Two Essential Sales Acceleration Tools  

Beating the Averages

Last week we saw that on average it takes 750 client interactions to close a single B2B deal. So, I hear you ask, how do you beat the average?  (Or, if you didn’t read last week’s Tuesday Tune Up – you may still be in denial).  

Below, I’ll share 2 things to do today. 

The main drivers for the 750 number are:

• Only qualifying  40% of your prospects
• Successfully engaging  70 of your leads
• Losing 60% of your prospects in needs analysis
• Losing 50% of your prospects after proposals
• Closing only 30% of your proposals

AND     

• It typically takes 3 interactions to confirm the next stage.

 As with any process, the first step is to look for those areas where small changes can have the biggest impact. As you see in the image, the two big time wasters are: the ratio of Leads to Qualified is typically very high and, the fact that it typically takes 3 interactions to move to the next step. 

One - Let’s deal with the qualifying problem first.  This is really quite simple. You must know who your perfect client is. Go deep – geography, size (in revenue, people, locations),  years in business, their vertical market, supply chain relationships, public or private, branch or HQ, unionized or not.  Each case will be different, but build the profile of your ideal client and use it as a filter to select your leads.  And when you are done – name them. One of our clients had two main types of client for their POS software; “Bicycle Bob” and “Boutique Bunny” and they built a multi-billon dollar business with them. 

So, who is your perfect client – and once defined – don’t compromise. You’ll find that not only will your qualifying ratios go up – so will all of the other conversion ratios. 

Two - This one is really easy and could reduce your interactions by 66%. Never Ever end an interaction without agreeing to a date for the next step. Never.    

Always track your numbers - and not just on the deals you actually close. Use these two tools to dramatically reduce effort and accelerate sales. 

Next week, I’ll have another non-intuitive way to accelerate your sales. Hint – it takes a customer centric approach.  

Andrew  

PS:  I am developing a workshop to help accelerate sales processes. We can do this live or in person. It focusses on ruthless customer identification to help you hit your targets. Contact me for more information.