As I’ve mentioned many times before, sales are a matter of numbers. The more prospective customer interactions you have the better your results will be. Even if your sales skills leave a lot to be desired, if you ask enough people to buy something your sales will be there. As you get better at asking for the order your sales will grow even more.
So, look back over the first half of the year. How many selling opportunities have you given yourself? Are your interactions going up, staying flat, or going down? Sometimes there is a tendency to slack off a bit when sales are going well. The problem with this is that when your sales do slow down it’s twice as hard to get back on the ball.
What about your closing ratio? What percentage of your major presentations do you close successfully? If you’re getting a shot at a good number of major presentations but not closing the deal, it’s not the product’s fault; it’s not your company’s fault. Close harder and close better. The old saying, “Don’t press your luck” is totally counterintuitive to sales. When your luck is running on high PUSH HARDER. It won’t last forever. Make your calls and ask for the order.
A great way to analyze your results is to take a moment after each stop or at least at the end of the day and ask yourself three questions — what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what will I do tomorrow to improve? Remember to answer these honestly. These questions are the ones a good field sales manager would ask their salesperson on a training visit. You can be your own sales manager when you ask and answer those hard questions every day.
Now go sell something.
