Telesales Success: Begin with the End in Mind

You may remember the following excerpt frombecause the person has concluded that they can't or
Steven Covey's book 7 Habits of Highly Effectivewon't meet expectations.
People: "Clients often ask me, 'how can we get ourOf course, exceptions occur. For instance, some
inside sales team to talk to more prospects?'people have seemingly lower activity but a higher
Sure...threats, begging, yelling, low level torture,close rate or a higher average sale. As long as the
coercion, and brut force entice reps to make moresales targets are being exceeded, I'm OK with this....if
calls as long as the manager is there with his whip,not, sales management could turn into a painful
but productivity plunges when the manager isn'tprocess for all involved.
around. I believe the motivation to expose yourselfThe following worksheet is an example of what I've
to rejection multiple times per day has to come fromused to help sales people determine their needed
within."activity. GREEN highlights are calculation fields.
For salespeople with the potential to be motivatedMonthly 2006
"from within", I have used the following exercise thatSales Goal $100,000 $1,200,000
beings with these two questions:Average Sale $5,000 $5,000
What do you want to earn in the next year? HowSales Needed 20 240
much do you need to sell in order to earn that sum?Estimated Close Rate 50% 50%
Then together, we calculate the daily level of activityNumber of NEW Deals Added to Pipeline 40 480
needed to accomplish that earning goal.Value of NEW Deals Added to Pipeline $200,000
While everyone says they want to make $100,000+$2,400,000
per year, most folks aren't willing to put in theContact Hit Rate (% interested of those contacted)
necessary effort. The difference between success20% 20%
and failure in goal-setting is the participants'Needed Monthly Contacts 200 2400
acknowledgement that they REALLY want to earnDials to Contacts 20% 20%
six figures and not just fantasize about it.Needed Dials 1000 12000
If sales are lacking, we examine why deals are beingDAILY GOALS
lost to competitors and then develop a closingNumber of NEW Deals Added To Pipeline Daily 2
strategy for the other deals in the pipeline. If theValue of NEW Deals Added to Pipeline Daily $10,000
pipeline is thin, usually the reason is insufficient activityApprox. Contacts per day 10
(calls and contacts).Approx. Dials per day 50
My motivational conversations with sales executivesSo, by beginning with the end in mind and working
generally go something like this, "I want to help youbackwards through the steps necessary to achieving
hit your goal, and I'm concerned you will come upcertain sales goals, your inside sales team will have a
short if something doesn't change." If after a fewroadmap for greater success. And that's a win-win
sessions, I don't see increased activity, it is generallyfor everyone involved, especially your organization.