In these uncertain times the only way to succeed is to create your future.

And the only way to create your future is to enjoy a burgeoning sales order book.

Generating more sales was the focus of a workshop with Kraig Kramers on his CEO Tools which I facilitated with a group of CEOs to whom I am a ‘CEO Tormentor’ and deliver business training. 

Kraig’s response to the burning sales issue revolved around what causes sales – and harnessing this knowledge.

1. Establish what causes your sales   
   Everyone tracks sales and profit, but what if you tracked what causes sales? What activities take place at least 30 days before the sale – new account calls, telemarketing calls, response to website or blog, direct marketing activities, requests for proposals or quotes? Check your sales processes and uncover what it is.  
2. Use Leading Sales Indicators
   Knowing the activities that cause sales establishes your Leading Sales Indicators – so the level of activity around these indicators will cause sales to increase or plummet. Next establish the time lag between your Leading Sales Indicator and the sale being booked. In the field of strategy consulting I worked to a 12-week period from the initial face-to-face with a qualified prospect to the first invoice being raised. So if my direct marketing failed to deliver the required number of qualified prospects in a week, I knew the impact on revenue in three months time. My two Leading Sales Indicators were my direct marketing programme which included sending out mailers and the telemarketing follow up – and the weekly face-to-face appointments. A change in either of these gave me a powerful early warning system, and time to respond pro-actively.
3. Establish your Leading Sales Indicators
   Is it advertising/PR spend, number of quotes submitted, volume of telemarketing calls, number of sales feet on the ground, the amount of proposals out the door? For my construction CEOs it is requests for proposals, for those in retail it used to be advertising and direct mail spend and now also includes social media. For my office services CEOs its total number of targeted telemarketing calls.

Identify your key Leading Sales Indicators and manage them and, with my help, you can create your future with confidence and certainty.  Mail me richard.bosworth@whatifspecialist.com, follow @richardwhatif on Twitter and find me on LinkedIn under Richard Bosworth.