Greg's Right FIT #394

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Completion
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Completion

• Most friction for project completion comes from inside the company. There are reasons for this, and number one is everyone reports to someone. This is one reason why outsiders can come in and get things done faster. No one to answer to besides the objective. 
• I don't remember much from, "Getting Things Done," but David Allen's 2-Minute Rule stuck with me. If you can get it done in two minutes, do it, even if it's not important. Any action will lead to completing important things, eventually.
• Legendary basketball coach John Wooden told us not to mistake activity for achievement. This is especially true in sales where nothing counts until the check is cashed. You'd think this is in conflict with the 2-minute rule, but it turns out there is a limited number of short tasks. Focus on the goal.
• Listening to an interview with Adam Gopnik, and he describes the magic trick of catching a bullet in your mouth. After all the preparations and precautions, the bullet is fired and needs to be caught. Everyone knows how it happens. The trick is completing the task. 

Being Human - Close rates

"What get measured, gets managed.” – Peter Drucker

What is a reasonable close rate for your salespeople? 

I saw a hot take that sales forces are broken because their close rates have hovered between 25-35%, well, forever. The insinuation was that a higher functioning sales force has a higher close rate. 

I don't agree. There's a reason sales forces close 1 in 3 proposals they forecast. And it's not issues with closing. 

In general, closing 30% of proposals is an indication of peak production. In the F.I.T. graph, this range represents the sweet spot between not working to potential, and being held to unrealistic expectations. If a salesperson is closing 80% of their proposals, they are missing opportunities. Conversely, if a salesperson is closing 10% of their proposals, they are missing something in the sales process. Neither situation is good or bad, but they help guide management. 

Take me for instance. I have a 75% close rate. I am missing opportunities, but since I don't work for anyone it works for my business. If I went to work for a consulting firm I would expect to be held to a different standard. What works for me as a solo practitioner can't support other staff. A 30% close rate in that situation makes more sense because it keeps me engaged/striving, and it leaves fewer opportunities unworked. To get to a 30% close rate I need to see a lot more people, and make a lot more presentations. 

On the flip side, if I worked for a firm and my close rate were in the 10% range, this would be an indication that something is wrong. Having to hear 9 "no's" before getting to a sale is something only a masochist appreciates. If the close rate is that low I'm looking in the mirror for blame, or to external factors like market positioning/offerings. 

When prospects tell me close rates need to be higher, this is my heuristic. Close rate needs to be higher? What is it now? What do you want it to be? What's the value of the difference? How does this match up to what I know to be true? 

A 30% close rate doesn't indicate a broken sales process. It is one indicator of your process' health, and most of the time it's a positive one. 

Random Stuff

"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”
— Steve Jobs

This week I go to look for something in my garage and have trouble finding it. Our little house was built in the 1940s and has a one car garage. In 1942 the USA had 134MM people who owned 27MM cars. An average of .8 cars per household. One car garages made sense. Protect your one car from the elements. In the years we've lived here one of our cars has been in the garage maybe 15% of the time. The rest of the time the garage is filled with, well, other stuff. 

Right now it's full of a combination of the leftover furnishings from three kids moving out of dorms/apartments, leftover building materials from recent home improvements, and big empty cardboard boxes.

Each item I move or climb over is a project waiting to be completed. The boxes are for landscaping because they're good at killing grass. The building materials are for the small list of tasks I told the contractor I would complete on my own. And I'm told the leftover furnishings from the kids may be useful to someone, someday. 

We made it through this area's hail season without any damage to the cars, so if there's a deadline to clean this up it's before the winter snows arrive. Plenty of time. I'll definitely get to it. 

But not now. I find what I am looking for. A finishing nail to hold my tape measure. I don't find the box of nails I sought, but this will do. This random nail is on my workbench hiding under a set of organizer bins for the pegboard wall. I forgot about those. When I get to that part of my organization project, these little boxes will hold my loose fasteners, like finishing nails, neatly on the wall.

Something to look forward to.