We have always resisted the old adage that sales is a numbers game–“Make more calls and get more deals.” Why have we resisted this old standard? We have always believed that it is not the number of calls that are important–but the quality of calls. For example, a call that results in a strong referral is many times more important than a cold call.

However, let us not forget the fact that we also need a quantity of quality results. It is great to have a referral, but if there are too few referrals, then we will not make a living. In a slow economy there is no doubt that the pace of referrals will slow down and we must increase our efforts to produce more results. Unfortunately, many of us tend to get “depressed” and thus “lazy” when faced with a challenging market. This results in a downward spiral because we are affected even more negatively than is warranted by the poor market conditions. Today, we are here to tell you that you can change your results in any market. You can do that by changing the numbers.

Many talk about marketing plans and everyone says that you must have a marketing plan. However, few define what a marketing plan actually is. We confuse marketing plans with advertising and other activities. Let’s simplify. A marketing plan is comprised of four major components:

•Identify your sphere
•Grow your sphere
•Prioritize your sphere
•Deliver value to your sphere.

While this seems really simple, the difficulty is in implementation of each step. We always say that the devil is in the details. For example, the first step is one in which the average sales and business person falls woefully short. The average sales person has a database of a few hundred people which they have loosely identified as their sphere.

We have a sphere exercise that goes through the each segment of one’s sphere and when it is over, the average sphere should actually be a few thousand instead of a few hundred. This distinction is vitally important because if you only identify twenty percent of your sphere, you are actually marketing without your most precious resource. This makes marketing more expensive and even more importantly, less effective. We have written previously about this exercise and therefore will not give the details within this article, however, the person providing you with this article is actually trained in sphere marketing and if you are interested, we would suggest you get with them to learn more in this regard.

Instead of delving into sphere building during this segment, we will actually look into the results you will be producing as part of the marketing plan. In other words, we are looking at the last segment, or the provision of value. Like the term “marketing plan,” the term “value” is another one that everyone hears but very few define. Again, we have a very specific definition for you

Value is something that meets the unique needs of your target. A key word here is “unique.” If you are delivering the same value as everyone else, for example a great price or great service, then it will be harder to respond to your marketing efforts. How many companies advertise that they have a lousy price or service? Think of value as a rare coin–the fewer coins in existence, the more valuable the coin is. The definition of value will change in different markets, especially during down markets such as recessions.

For example, this recession has been accompanied by an exacerbated by a financial crisis. This has caused lenders of all types to tighten up on credit requirements. What this means that there are more prospects that can’t qualify for your service–whether that be insurance, cars or real estate. So a unique value in this market might be the ability to qualify more prospects.

Now let’s go back and look at the numbers. If you increase the size of your sphere by five times and you are able to provide unique value to 30% of your sphere instead of 5% then you will produce more results. However, the numbers game does not stop there. If your efforts produce more leads, then you also need to convert more leads into your value system. So there is both a marketing and sales component to the equation. That is exactly why this article has turned into a “series.” We are going to focus upon more than one aspect of changing the numbers from qualifying to converting more prospects.