Stage fright: Closing deals doesn't have to be scary

Stage Fright

The average CRM sales process has about five open stages.

From our experience, 30% to 50% of lost deals fall out from one particular stage – usually the early middle stages.

Spot a Pattern

A great way to improve your business is through marginal gains. Spot a pattern, such as 35% of your lost deals fall out at the “Quote Sent to Client” stage, and target that as a KPI for a few months.

The new target would be to get this down to 28%.

Once a week, get all your sales reps to target the opportunities in these stages: extra phone calls, emails, offering that extra bit of assistance to the client to get them over the line.

The Benefit

Consistent selling is not just about hitting target each month.

It is about deciding on a goal, building a strategy to hit your goal, and reverse-engineering KPI targets to ensure you stay on track. The confidence boost from targeting an actionable KPI such as this, and succeeding, makes a massive impact.

Repeat this process with a new pattern or KPI every month or two, and watch as your reps become more focused, and bottom line improves.