Win More Sales By Thinking Like a NFL Team
Win More Sales By Thinking Like a NFL Team
The other day while radio surfing in between driving to some sales coaching appointments I heard a sports announcer cite a National Football League statistic. This statistic indicated that those teams who scored first and obviously early in the game won 75% of all games. (I attempted to verify this through Google, but was not successful.)
Just imagine, for a moment, if your sales conversion rate was 75%. What would that do for your piggy bank?
What this says for sales professionals is that your sales actions must win points early in the game if you truly want to earn the sale. This statistic makes sense given some of the sales statistics within the marketplace suggest one half of leads are never followed up to most earned sales happen between the 5th and 12th contact. (Source: National Sales Executives Association)
So what would happen if you thought of your sales process as a game in which you have only 7 plays? Then upon successful execution of each play, you award yourself a score.
Your first play is attracting the attention of that qualified potential customers (a.k.a. prospect). Sales Coaching Tip: Replace prospect with the phrase qualified potential customer. Now you begin to think of that individual as a real person and not just a means to an end to realize your goal to increase sales.
Give yourself one point for that early effort. Next, you must build the relationship. When this is play is completed, awarded yourself 2 points.
Your next action is fact finding by discovering those known and unknown needs or issues. Upon successful execution of this play, you earn 3 points.
Now is the time for presenting the case play. You must demonstrate the value of your solutions to your potential qualified customer. Execute this play well and add another 4 points to your total score.
Your fifth play is gaining commitment. If you have executed all previous plays flawlessly, then this play is completed fairly quickly. Whether the outcome is a hand shake, a signed contract or a verbal commitment to proceed forward, give yourself 5 points.
The sale is earned, but now you must deliver. Since the buyer has placed her or his faith in you, you are the sales professional are responsible for the successful delivery of the sale. Done well, give yourself another 6 points.
Finally, the seventh play is at hand. You must follow-up and ask for 3 referrals. This play is not well executed by many sales professionals. However, by adopting this marketing activity since the sale is completed, you can begin a new with those 3 referrals and give yourself 7 points in the process.
Yes, sales and thinking like a NFL team have a lot in common. Your challenge is to score first, score often and to deliver a quality engagement if you truly wish to increase sales.
Win More Sales By Thinking Like a NFL Team - To learn more about this author, visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website.
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Yes, winning in sales and in sports obviously have a lot in common. However, a recent statistic may provide even greater insight in that you may need to start thinking like a NFL team.
The other day while radio surfing in between driving to some sales coaching appointments I heard a sports announcer cite a National Football League statistic. This statistic indicated that those teams who scored first and obviously early in the game won 75% of all games. (I attempted to verify this through Google, but was not successful.)
Just imagine, for a moment, if your sales conversion rate was 75%. What would that do for your piggy bank?
What this says for sales professionals is that your sales actions must win points early in the game if you truly want to earn the sale. This statistic makes sense given some of the sales statistics within the marketplace suggest one half of leads are never followed up to most earned sales happen between the 5th and 12th contact. (Source: National Sales Executives Association)
So what would happen if you thought of your sales process as a game in which you have only 7 plays? Then upon successful execution of each play, you award yourself a score.
Your first play is attracting the attention of that qualified potential customers (a.k.a. prospect). Sales Coaching Tip: Replace prospect with the phrase qualified potential customer. Now you begin to think of that individual as a real person and not just a means to an end to realize your goal to increase sales.
Give yourself one point for that early effort. Next, you must build the relationship. When this is play is completed, awarded yourself 2 points.
Your next action is fact finding by discovering those known and unknown needs or issues. Upon successful execution of this play, you earn 3 points.
Now is the time for presenting the case play. You must demonstrate the value of your solutions to your potential qualified customer. Execute this play well and add another 4 points to your total score.
Your fifth play is gaining commitment. If you have executed all previous plays flawlessly, then this play is completed fairly quickly. Whether the outcome is a hand shake, a signed contract or a verbal commitment to proceed forward, give yourself 5 points.
The sale is earned, but now you must deliver. Since the buyer has placed her or his faith in you, you are the sales professional are responsible for the successful delivery of the sale. Done well, give yourself another 6 points.
Finally, the seventh play is at hand. You must follow-up and ask for 3 referrals. This play is not well executed by many sales professionals. However, by adopting this marketing activity since the sale is completed, you can begin a new with those 3 referrals and give yourself 7 points in the process.
Yes, sales and thinking like a NFL team have a lot in common. Your challenge is to score first, score often and to deliver a quality engagement if you truly wish to increase sales.
Win More Sales By Thinking Like a NFL Team - To learn more about this author, visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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