There are only five ways to increase the financial performance of a business. They are as follows (with the related sales activity in parentheses):

1. Reduce expenses without reducing income (find cheaper leads).

2. Increase activity without reducing effectiveness (make more sales contacts, same close rate).

3. Increase conversion efficiency without increasing expenses (raise close rate).

4. Increase value of each transaction (raise profit margins).

5. Increase volume of each transaction (sell more to each buyer).

The first two are the most obvious but may be difficult to achieve.

Reducing lead cost may be difficult because, in slow economic times, leads can be harder to get and will usually cost more in terms of money or effort.

Increasing sales contacts without decreasing effectiveness requires “motivation.” To expect large gains from an already overworked sales force requires the introduction of a new cultural mindset in your organization. If your organization is truly underperforming because of lack of motivation, it is more likely that there is “an elephant in the room” that no one is willing to confront. The business will stagnate until the “elephant” is removed.

Increasing sales effectiveness by increasing the close rate, profit margin, and average sale volume can be achieved through fine tuning, training, and the development and use of effective sales tools.

Hal Slater specializes in helping companies improve their sales effectiveness and can be found at www.advancedselling.com - the home of the Power of 1%™ Calculator that will produce a free report computing the value of a 1% increase in your close rate.