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Informative Articles

Assumptions – The Hidden Sales Killer
Assumptions can kill a sale. In my sales training workshops, I frequently discuss the importance of not making assumptions about a person before, during, or after the sales process. Participants frequently nod and tell me that they NEVER make...
CRM/SFA That Accelerates Sales: The Sales Process Integration Approach
Has your company struggled with Sales Force Automation (SFA) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software? If so, you’re not alone. It’s estimated that between 65 and 80 percent of all system implementations end in failure*. Sales people...
Profitable Growth Is Everyone's Business - A Book Summary
This article is based on the following book: Profitable Growth Is Everyone's Business "10 Tools You Can Use Monday Morning" By Ram Charan Published by Crown Publishing Group, 2004 ISBN 1-4000-5152-5 198 pages The days of ruthless downsizing and...
Sales Activity Report for Management
Managing one's sales division can be a daunting task. This task can be even more daunting when you are expected to manage a large number of sales representatives. Since their success is your number one responsibility, it is important that...
Work from Home: 5 required steps to generate sales.
If you're reading this you are probably between 27-44 years old (although some of you progressive types will be just under 27 and a bit older than 44). You work in a sales-type situation mainly from home. Meaning if you don't get sales you...
 
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


 

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  • 10 critical questions to ask before hiring a consultant

  • 10 lessons for every shoestring entrepreneur

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  • 10 reasons why companies should start doing business online

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • book summary the e myth revisited

  • boost profits dramatically with consignment sales

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • lone wolf lead wolf

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  • making sales online is easy isnt it

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  • networking 101

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  • 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

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