Are All Sales Opportunities Equal?

The most widely accepted definition of a qualified sales opportunity is a decision-maker with a budget to purchase a product or service. But are all sales opportunities equal? Are identical offerings to two different buyers equal in value to the sales rep?

In the 1940s, Frank Bettger, author of the sales classic, "How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success," made several game-changing observations over a 12-month period:

-- 70% of sales were closed on the first meeting.
-- 23% closed on the second meeting.
-- 7% closed on the third meeting or after.
-- 50% of his time was spent chasing the 7% that closed on the third meeting or after.

By eliminating sales that did not close by the second meeting, Frank doubled his income!

When I learned Frank's simple and brilliant philosophy, I wondered if I could eliminate weak sales opportunities on the front end. How could I avoid high-effort, low-return sales, and sales I would never close?

Qualifying by itself is not enough for evaluation, so I assessed my best and weakest sales with questions like these:

* Which sales netted the highest profit with the least effort?

* What did those sales look like, including lead origin, products and services sold, price range, discount, and cycle length?

* With which types of customer was I most successful, company size, organizational makeup, decision-maker's position, buying committee size, and personality types?

From the answers, I developed a quantification method that helped me evaluate and segregate new sales opportunities.

By eliminating high-effort, low-return sales that pay lower commissions, wear you down, and drain your enthusiasm and passion, you can focus that lost time with a better attitude on high-return, lower-effort opportunities. This is a secret of top producers.