained (without beating up on yourself...) the more you're likely to find a solution that will bring better results.
By simply slowing down your prospecting rate and accepting that some prospects may not be receptive to your offer, you'll be working smarter.
In fact, taking the time to figure out why they aren't buying will put the average salesperson in the top 5% of their team.
But this almost never happens! Many sales people think working hard and working smart are mutually exclusive. In reality, however, they aren't, and to get ahead in any endeavor, you need to work smart as well as hard. You can be working hard as you ALSO work smart!
In today's sales environment, you can work smarter by using the tools available to you to research your prospects. You can then work hard by looking at the data and getting those calls made.
If you find yourself in this position, you need to be smart about the activities you spend time on. They must be the activities that are most likely to have an impact for you. Persistence does pay off, but only if you are observing and learning as you progress.
So let's look at some ways you can observe yourself, and learn.
1. Keep Statistics
If you're working in sales, and not tracking your own statistics, you'll never know where to improve. You need to have numbers for everything you do, and it should be categorized.
For example, you should have numbers for prospecting (such as how many people you actually contact, what portion of your time is spent on this, and so on), numbers for closing (what is your overall closing percentage - for various stages, such as from first proposals, from presentations given and more), numbers on which of your products you sell (almost every salesperson I know will sell some products better than others) and other areas too.
Monitoring statistics doesn’t have to be a second job, though. Metrics are likely already running in the background as a piece of your website or your PSA (professional services automation) software. Learning how to use those numbers will ensure you focus on the right metrics. If you aren’t using a PSA, you could be missing out on vital information. If you don't have resources, it's too easy to just plow on using what you have, so if you read this article by Accelo you'll see why PSA software
is essential to any business that wants to grow.
2. Use A/B Testing
In marketing, A/B testing is when you do the same thing, but in two different ways, and measure both to see which gets you better results.
Imagine you want to send an email to 100 different clients about the same thing, perhaps an invitation to attend a free seminar. You could write two templates, and send 50 of the people version 1, and 50 of the people version 2.
You'd then see if one got better results than the other. If so, what can you learn from the approaches (wording, style, images, etc) that you used?
Any A/B testing you do then simply falls into bullet point 1, more statistics for you to keep. But these statistics are meaningful, because they're specifically about
what did work!
If you'd like to learn more about selling skills, why not take a look at how we can help?
Boost your sales skills with our online courses.
RRP from $39 – limited time offer just $12.99
3. Recording Yourself
This can be scary, but do you ever record a video or audio of yourself, and work through it afterwards? An old colleague of mine told me about the first time they ever saw a video of themselves presenting. They were absolutely horrified! And this could likely be your response, too...
Firstly, your voice sounds different to other people than it does to yourself, and you may be surprised that what other people hear is actually at a much higher (or lower) pitch than you imagine. Or maybe you don't speak clearly. Or you pause or stutter a bit. You get the point!
Secondly, if you interact with people face to face, what are you doing with your body language? Again, my colleague had been appalled. Not enough eye contact, too much twiddling of thumbs, the list was a bit depressing...
These days, you could record your presentation on your phone even, so why not ask your client if they would mind you recording your presentation to them, as you are committed to improving yourself. While some may say no, even the odd couple you do manage will be revealing.
So, that's three specific ways you can start working smart, then whatever you learn, work hard to implement that.
And then you'll see your sales figures start to grow.
Links to useful information:
Sales and Presentations:
People's ability to present well, and to sell effectively, is central to the success of any business.
Selling Skills:
Get the skills you need to supercharge your sales by making the most from the opportunities you have to speak to people - and sell!
Presentation Skills:
Learn how to deliver powerful, effective presentations, and see how to develop confidence in what you do
