The sales equation is the result of multiplying the three figures that increase sales: number of customer contacts, closing rate, average sales.
Number of contacts x closure rate x average sales = total sales
Number of customer contacts
The first number in the sales equation is the number of customer contacts. The more customers you meet, the better your chances of selling. Of course, this shouldn’t be at the expense of contact quality, which is why the other figures in the equation are so important.
Here’s how you can increase your number of contacts:
- Use your CRM to quickly select your best customers – it normally takes just a few clicks to create lists.
- Optimize your time management by eliminating irrelevant tasks and placing administrative work outside the hours when you can meet with your customers.
- Plan your rounds after optimizing your time
- Call customers to increase the number of appointments and select the best ones to meet. It’s not up to them to decide who should sit opposite you, it’s up to you.
- Avoid mid-morning or mid-afternoon appointments
Closing rate
Here are a few tips.
- Improve your sales techniques by taking regular sales courses. If this is difficult for you, then take an online sales course.
- Create a sales pitch including key questions to ask customers, product features, benefits, objections and best answers.
- Make a self-criticism of each of your encounters and always try to improve.
Average sales
- Sort your customers and prospects with your CRM
- Build loyalty among your high-grossing A-customers
- Go after high-potential B-customers
- Prospect new customer pools
- Use sales methods to increase the average basket: cross-selling, upselling, SPIN.
Sales equation: conclusion
Analyze your strengths and weaknesses, develop your strengths – we can always do better – and make up for your weaknesses.
Be systematic in optimizing each of these figures, and it’s a mathematical certainty that your numbers will increase.
Jean-Pierre Mercier
