Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

Sales Process - How to Avoid Wasting Time on Prospects Who CAN'T or WON'T Pay
Do you have blind faith that, if you can somehow convince a prospect to engage in a sales cycle, you will eventually make a sale? If you do, watch out! This belief can waste your time, effort, and company resources. Unfortunately, time and...
Spam! What's the Real Problem
Most people now know the official definition of spam- Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE for short). That definition does several things we should look at. It categorizes spam as commercial It limits it to email Calling anything...
The Game Plan – the Difference Between Small Business Success and Failure
It is an American dream to own a business. But sadly, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, only 1 in 5 businesses is still in business 5 years after it opens. A business needs a great business plan, but it doesn’t give management...
The New Ways To Do The Business: MBA or CIO?
The old and standard business administration concepts included in any current MBA program are very important, but today the companies are very different. This new situation strong demands a new MBA program including the General Control...
Work Priorities: Where Can You Spend Your Time Most Effectively?
Understanding where you can spend time most effectively requires concentration in three areas: Doing what you enjoy Concentrating on your strengths Understanding Job Excellence Let's start with doing what you enjoy. Your...
 
Riding The Sales Rollercoaster

Riding the Sales Rollercoaster By Mark Wardell

It's one of the biggest frustrations in business. One month you're busier than you've ever been, and the next month you're wondering if you'll make payroll. Why is it that so many businesses ride the "feast or famine" rollercoaster?

There are two main reasons why your sales might fluctuate in this way. One is externally imposed, and the other is internally imposed, but both can be managed successfully with a little planning.

Externally imposed sales fluctuations are driven by factors outside your direct control. For example, a roofing company often can't do much work during the rainy months, while an umbrella retailer might find it hard to make sales during the dry months.

One solution to this problem is to expand your product or service offering. Your company may have skills that are transferable to a service that is needed in your naturally slower months. For example, in our area, winter is more of a rainy season, so a roofing company could become a roofing and drainage company. They could install drainage tiles and so forth when they can't work on roofs. Similarly, the umbrella distributor could expand its product line to include products people need in the summer.

More often, however, sales fluctuate due to the owner's focus of attention. These are your internally imposed fluctuations, and they happen something like this.

A web design company needs more sales, so the owner focuses all her attention on finding new business and aggressively ramps things up. That's great; except that now she has so much work that she needs to refocus her attention on project management or she'll risk falling behind. She works hard to get the work done, but when she finally looks up from her desk, she


notices she's out of work. So she jumps back on the sales train and digs up a bunch more work. And on it goes... the sales and production departments going back and forth from out of control busy, to sitting around with nothing to do, and back again. It's an endless cycle that's easy to get caught up in (we see it all the time), but it doesn't have to work that way.

At Wardell, we manage this process using a simple, yet powerful, forward-looking sales tool. Here's how it works.

Begin by tracking your sales process in detail. Using a spreadsheet (or your favorite sales-tracking software) track the number and dollar value of all your warm leads or sales quotes. Next, estimate a closing date for each potential sale. And finally, compare those numbers to your actual sales.

Over time, you'll learned how many of your prospects are likely to turn into clients and when, including the potential dollar value of those sales... extremely powerful information.

Follow this simple formula, and you'll be able to predict fairly accurately how much business is coming down the pipeline, months before you get there. If you don't have enough prospects in the pipeline, you can do something about it before it's too late. Conversely, if you have plenty of work coming up next month, you can either refocus your sales efforts on the following month, or prepare yourself for a busier month.

Either way, you'll take charge of the sales rollercoaster and build a much more sustainable business.

About the author:

About the author:



Mark Wardell is President and Founder of Wardell Professional Development, a business consulting firm, focused on the unique needs of private growth companies. mailto:info@wardell.biz http://www.wardell.biz


 

SellingPower.com | Solutions For Sales Management
Targeted to sales managers and upper tier sales professionals, this magazine helps you train, educate, and motivate your sales team.
www.sellingpower.com
 
Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
The official web site of the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management has moved to the University of Missouri, Columbia, which is the home of the ...
mkt.cba.cmich.edu
 
Management Articles
Sales Management. Unleash Your Brand Ambassadors. A recent GlaxoSmithKline decision took the advertising industry by storm: The pharmaceutical giant ...
gmj.gallup.com
 
Manage Smarter - Performance Gateway
Manage Smarter is the online home of sales & marketing management, incentive, potential, presentations and training magazine.
www.salesandmarketing.com
 
The 5 Biggest Sales Management Blunders
Learn the biggest sales management blunders and how you can avoid them. Spending the necessary time wearing your sales manager hat will help foster a ...
sbinformation.about.com
 
DEI Sales Management
Stephan Schiffman's DEI- Management Group, offers sales training tools and educational forums designed to teach: Cold Calling and Closing Techniques, ...
www.dei-sales.com
 
Sales Management Training - Selling Seminars - Reinforcement & ROI ...
Offers sales and sales management training. Sign up to receive the monthly newsletter.
www.brooksgroup.com
 
Sales Management Resource International
Sales Management services, sales training, sales solutions, sales people. We provide a systematic approach to providing immediate sales results ...
www.salesmanagement.com.au
 
Reconnect Sales Management to Profitability - HBS Working Knowledge
"Work your pay plan" is one of the central tenets of sales management. ... In a similar way, top managers can reconnect their sales management to ...
hbswk.hbs.edu
 
Amazon.com: Sales Management: Books: Robert J. Calvin
Amazon.com: Sales Management: Books: Robert J. Calvin by Robert J. Calvin.
www.amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Seven Secrets to Successful Sales Management: The ...
Amazon.com: Seven Secrets to Successful Sales Management: The Sales Manager's Manual: Books: Jack D. Wilner by Jack D. Wilner.
www.amazon.com
 
Personal Selling and Sales Management: KnowThis.com
KnowThis,com offers information, resources, reference and links for sales people, sales managers and other involved in managing a sales force including ...
www.knowthis.com
 
Sales Training and Sales Management: KnowThis.com
KnowThis.com offers information, resources, reference and links for anyone involved in sales training or sales management or other managing issues involving ...
www.knowthis.com
 
SMR Career Services
Sales Management Resources is a professional executive search company, dedicated to providing consumer products companies the recruitment of exceptional ...
www.smrcareer.com
 
SalesVantage.com: B2B Advertising, Marketing and Sales Management ...
B2B Advertising, Marketing and Sales Management Directory, Newsfeed & Business Referral Service designed for sales, marketing & advertising executives.
www.salesvantage.com
 
Contact Management Software, Contact Manager & Sales Software for ...
PC World Gives Prophet Contact & Sales Manager 4 Stars · eWeek praises Prophet for building a sales management solution into Outlook for a reasonable price ...
www.avidian.com
 
Sales Management- 7 Secrets to Successful Sales Management, the ...
7 Secrets to Successful Sales Management, written by, Jack Wilner, one of today's leading sales management trainers, coaches and consultants, ...
www.7salessecrets.com
 
Sales Management Training
Sales management training for the complex sale includes business development programs and sales training seminars.
www.primesalesmanagement.com
 
Contact Management Software (SFA) price quotes - Free sales ...
Contact management software buying advice and free sales management software quotes from leading suppliers.
www.buyerzone.com
 
Waterhouse Group - Sales Training Programs: Consultative, Value ...
With over 20 years of experience in sales, sales management and sales training, ... Selling Success: The Journal of Sales & Sales Management ...
www.waterhousegroup.com
 
 

 
Content Menu
  • 10 critical questions to ask before hiring a consultant

  • 10 lessons for every shoestring entrepreneur

  • 10 profit boosting tips to increase the success of your affiliate program

  • 10 reasons why companies should start doing business online

  • 10 ways for entrepreneurs to find more time

  • 11 secrets to leadership in sales

  • 11 ways to elevate your sales

  • 3 steps to turning ok sales into unbelieveable results

  • 5 tips for savvy use of your home equity line of credit

  • 6 steps to laying out your competitive strategy

  • 7 explosive strategies to maximize your google adwords campaigns

  • 7 tips for product enhancement to increase your sales

  • 8 procedures to take control of sales and marketing

  • alarming marketing trend

  • are you still broke with 10 000 people in your downline

  • army ranger reveals how to control corporate stress

  • assumptions the hidden sales killer

  • astute pricing by sales representatives can expand profit

  • a new look for business in the future

  • a power technique for boosting sales

  • a profitable growth formula for sales managers

  • a real crm strategy or just tracking customers

  • bankers in denial

  • black belt sales meeting moves

  • book summary the e myth revisited

  • boost profits dramatically with consignment sales

  • boost your business sales with credit card payment solutions

  • building an email marketing list

  • businesses should specialise not generalise

  • business after the iraqi war

  • can a sales leaseback arrangement make investing in orlando investment more safe and reliable

  • cash flow management

  • cash flow profits and the cash conversion cycle

  • celebrating successes the power of compliments

  • characteristics of high performance teams

  • coaching for success

  • commodity sales prospecting ‹¨« how to stand out from your competitors

  • communicating value

  • conducting business through b2b e marketplaces

  • confessions of a reluctant saleswoman

  • create a positive upbeat can do workforce and dazzle the customer with your caring

  • creating your internet marketing plan

  • crm for beginners customer relationship management basics

  • crm sfa that accelerates sales the sales process integration approach

  • customer service and call center outsourcing whats the buzz

  • dialogue the four dialogic principles for successful communication

  • does your business need a toll free 800 number

  • doing business online private b2b exchanges

  • domain name and web hosting hell

  • dont shoot the sales team

  • do you feel overwhelmed running a web business try this

  • do you have a picture of your customer

  • do you need a personal assistant

  • easily slash your comms costs using web conferencing

  • education and outsourcing 2 ways to improve your business

  • einstein definition of insanity

  • entrepreneurship what does it really mean

  • financial services marketing insights a marketing compass

  • finding rest for the direct sales company mom

  • first the key to successful sales

  • five dirt cheap ways to increase sales in your cleaning business

  • five strategies to strengthen your companys financial management

  • five tips for analyzing an income statement

  • five top tips for a prosperous 2004

  • forecasting and surviving a layoff or downsizing

  • gaining business intelligence

  • get coached

  • good bye bobby knight and all the sales managers like you

  • grants loans free credit cards and credit repair the whole truth and nothing but the truth

  • hiring and retaining good employees

  • hiring the best sales athletes

  • how to beat the 80 20 rule in sales performance part 1

  • how to beat the 80 20 rule in sales performance part 2

  • how to build a repeat client base in automobile sales

  • how to create multiple revenue streams for your home business

  • how to create your own successful and profitable affiliate program

  • how to cut duty cost and increase profit as an importer

  • how to decrease profits without really trying

  • how to define your companys sales job part 1

  • how to define your companys sales job part 2

  • how to easily increase your profits

  • how to enhance quality in your business

  • how to find an investment advisor

  • how to get money back for your process and procedures investments

  • how to get rich with network marketing

  • how to identify a problem solver

  • how to improve your management procedures usability

  • how to increase sales with automation improvements

  • how to join the 5 of internet business real money making pros regardless of the products you sell

  • how to maximize account penetration and jump start sales

  • how to maximize sales by minimizing windshield time

  • how to meet quality standards with iso 9001

  • how to promote your home business with ebooks

  • how to start a business plan

  • how you can learn to be a better manager

  • hunters and gatherers are you serving both their needs

  • hurdles to cross cultural business communication

  • if it was easy everybody would do it

  • if one does not do any planning one is planning to fail

  • increase sales in your home business with these 10 simple ideas

  • increase your income through international trade

  • increase your influence increase your sales

  • increase your pipeline deploying the cost effective sales team

  • increase your sales by 30 using internet collaboration networks

  • increasing sales with customer interaction points

  • index

  • industry pro interview expanding your market reach for more sales

  • internet marketing vs forex currency trading

  • introducing a mystery shopping program employees

  • investors avoid these 5 common tax mistakes

  • iso 9001 compliant program steps to build

  • is it time to hit the reset button on your sales department

  • is your business profitable

  • is your company growing fast enough for you

  • keeping your sales team motivated

  • leadership lessons for sales managers

  • leveraging open source technology

  • like it or notyoure in sales

  • lone wolf lead wolf

  • looking for a direct sales party plan company do you know what questions to ask

  • making sales online is easy isnt it

  • making sales online is easy isn t it

  • managing your business cash flow

  • maximize your home based business website sales

  • menu driven business planning

  • money management

  • multiply your sales

  • networking 101

  • network marketing book lovers guide 10 hot reads in 2005

  • no degree no problem

  • online success

  • only the weak ones quit

  • organization tips how to set up your database

  • outsourcing not just for big business

  • overcoming barriers to sales

  • overcoming sales objections for small business networks

  • overcoming small business networks sales objections

  • part 1 of 5 how pipe dreams can become realities

  • part 1 of 5 on the home business set up guide

  • part 2 of 5 how pipe dreams can become realities

  • part 2 of 5 on the home business set up guide

  • part 3 of 5 how pipe dreams can become realities

  • part 4 of 5 how pipe dreams can become realities

  • part 5 of 5 how pipe dreams can become realities

  • paypal dedication can leave your business exposed

  • phone interviews prepare to ace them

  • phone tips to get things done professional phone skills

  • planning to make a decision

  • ppc management when to give up on a loser

  • profitable growth is everyones business a book summary

  • properties for sale in cyprus please visit www propertyincyprus com

  • pr where it matters most

  • public relations defining your organization from the inside out

  • results of poor cross cultural awareness

  • riding the sales rollercoaster

  • rotator

  • rý eoc recruitment and retention employer of choice

  • sales 201 learning tools of your trade

  • sales activity report for management

  • sales and marketing terminology

  • sales and the importance of following up

  • sales commission what return should you expect on your sales compensation investment

  • sales leads how to generate quality sales leads through public speaking

  • sales lessons from the election

  • sales partners agents distributors licensing and franchises

  • sales performance and motivation how to get your edge back

  • sales planning

  • sales process how to avoid wasting time on prospects who cant or wont pay

  • sales process the secret to closing more sales

  • sales process what can you automate

  • sales success the 5 steps

  • sales territory management how to prioritize your activities to produce maximum results

  • securing second and third round venture capital financing

  • selecting sales tracking software for your small business

  • selling is easy when youre first fast and foremost

  • selling sales to customer service agents

  • seven cs to avoid procedure writing errors

  • short messaging service sms for enterprise messaging

  • should i stop wasting my salespeople on prospecting

  • six components of a good e commerce site

  • smart choices how to hire the best

  • spam whats the real problem

  • stop being a salesperson

  • stop waste fraud and abuse

  • strategic planning for salespeople

  • strategies for creating a niche business

  • survival tips for small businesses

  • swot analysis

  • telesales success begin with the end in mind

  • the 11 secrets to sales leadership

  • the biggest mistake in sales prospecting

  • the challenges of human resource management

  • the death of the loyal customer

  • the diamond cutter

  • the game plan the difference between small business success and failure

  • the inside scoop on mutual fund rip offs

  • the ins and outs of article submissions

  • the keys to buying motivation unlock the door to sales success

  • the key to high volume web sales

  • the millionaires favorite author

  • the new ways to do the business mba or cio

  • the perfect mutual fund

  • the road to opportunity in wholesale distribution

  • the sales trail

  • the secret to beating tiger woods at golf and its correlation to success in business

  • the six most common barriers to sales success

  • the steps from product idea to product success

  • the three most common mistakes sales managers make

  • the top 10 priorities that guard your five star reputation

  • the traits of great sales leaders

  • the world has changed what is a sales professional to do

  • this old business

  • thoughtleading the art of separating yourself from the pack

  • trade show tactics revealed

  • transform yourself from a salesperson into a businessperson

  • understanding ezine publishing

  • use magnetic gift cards to skyrocket restaurant sales and profits

  • using the internet automation as tools for salespeople

  • venture leasing a smarter way to build enterprise value

  • web conferencing a boon to businesss

  • whats a professional sales manager

  • what 80 of businesses dont know tips for improving your working capital management

  • what is an investor ready business plan

  • which of these 7 mistakes are you making in mlm

  • who says i cant offer this property for rent

  • why mobile sms text messaging

  • why performance based recruiting produces top sales performers

  • why small businesses fail or fail to thrive

  • why suppliers should use b2b exchanges

  • will your home business succeed or fail

  • work at home business ideas

  • work from home 5 required steps to generate sales

  • work priorities where can you spend your time most effectively

  • yesterdays hero