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The most important statistics
October 30, 2007

In the profession of sales, there are three vital numbers you need to know in order to increase sales and profits. The three numbers are Traffic Count, Average Sale, and Closing Ratio. From my perspective, you should run a business based on factual information not opinion. You need to know “Why” sales are up or down. When you track the proper three numbers, you can determine “why” sales are as they are. Without the facts it is very easy to become complacent and fall into the sea of mediocrity

For example, if a business or store is running down 10% there is only one of three things or a combination of three things that could be happening. 1) you may not be getting as many people through the door or contacting your company – If this is the case then you need to spend your time and effort on bringing more people in the store (traffic count) 2) Your salespeople aren’t selling as many of the people – if this is the case then spend your time and efforts on training your salespeople to increase the close ratio. 3) You are not selling your customers as much – meaning your average sale has dropped. If this is the case then it could be a merchandise problem, it could be that your salespeople aren’t adding-on or bumping up or that there has been a change in economic conditions and people can’t spend as much as in the past. Then you need to get more people in spending less. Once we know this information then we can react in a way that will have a dramatic impact on our business. Another example: what if the store is running up 10% - What three statistics do you need to track to determine why sales are up? Same numbers because you have improve upon the past in order to increase the future.

As an individual salesperson if you want to increase your personal sales you need to know the same information. Do you need to help more people, or bring more people into the business? Do you need to increase sales through increasing closing ratio or selling more of the people that are already coming in through improving your selling skills or converting a repair to a sale etc? Do you need to increase the average sale by selling higher priced goods, services or additional merchandise? It might even be that you need to work on a combination of all three. Once we know where a weakness is, then and only then can we work to improve.

STATISTICS GIVE YOU FACTS - WORKING TO IMPROVE STATISTICS GETS RESULTS. 
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Posted by Brad Huisken on October 30, 2007 | Comments (0)