Sales teams turnover at a rate of 40%, and nearly a third of all sales people working in the U.S. have been with their current company for less than 12 months. Though most people start on their sales career path knowing that sales jobs can be volatile, the thought of losing ones job can still be intimidating.
If your sales numbers are starting to drop and you’re worried about your job, there are a few things you can do to boost your numbers.
- Ask yourself, what are you trying to sell? If you’re having trouble closing, it might be simply because your pitch is off. It’s possible the person you made your last call to didn’t even understand what you were trying to sell them. Dig into your campaign and think about ways you could sell it better. Who needs your products or services? Which sales approaches seem to work? Clarifying your mission should help your focus.
- Set goals for yourself. Determine how many calls you want to make a day and how many proposals you want to make a month. Set monthly sales and profit goals and find a way to track and measure your profits. This should help you direct your energy where it’s needed most and focus on what will get you the best results.
- Focus on what your customer needs. Tailor your pitch to fit each new lead. You should always assume that the person you’re trying to sell to will only buy what they need, so make sure they understand why they need your product or service. Emphasize it’s potential to reduce costs, save time or solve problems. Be creative! Some customers are harder to convince than others.
- Be persistent. According to research, only 20% of sales leads are ever followed up, but 80% of non-routine sales will only occur after at least five follow-ups. The most important thing you can do is stick with it. Just calling again can end up setting you apart from the rest of the sales people on your team.
Do you have any tips to help sales people improve their numbers? Let us know in the comments!
