The Power of 15:7:1
Watch what this salesperson does – each day. Let’s call her Laura.
Laura lifts the telephone and dials 15 people. On average, she gets through to or makes contact with 7 people (let’s call them the “decision-makers”) - and she gets 1 booked appointment per day. That’s 5 appointments per week. That’s 15 dials, 7 contacts and 1 appointment. To make a sale, Laura will have to visit some people twice. On an average week, she does 8 visits (3 are “repeats”), and she will get 1 sale.
15:7:1 (Dials:Contacts:Appointments per Day)
5 New Appointments PER WEEK
3 Repeat Visits
8:1 Sale per Week
Why does she do 15 dials per day?
Laura’s goal for the year is to secure 50 contracts and her “ratios” tell ther something that is critical to securing the target: if she makes 15 dials a day, she will hit the target. In other words, she now knows how to go about guaranteeing she will hit the target.
Once she understands this formula, she now has 5 ways to sell more:
- She can make more dials.
- She can try to get through to more decision-makers.
- She can secure more appointments.
- She can increase their conversion rate.
- She can sell a higher value per deal.
Notice that when you analyze your activity and your numbers this way, you can figure out what to change in order to sell more and to hit the target that has been set for you.
W subscribe to these three principles:
1. Selling is not a numbers game; it’s a ratios game. The most effective salespeople measure two numbers at a time, because that’s what tells them how productive they are.
2. We also know that you never get 100% from any effort in sales - the yield will always be less – and usually substantially less.
3. A salesperson’s numbers are neither “good” nor bad” - the numbers are either right or wrong.
The most important thing that any salesperson needs to learn – and that the manager needs to teach – is not “how to sell”, but instead, how to go about hitting a target.