In our previous blog, Kalle and Janne opened up the mathematics of sales, especially through quantitative mathematics (check out the blog), and we wanted to continue with the same theme.
Mathematics can prove not only the effect of quantity changes, but also of quality and directional changes! Of course, this is theoretical, but a good story always has the power of proof.
What would happen if, for example, your salespeople improved the quality of their meetings or met better potential customers every day?
Nothing at first - but in the long run, exponentially. This is what super productivity is.
Super-productivity means that even a small improvement a day can lead to incredible results in the long run. As humans, we often overestimate what we can achieve in the short term and underestimate what we can achieve in the long term. Mathematically, super productivity (a 1% improvement every day) looks like this:
- 1.01^7 = 1.07 (change per week)
- 1.01^ 30 = 1.34 (change per month)
- 1.01^365 = 37.78 (change per year)
So change is slow at first, but over time it adds up in huge numbers.
Note that the same works in reverse - if you slip up a little, you won't notice the change immediately, but over a longer period of time, things will fall apart completely.
- 0,99^7 = 0.93 (change per week)
- 0,99^30 = 0.73 (change per month)
- 0.99^365 = 0.03 (change per year)
So if your current level is good, make sure it doesn't slip!
What could a better percentage per day mean in practice then?
As a salesperson, when you encounter a customer - another person or other people - the quality of the encounter determines the outcome. When the salesperson and the customer both feel a positive vibration in the encounter, sales success is more likely. So ask yourself as a salesperson - is our encounter the best or worst day of the month for the customer! At its best, the meeting creates a great shared atmosphere, a sense of accomplishment and mutual gains.
A percentage better per day can mean, for example, better preparation for the meeting, improvements during the meeting, better post-meeting work, better presentation of the offer or better operations after the deal is secured. Here are some tips on what can be achieved by doing a percent better per day!
A great checklist before the first meeting:
- You have confirmed the agenda and schedule with the client.
- You have got to know the client company and the person/people you are meeting.
- You have prepared better thinking questions using e.g. the SPIN model (customer situation, customer challenges, consequences of customer situation and challenges, expected return on meeting customer needs).
- You have a couple of value-added insights into the customer's industry value chain, customers or other stakeholders.
- We believe in positive psychology, so this is the only no-no on the awesomeness checklist: do NOT, at least not after the first two minutes, start your own 45-minute powerpoint slideshow, aka PowerPointSlideShow, during which the client takes a nap behind a black Teams screen.
A great checklist for the first meeting:
- Once again, make sure to check the meeting schedule and agenda.
- Ask and listen - you have two ears and one mouth = Listen when they want to talk to you and talk when they want to listen to you.
- Once you have found a common space through dialogue, briefly summarise where you might be able to help the client.
- Schedule the next step, such as a bid presentation, on your calendar and make sure all the relevant people from the client side can attend.
A checklist of awesomeness after the first meeting:
- Send a thank you message and a short summary of the conversation.
- Record a memo and summary in CRM to increase your organisation's customer knowledge.
- If necessary, work with the rest of the organisation to prepare the best solution for your customer's needs.
- Prepare for the bid presentation.
A checklist for greatness in a bid presentation:
- Go through the cooperation proposal with discussion and questions - work through the necessary changes immediately with the client's people, iterating together.
- If the customer is ready to decide now, ask for the deal, and if their internal decision meeting is later, see if there's anything else they need to support their decision.
- Arrange a joint update after the client's closing time and ask if you can be served.
A checklist of awesomeness after the sale:
- Keep your promise.
- Plan with your client how to actively develop ongoing cooperation and put these moments on the calendar.
Remember - we overestimate what we can achieve in a short time. If there are gaps in all of the above, don't fix it all at once, but take a more leisurely approach to change and make things more likely to become habits. If you need help with this, please get in touch - we're happy to help!
