The difference between SUCCESS and SUC-cess is all about the KPIs one adheres to, believes in, and holds oneself accountable to in a daily perspective.
If sales and selling were easy, it would be called order taking and the personnel would make a whole lot less! It is called selling for a reason!
Benchmark yourself off of any industry you hold in high regard and individual professional within it and I bet you will recognize that those individuals do not give up early? That these individuals are professionally committed and are always engaged in on-going learning, development, certifications and are personally benchmarking off of those deemed to be best-in-class.
Consider these macro trends from the world of sales, as published and researched national statistics reveal, and benchmarked against my client observations for three-plus-decades. Only you know the real answers, how do you stack up:
1. 80 percent of sales are closed/made on/after the fifth contact.
2. 48 percent of sales people never follow up; Or follow up in a timely manner to have any positive impact on the initial contact activity.
3. 12 percent of sales people make two to three contacts and stop.
4. 25 percent of sales people make a second contact and stop.
5. Less than 10 percent of sales people make more than three contacts with a prospect or lead.
6. 2 percent of sales are made on the first contact.
7. 3 percent of sales are made on the second contact.
8. 5 percent of sales are made on the third contact.
9. 90 percent of sales are made after the fifth engagement, interaction and substantive contact.
10. 70 percent of sales people have and use no systems on a regular basis to manage their book of business.
11. 80 percent of sales people have no and follow no fundamental selling process when they engage the prospect or client.
12. 75 percent of sales professionals only know 25 percent of the products/services they represent from a product IQ perspective.
13. Most sales people spend less than 12 percent of their time on the phone generating leads or making outbound new contacts.
14. Mondays and Fridays are the slowest days for new-business generation for sales professionals, yet most selling professionals have no system to maximize these days for meaningful ROI
15. 98 percent of all sales professionals who do not make their quotas spend 80 percent of their time engaged in non-business related social network activities, surfing the internet and texting personal issues between 8 am and 5 p.m. daily.
16. No. 1 visited/traffic websites Monday through Friday between 8 am and 5 p.m. are pornographic in nature.
17. 92 percent of selling professionals who are not making the sales goals/missions can show no personal development endeavors to better their craft.
18. 100 percent of selling professionals who exceed their selling goals/mission have systems, processes, advisers to ensure their continued accountability and success and engage on regular reading/listening/studying to improve their craft
What does your picture reveal?
Over the decades, I have had the opportunity to work with the top Fortune 500 firms, mid-cap businesses and startup entrepreneurial enterprises, along with some of the legends in sales and sales management (Zig Ziglar, Bill Brooks, Brian Tracy, Jeff Gitomer, Denis Waitley, Harvey Mackay, Mark Victor Hansen and others), and in every case what I have learned is the above analytics are always correct. And, in many instances the difference between SUCCESS and SUC-cess starts with the mental health we bring to the art and craft of selling and how we as selling professionals or sales management professionals apply to ourselves and our environment — internally and externally.
The list of non-business behaviors, nepotism and biases that derail our potential is alarming. And, the list above can be added to daily to excel or greatness or implode our abilities. So, to improve your sales effectiveness make sure you operate like a sales professional.
Activity 60-A
Assess Yourself for greatness as a selling professional.
1. How many non-fiction books have you read this month (x12 for annual mental deposit reference) to push and enhance your development and in-the-field execution? ____________________
2. How many online informational, educational or industry updates have you used to push and enhance your development and in-the-field execution? _______
3. How many situational-need areas have you identified in your selling business that can use a skill or strategy upgrade in the past year, and have you exposed yourself to push and enhance your development and in-the-field execution? _______
4. How many professional development training programs have you participated in that your organization has made available to you to be able to push and enhance your development and in-the-field execution? _______
5. How many professional development training programs have you participated in that you sought out and paid for on your own to be able to push and enhance your development and in-the-field execution? _______
6. How many other truly successful professionals in our present career pathway do you encircle yourself with to mentally network, grow and learn from to be able to push and enhance your development and in-the-field execution? __________:
List some of these power professionals that serve as your COIs to personal greatness:
a. _________________________________
b. _________________________________
c. _________________________________
d. _________________________________
e. _________________________________
f. _________________________________
Now, if you do not engage them on a regular basis, place a check-mark next to their name. If you do not pro-actively contact them, they can’t serve you as true mentors, coaches, advisers, advocates or accountability partners.
7. What do you do to track, monitor and hold yourself accountable to, to be able to push and enhance your development and in-the-field execution?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Dr. Jeffrey Magee, CMC, CBE, CSP, PDM, is a platform speaker, author and consultant who works with individuals and business that wish to greatly increase their productivity and profitability through business and leadership training without limits. He can be reached at DrJeffSpeaks@aol.com, or www.DrJeffMagee.com for more information.
