Recently a company president asked, “What is the fastest way to increase sales?” I countered by asking her if she had heard of Occam’s Razor? Of course she said, which invited me to go to the simplest answer, but first, a review of Occam’s Razor.
Occam’s Razor, attributed to William Occam, the 14th century theologian and logician Franciscan friar states that when competing hypotheses are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selection of the hypothesis that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities while still sufficiently answering the question. Simply stated, the simplest idea tends to be the best choice. Occam's razor is phrased as pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate ("plurality should not be posited without necessity")i
In keeping with my thought to give her the simplest and fastest way to increase sales, my answer to the company president was that all inquiries and sales leads must be followed-up 100%. The average follow-up varies between 5-25% for most sales organizations. Ergo, follow-up 100% of the sales inquires and if you have been average up to this point you will get in front of 75% more buyers and close more sales.
Yes, research has shown that nurturing programs can increase the ROI for lead generation programs by 2X-3X. If marketing jumps in with marketing automation (email and or telemarketing nurturing),in my opinion, these count as follow-up.
Having a CRM and Marketing Automation program are key components, no argument. But the simplest, fastest, surest way to increase sales lies in the hands of sales management and the salespeople. If 100% follow-up is enforced and not an option, sales will increase in 90-120 days.ii
“100% follow-up Rule: Corporations that have a 100% inquiry follow-up policy will sell more that those that don’t.” iii
So, once again I am in agreement with William Occam, the simplest answer is usually the best. I knew there was something about those Francisans I liked!
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i. Wikipedia, this explanation is taken virtually verbatim from the Wikipedia definition.
ii. Obermayer’s opinion is that, “Salespeople assume every corporate rule, procedure, request or dictate is optional until it is repeated at least three times over two months.”
iii. James Obermayer, Managing Sales Leads: Turning Cold Prospects Into Hot Customers, (Mason, Ohio, Textere an imprint of Thomson/South-Western, 2007), and Racom Books, Page 15. To order go to Racom.
