The most basic activity component of the selling process is the dial. Do you know how many dials you need to make today to hit your annual revenue goal?
The last of the 2018 goal setting blogs is about setting the daily activity objectives so that you can measure your progress towards your goal each day. If you went through the GOSPA exercise, you know that the Strategy piece of the process is very powerful. When you figure out how you’re going to accomplish a particular objective—in this case—your revenue goal, then it’s time to ‘do the math’ in terms of the activity necessary.
This exercise can sometimes make you realize that a particular objective is unrealistic, or you might discover you need to try to accomplish it in another manner. Regardless, the exercise itself is worth the effort to see if you really can accomplish what you want to in the way you think you need to.
If one of your objectives for the year was to sell more to new customers, you’ll need this blog as it will help you determine how many dials per day you will need to make in order to attain a certain revenue number.
Here’s what I suggest you do to be able to determine your daily activity levels. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What is my revenue goal?
- What is my average sized sale?
- How many sales do I need to hit my goal, considering my average sized sale?
- How many Initial Appointments do I need to generate one sale? In other words, what is my Closing Ratio (as measured from Initial Appointments)?
- How many conversations with decision makers do I need to have in order to generate an Initial Appointment? In other words, what’s my Appointment Ratio?
- How many dials must I make in order to get a conversation with the decision maker?
If you don’t know the answer to these questions, use the following ratios as a starting point and begin measuring your own results to determine your metrics. They are pretty common across industries if you are calling on executives.
- Closing Ratio (Initial Appointments to closed business) – 15%
- Appointment Ratio (Conversations to Initial Appointments) – 18%
- Conversation Ratio (Dials to Conversations) – 8%
If you can answer those questions, you can begin to measure whether or not you’re doing the right things each day—and if there are enough hours in the day to do it the way you think you will do it. You can also determine the right amount of time to set aside for the all-important appointment-making step (use 6 minutes per dial if you don’t know).
My guess is that after you’ve run these numbers, you’ll be depressed as to the number of dials and the time you’ll need. Better to know than not, though, so you can adjust. Just set out to improve how efficiently and effectively you do it—or lower your goal.
If you’d like a tool to help you calculate that, let me know. We’ve developed an Activity Calculator that will do exactly that. Or, if you’d like more information on the topic of why no team of sales professionals has ever failed to at least double the number of Initial Appointments they were setting after going through one of our programs, give us a call or drop us a line. We love talking appointment making!
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called Coldcalling101™. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations—the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 817 224-9900 or at bcaponi@caponipg.com. You can also find answers to many of your challenges in our books: Contrary to Popular Belief, Cold Calling DOES Work! Volume I: Effectiveness, The Art of Appointment Making and Volume II: Efficiency, the Science of Appointment Making.
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