Have you heard about the magic of sales? I often hear clients commenting about histories of successful salespeople that crush their sales goals every quarter, and it looks like they work in some mystic magical ways that make them way better than their peers.
Unfortunately, I am writing today to inform you that there is no magic in sales.
“Knowing the magic of sales is knowing that sales are not magical.”
Between my friends and coworkers, I am known as the data guy, the spreadsheet person, the dude that is always looking for the numbers behind the performance.
And in sales is no different.
To be able to understand better what is behind the performance of those super salesmen and women, we need to dive deep into their numbers:
- How many leads do they contact in a day?
- How many follow-ups?
- How many presentations?
- How many deals do they close in a day?
- How much are they selling?
- What is their average ticket?
- What is their conversion rate?
- What are their monthly, weekly, daily goals?
By reviewing those numbers above, you will have a clear picture of why they perform better than the rest of the pack.
I had the chance to check several sales reports and personal performance cards throughout my professional life. Something that I have found super interesting is:
The majority of the outliers don’t perform exceptionally well in all their numbers.
They understand their numbers and play with them.
Outliers have a clear understanding of what makes them different. They focus on the sales funnel stage, where they perform better and damage control on the others phases.
Let me give you an example:
Theodore has a goal of 20 sales a month. He knows that his conversion rate from leads to sales is 10%. That being said, he needs 200 leads to close 20 deals in a month.
Another Example:
Mark works with Theodore, and he also has 20 sales per month as his goal. Mark has a conversion rate of 16%, so instead of 200 leads, he needs 125 leads to hit the goal.
They both can exceed or not their goals. What will make the difference is how much effort they will put in finding the leads they need.
We can use the same “magic” using other numbers.
Lucas needs to close 10 deals a week. That is his goal. Based on his previous performance, he needs to do 3 product presentations to close a deal. Again is clear here that Lucas needs 30 product presentations to complete his 10 deals.
It is easy to build a plan to achieve your goals when you understand your performance.
You will hit big numbers when you understand the game of the numbers.
We can play with numbers the whole day, using different combinations to understand how to perform better.
Now I recommend you do an exercise with your numbers, that way, you will be able to create your own magic of sales and start to crush your goals.
