5 Steps to Boost Your Sales Success Rate by 250%

Looking to boost your sales success rate? Well – if you're not, you probably don't work in sales!

Why do 70%+ of businesses fail? What causes your employees to fail to meet their objectives? Why are your salespeople missing quota?

It’s not that the ideas weren’t great, it’s not because your employees don’t work hard and it’s not because your salespeople aren’t making enough calls. Plain and simple it is because there isn’t an effective strategy in place. There isn’t a simple process for ensuring execution.

70% Failure Rate = MASSIVE FAIL.

At CFS, we use a simple strategy developed by the military.

In combat, soldiers utilized nothing more than a stick in the sand. By drawing a simple “Y” they developed a comprehensive strategy that

1. was easily understood
2. established a clear plan of attack
3. took into account the assets they had to carry out the plan.

This simple strategy has been proven time and time again to be effective more than 70% of the time.

Every effective strategy has the following five components:

1. Outcomes – What do we want to achieve?
2. Assets – What do we have to achieve the outcome?
3. Behaviors – What action will we take to achieve the outcome?
4. Pitfalls – What distractions and inhibitors should we watch out for?
5. Gut Check– Is this viable?

This strategy was popularized in the book Tribal Leadership by John King and Dave Logan.

5 Steps to Boost Your Sales Success Rate by 250%

Step 1: Outcomes –

The top of the “Y”. Declare your desired outcome, your goal, and your objective.

This could be to develop a comprehensive sales and marketing plan, to boost sales by 20% (contact CFS if you want to do this!), or to meet quota for Q4.

To be successful, it's important to clearly define your goal so that even a stranger could understand it. Think about it like this: if you were to meet someone on the street, could you explain your goal so they could understand how it's executed and delivered?

It's easier to reach your goal if the outcome is understood.

Step 2: Assets –

The left stem of the “Y”. List the assets you currently have that will allow you to achieve your desired outcome.

These could be personal traits, family support, trusted advisors, your networking group, having a superior product or service, or having an exceptional team. List the strengths you have, the resources available to you or the relationships you can foster.

Remember, big-picture goals will need an army of help. Utilize your assets to work towards completion as efficiently as possible. You never know what perspective they may be able to offer you along the way.

Step 3: Behaviors –

The right stem of the “Y”. List the behaviors and action you will take to achieve your goal.

These could include attending networking meetings, being a guest speaker, writing engaging social media content, scheduling lunch, breakfast or coffee with referral partners, going to the gym, or recharging with family.

The breadth of the assets and behaviors really depends on the scope of the outcome. If the outcome is to have double digit 3 year growth then the assets and behaviors should be in line with that outcome. If the outcome is to reach quota for Q4 then the assets and behaviors for that limited timeframe should correspond.

Brainstorm ways to link behaviors to assets as well. What behaviors lead to the utilization of certain assets? Thinking in this manner will keep your strategy on the path to success.

Step 4: Pitfalls –

You must be prepared for pitfalls that may get in the way of boosting your sales success rate.

Pitfalls are anything that you find yourself doing that distracts you from the behaviors you listed to achieve your outcome. It is important to write these down and share them with your team. This way, they recognize when things of off track and hold each other accountable to achieving success. Additionally, it's a great way to brainstorm potential pitfalls that some people may experience over others.

Think about it: limited perspective is a huge pitfall. With that said, avoid limited perspective by brainstorming and collaborating before you execute a new strategy.

Step 5: Gut Check –

The final step is to do a gut check and determine if you have an “unlocked strategy.”

In order to have an “unlocked strategy,” ask yourself the following:

1. Do I have enough assets to support achieving the outcome?
2. What about the appropriate behaviors to support the assets and the appropriate assets to support the behaviors?
3. Do I have the right behaviors to support achieving the outcome?

If your answer is ‘no' to any of these questions, you have a “locked strategy.” With a “locked strategy,” you must either revise the assets and/or the behaviors you will execute in order to unlock your strategy.

Share your strategy with family, friends, colleagues and trusted advisors. Ask what is missing, how to improve the strategy and if they would like to be involved.

Can you boost your sales success rate?

Along with everything above, we also encourage you to share your success stories in the Strategy Map! By using this approach you will nearly triple your success rate from 30% to 70%+ overnight.

Remember this format when coming up with a strategy for growth. The truth is, real growth happens when you have a plan.

Remember, in sales, there's no such thing as luck! Think about where you have seen success in the past and try to replicate the behaviors performed and assets used to create a concrete strategy for sales success.