What’s the right Sales Conversion Ratio for my sales team?

By / / Prospecting, Sales Forecasting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Results, Sales Tips

At Barrett, we get asked a lot about what is the right sales conversion ratio for sales teams.

And our answer is to offer more questions such as:

  • Are the market(s) you are targeting in growth, mature, decline, or saturation mode?
  • What value propositions are you taking to market to your prospective clients in terms of commodity low cost options or value beyond product and price, and ROI?
  • How clear is your sales messaging to capture the share of mind of your target markets and enable your salespeople to be very clear and concise about the value they bring when prospecting and selling?
  • How effective …

What’s the right Sales Conversion Ratio for my sales team? Read Post »

Why everybody benefits from knowing how to prospect

By / / Communication, Education in Sales, Prospecting, Sales Skills

Every business needs to prospect for new clients and customers, even non salespeople often need to reignite past business relationships and form new ones, internally or externally. You don’t need to be the primary salesperson or business development manager to be required to prospect well. Any call you make to another person whose attention you need to grab and focus on what you have to offer or propose is technically a prospecting call.

Prospecting is the identification and pursuit of new opportunities.

In sales, it is the pursuit of new business opportunities in either new or existing accounts.

In other …

Why everybody benefits from knowing how to prospect Read Post »

First Aid Kit for a Sales Recovery

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Call Reluctance, Education in Sales, Prospecting, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips

Many of us have been there and some of us are yet to experience the gut wrenching experience when we finally, consciously realise that our sales pipeline and revenue numbers are in drastic decline and we are in deep, deep trouble. We realise all too dramatically that we are having the business and sales equivalent of a heart attack.

The brutal facts finally hit us hard in our face, our chest, our guts and we realise we may not survive.

Yet, the causes and signs were there for us all to see. Like a heart attack, a combination of activities caused this …

First Aid Kit for a Sales Recovery Read Post »

Some Social Selling Myths & Challenges

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Prospecting, Social Media, Social Sales

Since LinkedIn started its publishing arm there has been a growing tsunami of articles filling our news feeds and inboxes. Amongst this flood of information are some great articles and, of course, there are those articles that are a waste of time. That’s to be expected. Within this tsunami there has been a range of articles promoting the astounding benefits of Social Selling, especially around writing and sharing content with prospects and clients as a critical part of the sales process. Articles that are sure to get you noticed and have clients contacting you so that you can make more …

Some Social Selling Myths & Challenges Read Post »

Don’t be fooled! Why telephone prospecting is still critical to sales success

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Prospecting, Sales Skills, Sales Training, Solution Selling

In tough markets when sales are harder to come by whether it be from increased competition or clients being more hesitant to commit and buy, don’t become your own worst enemy and rely on the marketing efforts of your company or emails or falling into the trap of believing the hype about Social Selling saving your sales day. You still need to get on the phone and engage the people in your market places whom you want and need to get in front of and sell to.

After more than 30 years in selling with at least 10-15 years of those …

Don’t be fooled! Why telephone prospecting is still critical to sales success Read Post »

How to use Email and LinkedIn to prospect

By / / Prospecting, Social Sales

In our digital world it is becoming much easier and quicker to find and contact people we want to get in front of. Just think LinkedIn and how easy it is to research prospects by title, industry and company, or using Google to research industries by location, speciality, etc.

There should be no excuse about not being able to find and contact prospects.

So in keeping with the digital world, is it OK to use email or LinkedIn as your initial contact with prospects?

Yes and No.

It’s all in how you do it. …

How to use Email and LinkedIn to prospect Read Post »

Work your sales activity year to achieve your financial year target

By / / Education in Sales, Prospecting

Everyone has a sales cycle – this is defined as the average time it takes you to identify and ignite a viable sales opportunity through to closing the sale. Taking immediate transactional sales out of the equation –like buying something on the spot– a sales cycle can vary from industry to industry and can be as short as 1-7 days or span 12 months to 2 years, or even longer if we are talking really major sales.

However, industries withstanding, for most B2B salespeople an average sales cycle is more likely 1-3 months. So as we …

Work your sales activity year to achieve your financial year target Read Post »

Prioritising Your Prospective Buyers

By / / Education in Sales, Prospecting, Sales Planning, Sales Tips, Uncategorized

Every salesperson has a territory.  Whether that “territory” is defined by geography or demography, horizontally or vertically in terms of market segmentation, or by product, sales people need to be able to prioritise their prospects and their prospecting activities and efforts. We only have a finite time everyday to find and make sales.  If we are clear about what we offer, how it is of value to our clients and know where and how we find these prospective buyers, selling and buying is much easier. An important …

Prioritising Your Prospective Buyers Read Post »

Some industries just don’t get prospecting

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Education in Sales, Prospecting

I have been prospecting for new business on a regular and consistent basis since 1985.

For my team and prospecting is a way of life. We could never have developed our respective businesses and reputations without the vital business skill of prospecting.  We both confess that in the early days we did not enjoy many of the aspects of prospecting but we learned how to prospect successfully and we understand that prospecting is like oxygen – it fuels the fire of sales. Without prospects to speak to we cannot do business.

That is why I find it very interesting that certain industries …

Some industries just don’t get prospecting Read Post »

Are you capitalising on your Prime Selling Time?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Prospecting, Sales Skills

If you watch successful sales people go about their daily business activities you will notice that they lead a very disciplined life – they know what they need to do each day and when they need to do these key activities. They make sure they make time for the important stuff and they hardly ever miss a beat. They know there is no excuse for not making prospecting calls or forgetting to do research.  There is no excuse for not getting proposals in on time or not scheduling client meetings in an organized fashion or forgetting to follow up when …

Are you capitalising on your Prime Selling Time? Read Post »

Scroll to Top