In my last post we talked about your closing ratio and the number of opportunities you need to reach your goal. As a reminder the formulas are: Number of Sales/Number of Opportunities = Closing Ratio and Sales Goal/Closing Ratio = Number of Opportunities needed. Now let's look at the rest of the equation.
How many working days this month?
This answer seems easy, but most people miss it the first time through. Yes there are 30 days in the month, but most of us work a 5 day work week not a 7 day week. With that said you probably only have 20 to 22 working days depending on what day the month starts and ends. Once you determine your working days you can then determine how many opportunities you need a day.
Number of Opportunities/Working days = Daily Plan
Now when you get up everyday you have a goal for the day. I need to see at least X number of opportunities. Now we could stop there, but the next logical question is: How do I get in front of X opportunities today? You can now take this same principal and drive it backwards to get that answer as well. What actions lead to that face to face opportunity? How many phone calls do you need to make to get that appointment? How many emails do I need to make to get that phone call? How many visits do I need to make before I get the face to face with the decision maker?
Now let's look at an easy real world situation. I have a salesperson who wanted to by new bedroom furniture; simple enough but he did not want to go into debt for it. The first thing we needed to determine was a timeline for this goal and how much it would cost. He decided that he wanted to get this done within 6 months and that it was going to cost $1,200. The next step was to back into the goal and break it down into a realistic timeline. Based on the numbers he needed to save $200 a month and at the end of month 6 he would have the funds. Given his average commissions this translated to less than 1 car extra a month, so he applied that 1 car to his formula above and within 5 month he had saved enough to get the bedroom furniture. He did the same thing to save for a down payment on a house as well!!
Yes, one bite at a time. The key in all of this is going to be your daily tracking (small bites) to reach your goal. You need to have the discipline that every day you are going to track your opportunities, phone calls, emails, or whatever the ACTION is that will get you to your goal. Tracking the actions that will get you to your dream is the "secret" to getting there once you have determined how to get there. If the boss tells you that you need to sell 17 widgets this month, the task might sound overwhelming, but if you break it down to the daily level, or even an hourly level, it becomes less of a mouthful. Now when broken down to the daily level, you know that you need to see 3 opportunities today, that becomes realistic.
Now it is time to work backwards into your goals and make those actions bite-sized pieces.
Real Life Example
Now let's look at an easy real world situation. I have a salesperson who wanted to by new bedroom furniture; simple enough but he did not want to go into debt for it. The first thing we needed to determine was a timeline for this goal and how much it would cost. He decided that he wanted to get this done within 6 months and that it was going to cost $1,200. The next step was to back into the goal and break it down into a realistic timeline. Based on the numbers he needed to save $200 a month and at the end of month 6 he would have the funds. Given his average commissions this translated to less than 1 car extra a month, so he applied that 1 car to his formula above and within 5 month he had saved enough to get the bedroom furniture. He did the same thing to save for a down payment on a house as well!!
Can a Mouse eat an Elephant?
Yes, one bite at a time. The key in all of this is going to be your daily tracking (small bites) to reach your goal. You need to have the discipline that every day you are going to track your opportunities, phone calls, emails, or whatever the ACTION is that will get you to your goal. Tracking the actions that will get you to your dream is the "secret" to getting there once you have determined how to get there. If the boss tells you that you need to sell 17 widgets this month, the task might sound overwhelming, but if you break it down to the daily level, or even an hourly level, it becomes less of a mouthful. Now when broken down to the daily level, you know that you need to see 3 opportunities today, that becomes realistic.
Now it is time to work backwards into your goals and make those actions bite-sized pieces.
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