Whether you’re just starting out in sales or looking to build a rockstar sales team, it’s important to run the numbers. How much effort will it take to get the outcome desired (i.e. tons of closed deals)? What are the different variables at play? And which of those variables can you directly control when smiling and dialing?
Let’s say you need to book 15 meetings this month to hit quota, which isn’t asking much for most industries. To find out if 50 calls a day is enough to hit that 15 meetings goal, just work backwards to find out.
Let’s run the numbers — and stay with me here…
20 working days in a month x 50 calls a day = 1,000 calls per month
1,000 calls at a 15% answer rate = 150 conversations (let’s be real and say 75 conversations)
75 conversations at a 15% meeting booked rate = 11 appointments on calendar
11 appointments at an 80% show rate = 9 appointments held
And ideally the AE or closer can convert at least 25-50% of those 9 appointments.
Is your head spinning yet? Track with me.
So… is 50 calls per day enough? Not quite!
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I’d recommend doubling or even tripling your outbound calls each day. Let’s work those same percentages, but with a higher call volume. This time with 150 calls a day rather than just 50.
20 days x 150 calls a day = 3,000 calls per month
3,000 calls at a 15% answer rate = 450 conversations (but let’s call it 225 to be conservative)
225 conversations at a 15% book rate = 34 appointments on calendar
34 appointments at an 80% show rate = 27 appointments held
And just like that you about doubled your quota. Nice work!
The big idea here is that once you know your numbers, you can work backwards to find out exactly how many cold calls you have to make daily. Obviously, your industry and offer matter. Your sales cycle matters. The price point matters. There are lots of unknowns, but the law of averages apply to every product or service sold. So you should know these averages to a T!
RELATED: Creating and Tracking Pillar KPIs in Sales
Now Beat Those Averages
Do you want to be just average? Didn’t think so. You want to beat the curve and stand out as a sales superstar. How do you do that?
First, I’ll go out and say it. The number one predictor of success in sales is “sales activities performed.” Plain and simple. If you’re dialing 50 contacts a day while your colleague is dialing 150, well, we already ran those numbers. He’s beating you 100% of the time! So if you aren’t taking massive action and upping your call volume, that’s where you start. Turn up the volume.
Now, am I saying cold calling is a numbers game? No, I’m not. Not entirely. But at least 50% of your success does depend on your discipline and hustle to cold call at a high volume. And thankfully it’s the easiest thing in your control.
Improve Call Volume: This requires a mindset shift. You cannot allow yourself to call 5-10 prospects and then scroll through Instagram for 30 minutes. Put blockers on those apps and make a commitment to yourself — literally draft a contract and sign it! — that you will make at least 100 calls today. And 100 calls tomorrow. And 100 calls every day. Imagine what this will do for your career and life.
Improve Answer Rate: You can’t control if someone will answer or not, right? Not so fast. You can dramatically improve your answer rate with the right list and right approach. First, don’t call headquarters — always call cell/mobile phones. Always call the decision maker and never the gatekeeper. And always call when the prospect is most likely to answer (before the traditional work day starts at 9am). You can control the quality of the leads you call. If the phone numbers are outdated, you’re toast. So demand this of your sales manager — you need good leads to meet and beat quota. If they refuse to help, find them yourself. It’s an investment in your future.
Tip: Answer rates often depend on the industry. Let’s say you’re calling restaurants, you’ll get an 80-90% answer rate (they must answer for their customers/vendors). Healthcare, about 50% (they must answer for their patients). Other industries, like B2B services, might answer 15% of the time. That’s why I went with that conservative number in my math above.
Improve Book-Rate: This boils down to quality of conversations, which is entirely in your control. My three tips here are to learn to master tonality, ask better questions, and listen more than you speak. It will also help to prepare for the most common objections (you’ll hear the same 3-5 objections on 90% of calls). Empathize with your prospect and keep the conversation going. There is a strong correlation between the length of your conversation and whether or not you book a meeting.
Improve Show-rate: Prospects not showing up to your meetings? It’s normal to have a small fraction of your meetings on the calendar to fall through. We’re OK with 10-15% no-show rate. If you get past 20% though, something is broken. I recommend sending out an email the day before the meeting as a reminder, and then one more email an hour or two before the sales meeting. You can schedule and automate these emails — so it’s almost no extra effort on your part. But get those meetings to stick!
RELATED: How to Dramatically Reduce Your No-Show Rate for Sales Appointments
Improve your sales numbers: Remember, just work backwards! How many calls are you making? Not enough? Call more! How is your lead list? Not good enough? Get a better one! What are the conversations like? Not great? Improve them by learning tonality, asking the right questions, and listening! How are your show rates? Poor? Put a system in place to get those C-Level butts in chairs. And if you can’t do it, get in touch with me and I’ll make it happen.
Is it really that simple? It’s simple, but it’s not easy. It requires something of you. It requires you to change your mindset and habits. Let’s touch on that next.
It’s Not Supposed to be Easy
It’s not supposed to be easy. There was never a time that 100% of prospects picked up the phone. There was never a time when 100% of prospects pitched actually converted into buyers. It’s just not reality. If that were the case, everyone would be like Scrooge McDuck and diving through their fortunes right now. So as salespeople, we have to adapt, get creative, and work with what we have.
I always recommend things like varying your touchpoints in a multi-channel outreach campaign. Some months prospects will be biting on the lines, other months the phones will feel like a ghost town. So diversify your outreach and get used to social selling on LinkedIn and YouTube.
You know what you have to do. Now it’s time to make it happen. Take your quota and double it. If you’re expected to book 15 appointments, shoot for 50 and land on 30. And remember, work backwards to find that it only takes 100-150 calls per day to achieve that outcome. That’s doable! The ball is in your court, my friend.
Until next time…
Johnny-Lee Reinoso