Episode 072 Are you suffering from this?

Lisa Thal is an Author, Speaker, and Business Coach.  She wrote the book "Three Word Meetings."  A Simple Strategy to Engage, Inspire, and Empower Your Team.  Lisa coaches leaders on how to take their sales and business meetings to the next level with fun and interesting 3-word  topics to get your sales team motivated and inspired.  She has over 33 years of marketing and leadership experience.

Episode 072 You and your sales could be suffering from Low Probability! 

This episode provides several strategies to increasing your Law of averages and improving your probability ratios.

I can think of countless cases when applying the Law of Probability strategy was the difference in achieving that outcome if you put yourself in a specific situation and continue to work towards that outcome, your probability increases.

The Law of Averages says that a ratio will begin to appear if you do something often enough. For example, if you talk to 10 people, and one says yes, a ratio will begin to appear; you are at 1:10. You'll notice that once it starts, it tends to continue. If you talk to 10 people you'll get 1.

 Ask, and you get, don't, and you won't—the law of probability.

It is a simple concept and effective. The key in sales is to keep moving and keep talking to more people, keep meeting, calling, and exploring opportunities to increase your chances and increase your ratio. And this way, Mathematically, you can increase your chances of converting more clients. Repetition is the key. If you do this, you can expect this.

 

If you put yourself in the situation more times, you learn from each experience and gain knowledge along the way.  

Once you understand how the Law of Averages works, you can start making it work for you. 

 

Here are three easy steps using the Law of Averages to help improve your sales.

Know your numbers.

For many of you, you have access to a CRM program that can help track your performance. If not, create a spreadsheet of your progress. For the next two weeks, keep doing what you have been doing. The only thing you should do differently, for the time being, is to track your activities. Note the number of people you call or meet, note whether you were able to reach the decision-maker, and then, of course, state whether you sold them anything. At the end of the two weeks, review your ratios. I recommend tracking a few different things (all in ratios)

• Number of calls you made each day 
• Number of Decision Makers you reached 
• Number of appointments you set ( ratio of meetings you set)
• Number of proposals you closed (ratio of proposals closed)

Do the Work.  

After you know your Law of Averages, you can get to work meeting your sales goals. The more calls you make, the more sales you will make – now you have a clearer picture of how many calls you need to make to hit your numbers.

Consider this data according to Hubspot's study. In 2007 it took an average of 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. Today 8 - that's almost twice as many calls. 44% of us give up after only one attempt. So we need to manage our mindset. Look at the opportunity and stay patient and persistent. You can create your 8 step program to reaching the decision-maker. For example, step one research the client and have a solid VBR. Step two call to set the meeting. Step three email the client. Step four connect on Linkedin or another social channel. Step five send a successful case study from a current client.  

Improve your Law of Averages.  

There are several ways you can improve your average and generate more success from your efforts.

• Own the day. Distractions happen every day to us. Each week, map out your goals and set the agenda for the day. Review your metrics and progress at the end of each day and then at the end of each week.
• When do you make the call?   Improve your averages by calling the client at the right time based on their category. If you are calling on a restaurant, you would not call at noontime when they are busy. You would call at 8 am or 3 pm. What I discovered was Wednesday and Thursday seemed to be the best days of the week for connecting with prospects on the phone. The best hours, 4 pm-5 pm, has the highest engagement. Or call before 8:30 when a company opens, you will likely connect with the business owner. Try to avoid calling between 11 am-2 pm that has proven to be the lowest engagement hours.

After you have had some time to familiarize yourself with the Law of Averages, you can use it to improve your sales. This is why I recommend keeping track of your numbers every day, even if you think you already have a good handle on things. Look for small ways to improve your appointment setting, your pitch method, and then use the Law of Averages to determine if you are seeing results and improving your ratios.

 

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