How many of you sales reps out there only track your leads? Raise your hands so I can see all of you.
Yep, that’s what I thought. A TON!
Ok, you can put your hands down now.
Next question, how many of you that just raised your hand input the leads information into a database?
Alright only a few, and how many of you just write it down in a notebook?
Again as expected. Most of you only write down on paper the prospects who are interested in what you are selling and are ready to take the next step and don’t even commit it to a database.
Come on!
Stop being lazy and start making more money by tracking each and every attempt you make.
Here are 5 reasons why:
1. You Will Only Talk to 1 Out of 3 People Your First Pass Through a Neighborhood
Out of all the doors we see knocked here at SPOTIO the fact of the matter is that at about 67% of them nobody will answer. That is a lot of potential business that needs to hear your amazing offer.
You need to go back through your territory until you talk to around 75% of the prospects. This is effectively working your area.
Sales bring on more sales and neighbors talk. If you treat one customer right one day then when you come back next week and he has already heard about your amazing offer from his neighbor then he will be a layover sale. Heck he may even call you.
Here’s some quick math for all the statisticians reading:
Lets say your territory has 500 houses in it so to hit 75% contact rate you must talk to 375 of the homeowners.
Remember that 2 out of 3 or 67% aren’t going to answer.
1st pass through you talk to 33% of the prospects or 165 people. This leaves 210 more contacts you need to make (375 goal less 165 already contacted)
2nd pass through you knock the ones that weren’t home at the first pass and talk to another 33% of them. This will give you another 110 contacts so your total is up to 275. Still 100 shy of the goal.
3rd pass through you again knock the ones that weren’t home the previous two times and you talk to 33% of them. You reach another 75 contacts and now your total is up to 350.
So it will take 4 passes through the neighborhood to reach 75% of the potential customers.
Unless you have some sort of photographic memory there is no way you would be able to remember what houses were not home the previous 3 times and you would knock on a customers house or better yet somebody that was very rude to you last time.
Take a good look at this picture. See all the red Pins? Those are the ones that were Not Home on the first pass. Think about the confidence you have going to the door knowing exactly what happened on previous attempts.
2. Not Interested? You Mean Not Interested at This Time
I talk to outside sales reps all over the world and quite a few of them pride themselves on the fact that they are “Master Closers” and if they don’t close the deal at the first contact then they never talk to them again.
If you are one of those people then good for you but for those of us that aren’t there yet we are going to have to do some follow up.
There is a difference between Not Interested and a Lead so for now I am just talking about the ones that said they are Not Interested. Maybe its because they don’t have money or are in a contract for another year or are happy with their current provider.
Whatever the reason you need to know it and mark it down into a database.
The next time you are in the area and have a new offer you need to stop back by. When you are there you will be able to see the reason they weren’t interested last time and reference that.
“Good afternoon! Last time I was by it wasn’t good timing for you to consider doing business with us because you were in a contract. I was in the area and wanted to make sure and stop by because we are running a promotion now where we will actually buy you out of your contract and give you a free months of service….”
Know why they aren’t interested, log that info in your database and use that info as a reference next time you stop by.
3. The Fortune is in The Follow-up
Lead, what is a lead? I call a lead somebody that is interested in your product or service but for whatever reason isn’t ready to buy yet.
Leads are great.
Just because somebody isn’t ready to buy now doesn’t mean you should cast them off into oblivion. Nurture that lead until they are ready to buy or move them out of your sales pipeline so you can focus on those that will eventually convert.
At the end of the month when you need to hit your quota what are you going to do? Need 5 more deals closed to get the bonus?
Go back through your leads and focus on pushing some over the edge.
You will only be able to do this if you keep track of each and every one of them and take notes on their specific situation and where they are at in the buying process.
4. Manage Your Activities to Achieve Your Desired Result
The sales process can and should be viewed as a funnel. With the wide part at the top and the narrow part at the bottom. How many do you have to put into the top in order to get one to come out the bottom.
How many attempts do you have to make to get one sell out the bottom.
If you know for a fact how many need to go in the top to get one to come out the bottom then you can manage your activities on a daily basis to fill the top of the funnel to get your desired end result.
As both a sales manager and a sales rep wouldn’t it be great to know what you need to do on a daily basis to hit your sales numbers?
The only way you are going to be able to do that is if you track each and every attempt. Start at the top of the funnel.
If you only start tracking when somebody is interested then you are skipping the top of the funnel and going all the way to the middle. That isn’t predictably repeatable. To get to the middle of the funnel you have to start at the top and that starts with making a sales attempt.
Bonus: SPOTIO is #1 Sales Tracking Software on market for door to door salespeople and managers.
How many attempts does it take for you to get a sale? You need to go knock 500 doors and see. Then you will know what you need to do on a daily basis to hit your sales goals.
Managing the activities is less stressful than trying to manage the result.
5. Passing the Torch
You got the big promotion and are being moved to another state to run a new office that the company is rolling out. You are asked to find your replacement, get them trained up and as soon as that happens you can go on to the next stage in your life.
You take a look at your team because promoting from within, if possible, is always best. Your assistant manager has been a fantastic employee and would kill it taking over your roll.
Heck, you hired her three years before and coached taught her they know.
Naturally, you want to leave the new manager in a position to succeed.
Imagine if giving over the keys to the castle also came with a detailed database of the status of every house in your region. You know the status of every house because you have tracked every attempt since you started there.
No wonder your numbers are the highest in the company and you just got the promotion? You are more organized and on top of your area than anybody else in the company.
Now you don’t have to spend weeks trying to remember where you worked and what happened and where the “hot spots” are and where to definitely not go. Its all done for you.
The new manager steps in and immediately takes over where you left off. The branch doesn’t skip a beat, their numbers are just as good as they were when you were there.
What’s next in line for you? That’s right CEO! Taking it all the way to the top.
Wrapping Up
Remember these five reasons to track every attempts you make and it will always be crystal clear why that extra few seconds after each attempt is totally worth it.
- You will only talk to 1 out of 3 people your first pass through a neighborhood
- Not Interested? You mean Not Interested at this Time
- The Fortune is in the Follow Up
- Manage your Activities to Achieve your Desired Result
- Passing the Torch
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SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.
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