People in sales, especially people in direct sales, talk a lot about the Law of Averages. You will hear people credit the Law of Averages for their successes and, less frequently, blame it for their setbacks. Still, understanding the Law of Averages could make a valuable impact on your sales.

What is the Law of Averages?

The sales-y people of the world condense the Law of Averages down into the catchy phrase “more equals more.” To be a little less pithy, the Law of Averages implies that the more people you see (or prospects you call) the more sales you will make. Furthermore, each person develops his or her own personal Law of Averages to work with. For example, over time, you might discover that you successfully sell to one out of every 22 people you meet. That means that if you want to make ten sales, you need to pitch around 220 people.

Run The Numbers.

For the next two weeks, keep doing exactly what you have been doing. The only thing you should do differently for the time being is start taking better notes. Note the number of people you meet or call, note whether you were able to reach the decision maker and then, of course, note whether you sold them anything. At the end of the two weeks, bust out a sheet of scrap paper and figure out your ratios. I recommend tracking a few different things (all in ratios).

• Number of Decision Makers to Number of People Spoken to.
• Number of Sales to Number of People.
• Number of Sales to Number of Decision Makers.

Do the Work.

After you know your personal Law of Averages, you can get to work meeting your sales goals. The more people you see, the more sales you will make – now you have a clearer picture of how many people you need to speak to to hit your numbers.

Improve your Law of Averages.

After you have had some time to familiarize yourself with the Law of Averages, you can use it to make improvements to your sales. This is why I recommend keeping track of your numbers every day, even if you think you already have a good handle on things. Look for small ways to improve your pitch method and then use the Law of Averages to determine if you are really seeing results and improving your ratios.

Using the Law of Averages to improve your sales can be a somewhat labor-intensive process. Nevertheless, tracking your Law of Averages is worth the time and potential aggravation if it improves sales for your business.

Many struggling sales people look at top sales reps and think they somehow got lucky and that’s why they are doing well. It would be great if it were that easy to just luck-into success selling your product or services, however top sales reps understand the harder they work, the luckier they get.

Luck is really only a factor if someone is there when you call.

The good news is becoming a top sales rep in any field of sales only requires work ethic and developing the communication skills to become successful. If there is any luck involved with becoming a top sales person it would be in the form of simply catching people when they are home.

However, even that can be controlled to some degree. A rule we teach at here is the Rule of Three. This means if you call 3 companies, knock 3 doors in a row, or try to speak to 3 people at an event and no one has answered, or stopped to speak to you, you must make it a requirement that the 4th has someone there or that that 4th person will stop and speak to you.

Direct sales is a contact sport, and the more contacts you make, the higher chances you will have in making a sale. You could say that it’s luck, and you can certainly make up in numbers what you lack in skill, but developing your skills alongside of your work ethic is a recipe for success.

Consistency is essential if you want to become a top sales person.

There are two major areas you want to be consistent in and that is in work ethic as well as attitude. When it comes to attitude one thing we talk about often is being a 7.

This means that you want to keep your energy level, volume, and excitement at a 7 out of 10 level when you are talking to potential customers. Having the right attitude and energy can really make a big difference when you are talking with potential customers.

If you aren’t excited about what you have to offer, why would your potential customers be either? This doesn’t mean that you need to be over the top or have weird levels of excitement when you are talking to potential customers, but you need to be a bit more excited than you normally are.

How to maintain your consistent energy levels through the day.

One way to maintain this excitement level for yourself is to avoid pre-judging your potential customers before you talk to them. Nothing kills your excitement more than believing that your potential customer isn’t going to buy from you the whole time you are talking to them.

If you go into a potential sale thinking that someone’s house isn’t good enough to buy from you, or that the territory/event or company is bad, or whatever other kind of excuse you make in your head of why someone won’t buy, it will keep you from making sales. You’ll need to assume that everyone is a potential buyer of your products or services until they disqualify themselves through an actual conversation.

Certainly there will be some outside factors that may play a small role in people buying, but most of the time outside factors that cause you to pre-judge a potential customer have little to do with if they buy or not. Assuming the sale can really go a long way to maintaining a positive attitude and energy level as well as help you to keep up your consistent work ethic.

Combining the right attitude and work ethic in sales, especially direct sales, can help you stay “lucky”.

If you happen to be considering a new sales opportunity you will certainly get the best training available as a part of the Pure Team. Learn more about becoming a part of our team here!

Sales organizations invest time and money into building strong cultures. They read books on why culture eats strategy for lunch, hold team-building events and listen to pundits touting the value of culture. But, I think corporations in Britain are making this too difficult.  Building a great sales culture might be as simple as instilling one daily habit:  the habit of gratitude.

Are you rolling your eyes? Don’t, and instead, pay attention to a study published last year in the Journal of Positive Psychology. Researchers tracked the lives of gratitude in more than 500 adolescents. Not surprisingly, the study revealed that the more gratitude they showed, the stronger the relationships with their peers. Their positive dispositions make them more attractive and likeable. Incorporate more gratitude into your sales culture and you’ll build better cultures.

Grateful people are likeable people, and likeability is at the core of building trust and relationships, internal and external, which is good for business.

When you demonstrate or receive gratitude, it activates the reward center of the brain releasing the feel-good hormone of dopamine.  And this hormone is the same hormone that causes people to overeat and overdrink. So let’s use dopamine for good.

Hard-charging sales managers, take a timeout. Apply the EQ skill of self-awareness and see if you are acknowledging what your sales teams is doing well. If you are like most Type A personalities (I am speaking to the choir), you probably have a tendency to focus on fixing problems, rather than recognizing what’s working well. Speak to, NOT email, members of your sales team, and acknowledge them for their efforts, great attitudes and willingness to go the extra mile.

Salespeople, you also can take a timeout. Thank the departments in your organization that make sales happen. Yes, I know, you bring in the business. But other departments often service the sale after the sale, send invoices or ship the product, which retains business. Write a note of gratitude. Instead of going to lunch with a peer, treat a member from another department.  Give your colleagues a dopamine bump today!

I promise you that no one goes home and complains about being overappreciated!

If you want to build great sales cultures, it might be as simple as a daily dose of gratitude.  Make it your new sales key performance metric.

Why Leading With Education Is Important.

A lot of our sales reps initially think they need to be “fast talking salesmen” to close sales, however, that isn’t really the case. The more you come across as someone who is trying to be helpful (i.e. a messenger of good news), the more sales you will make.

One of the best ways to do this is to lead with educating your potential customer about your products and services and positioning them in a way that can help them. People do business with those they trust and that are a credible source on what it is they are promoting.

When you lead with education and teaching your prospect about your product or service, it positions you as an expert in your field. People want to buy from people who know what they are talking about, and when they feel like you know more than they do, this can help you to close more sales.

How Can Having Extensive Product Knowledge Help You Close More Sales?

There is another reason why having extensive product knowledge can help you close more sales, and that is being able to customize your value build and service explanation specifically for your potential customer’s needs.

For example, if you were marketing pest control and your potential customer had an ant issue, the more you know about ants and the products and techniques used to treat for ants, the more you come across as an expert in your field.

The more confidence your potential customer has in you, the more likely they are to buy from you. You also avoid the dreaded, ‘Yes-Sir’ ‘No-Sir’ mistake by agreeing with your prospects because you don’t know any better.

When you educate while you sell, especially during the value build, this positions you as an expert and establishes credibility. It also makes your potential customer feel listened to and that you really care about them.

Having extensive product knowledge will also allow you to spot and diagnose problems much easier and offer a solution. One of the best ways to qualify a prospect is to see they have an issue that your products and services can help with.

If you have extensive product knowledge and industry knowledge it will be much easier for you to identify potential needs for your product and service, rather than relying on a potential customer admitting to having a problem.

The more you know about your products and services the easier it will be to sell your products without needing to be a fast talking, pushy salesperson.

If you happen to be considering a new sales opportunity you will certainly get the best training available as a part of the Pure Events Team. Learn more about becoming a part of our team here!