The idea that sales are a numbers game is one that’s often been debated in our industry, and it’s something that always divides opinion.
Some argue the ‘for’, believing that it’s a simple case of the more the merrier – the more calls a salesperson makes, the more likely they should be, in theory, to get results.
Others have debunked this as a myth, preferring the ‘busy fool’ comparison, where activity doesn’t necessarily equate to effectiveness.
So where is the truth? The answer, in our experience, lies somewhere in between – in finding the optimum numbers that will get the best returns.
The best salespeople will be aware of their closing ratio and know that, even when they are closing deals, they should also be conscious of keeping their sales funnel consistently topped up.
If you don’t watch your numbers then sales figures will suffer.
According to HubSpot, 72% of companies with less than 50 new opportunities a month didn’t achieve their revenue goals compared to 15% with 51 to 100 new opportunities and just 4% for companies with 101 to 200 new opportunities.
At Salesbond we work with a variety of data resources to deliver results – it’s having that knowledge that helps us hit the sweet spot.
We find that lies at around 60-75 calls a day and there’s a logical reason for that.
If you’re making more than 100 calls a day, then the conversations are unlikely to be meaningful or to generate a positive outcome. The likelihood is you’re reaching those numbers by calling prospects without giving any consideration to whether or not they are likely to benefit from buying what is being sold.
You have plenty of activity, minus the effectiveness, so that’s time wasted.
If you’re making less than 50 calls a day then you are probably kidding yourself you are working efficiently and are more likely getting distracted.
And if you are calling on an ad-hoc basis and being inconsistent then you will miss opportunities and fail to nurture your prospect list.
Salesbond’s proven success model is to dial for our clients one day per week over a 12-month period, identify the need, qualify the decision-maker, and book a face-to-face meeting so our clients can sell their services.
The best sales teams succeed in achieving high activity and high effectiveness – we do this by sourcing relevant prospect data to ensure that we aren’t just making the calls, we’re making the right calls.
Sales will always be a numbers game, but it’s about quality as well as quantity.
