Plan to Plan

Have you ever had to make a trip to a place you have never been to?  I would guess the answer is yes.  How did you get there.  Did you get out a map, use google maps, write down every turn, or just use GPS technology to guide you.

A good sales plan is one of the most successful things you can create.  There is a little more to it than just letting the GPS guide you.  You have to start a plan with a goal that has the end result.  Don’t set it too low.  If you want to reach the top of a mountain, then make a plan that will take you to the moon.  You just may be surprised.

In one of my previous jobs, I had the crazy notion that I could just go up and down the street, calling on every business and using the massive method of slinging enough business cards until one would stick.  It worked some of the time but not most of the time.  As my street sense developed I learned to eliminate certain types of business clients which helped my productivity go way up.

A blind pig can find an acorn once in a while.  The secret technique I am going to share with you will keep you in qualified prospects throughout your career.  You don’t have to buy them or subscribe to any pay per lead service.  You simply have to ask for them.

First of all make a goal of how many sales will it take for you to make a fantastic living in this career.  As an example If you need to make $75,000 per year, you have to know how many sales you need to make that happen.  These are real dollars of commission based on the only thing you can use as a measuring stick.  Your average sale.  I will use my industry as an example but you can do the math with yours.

Using the average of 15% commission per sale. To meet the goal of $75,000 per year I would need:

100 sales X 5000.00 = $500,000.00 in gross sales per year X 15% = $75,000.00

This is a simple example that tells me that I need about two sales per week to achieve that goal.

Now I have something to shoot for with my written plan.  The next step is to find out what activity I need to do, or what action I need to take to make sure that I make at least two sales per week at the average dollar volume per sale.

Using two sales per week here is the math based on my closing ratio of 3 demonstrations with 1 out of 3 closes.

I need 6 demonstrations per week X 33% closings = 2 sales per week.

Now I have to know what kind of activity I need to do to get my 6 demonstrations per week.  If my ratio of cold calls to demonstrations is 20% then here is what that looks like:

10 cold calls = 2 demonstrations then I need to make 30 cold calls per week to get my 6 demonstrations that will equal 2 sales per week that will make my goal of $75,000.00 per year.  Remember that you are working with averages not absolutes.

You can do your own math based on your industry, however what is important is that you make your plan, then measure constantly the results of your action.  The only thing that is certain in any plan, is that you are in control of only one thing.  The action that you take.  Use your time wisely.  The next big thing that I hope is invented is a GPS for sales.  Until it is here this is the one that I will use on a daily basis.

Oh I almost forgot.  The secret technique:

When you have made a sale to someone, ask them if they know other businesses or colleagues in their same field.  Get the names write them down and incorporate them into your action plan.

Keep selling by littles……….