licit feedback. Many do surveys to impress the media. Some even try to skew the results.

Businesses seeking to build a sales floor that operates at mastery will take a different approach. If you want truly valuable information that you can use to develop your sales team and add to your bottom line, try surveying the leads that entered your place of business and did not buy. Employ someone for a week every quarter to invite non buyers to fill out a short survey in exchange for an entry in a draw for a small prize or a dinner out.

Have them fill in contact information and ask for ratings on things like selection, service, courtesy of staff, pricing and so on. Limit to about 5 items.

The power of Statistics. Information is power. Conversely a lack of vital information can be very costly to any business.

Do you know your monthly lead traffic count? Do you actually know how many prospects enter your place of business over the course of a month?

Most business people could tell what their actual 'paying customer' count is but it is amazing how many really do not have a clue how many people actually enter their place of business. Why is this information important? For a couple of reasons. These prospects are the leads which you have bought and paid for with your advertising dollars, your location or other programs. You need to understand what your 'leads' cost the business to generate. In other words, what the value of each lead is.

Once you have this information, you can quickly determine the sales to leads effectiveness ratios of your sales team. Have a system for individual salespeople to track their performance ratios too.

Another great piece of information can be calculated from these stats. Based on your profit margins you can easily determine the value of the average paying customer. If you want to crank up profits, begin by converting more leads into paying customers by having a trained sales force functioning at mastery. There is no sense spending more of your advertising dollars to generate extra leads only to have your sales team mishandle them and lose the sales opportunities. Possessing these stats will also allow you to calculate what you can afford to pay for a new lead.

It does not make much sense to pay $20 for a lead, where you need 10 leads to generate a sale that earns $150 in gross profit. For every $200 spent on advertising you will have generated sales activity but actually lose $50 net. What’s wrong with this picture? On the other hand, if you pay $20 for a lead and you only need 4 leads to generate the sale with $150 in gross profit, spending the same $200 will now produce an average of two and a half sales for a gross profit of $375 and net a profit of $175. This is a much better picture, isn’t it?

The effectiveness of your sales floor along with the effective targeting of your advertising can made dramatic differences to your bottom line. If you don’t have an accurate traffic count, consider hiring a ‘greeter’ to do a count for a month. You might be surprised and even shocked at what you discover.

Once your sales team increases their closing ratios, you can increase your advertising with the confidence of knowing your sales team will be up to the task of converting the new leads into ‘paying’ customers. Don’t waste your money without a competent sales force.

The power of Surveys.

Many companies make a big deal about their great customer satisfaction records. They send out surveys to customers that have made a purchase and solicit feedback. Many do surveys to impress the media. Some even try to skew the results.

Businesses seeking to build a sales floor that operates at mastery will take a different approach. If you want truly valuable information that you can use to develop your sales team and add to your bottom line, try surveying the leads that entered your place of business and did not buy. Employ someone for a week every quarter to invite non buyers to fill out a short survey in exchange for an entry in a draw for a small prize or a dinner out.

Have them fill in contact information and ask for ratings on things like selection, service, courtesy of staff, pricing and so on. Limit to about 5 items. (

to generate. In other words, what the value of each lead is.

Once you have this information, you can quickly determine the sales to leads effectiveness ratios of your sales team. Have a system for individual salespeople to track their performance ratios too.

Another great piece of information can be calculated from these stats. Based on your profit margins you can easily determine the value of the average paying customer. If you want to crank up profits, begin by converting more leads into paying customers by having a trained sales force functioning at mastery. There is no sense spending more of your advertising dollars to generate extra leads only to have your sales team mishandle them and lose the sales opportunities. Possessing these stats will also allow you to calculate what you can afford to pay for a new lead.

It does not make much sense to pay $20 for a lead, where you need 10 leads to generate a sale that earns $150 in gross profit. For every $200 spent on advertising you will have generated sales activity but actually lose $50 net. What’s wrong with this picture? On the other hand, if you pay $20 for a lead and you only need 4 leads to generate the sale with $150 in gross profit, spending the same $200 will now produce an average of two and a half sales for a gross profit of $375 and net a profit of $175. This is a much better picture, isn’t it?

The effectiveness of your sales floor along with the effective targeting of your advertising can made dramatic differences to your bottom line. If you don’t have an accurate traffic count, consider hiring a ‘greeter’ to do a count for a month. You might be surprised and even shocked at what you discover.

Once your sales team increases their closing ratios, you can increase your advertising with the confidence of knowing your sales team will be up to the task of converting the new leads into ‘paying’ customers. Don’t waste your money without a competent sales force.

The power of Surveys.

Many companies make a big deal about their great customer satisfaction records. They send out surveys to customers that have made a purchase and solicit feedback. Many do surveys to impress the media. Some even try to skew the results.

Businesses seeking to build a sales floor that operates at mastery will take a different approach. If you want truly valuable information that you can use to develop your sales team and add to your bottom line, try surveying the leads that entered your place of business and did not buy. Employ someone for a week every quarter to invite non buyers to fill out a short survey in exchange for an entry in a draw for a small prize or a dinner out.

Have them fill in contact information and ask for ratings on things like selection, service, courtesy of staff, pricing and so on. Limit to about 5 items.

s opportunities. Possessing these stats will also allow you to calculate what you can afford to pay for a new lead.

It does not make much sense to pay $20 for a lead, where you need 10 leads to generate a sale that earns $150 in gross profit. For every $200 spent on advertising you will have generated sales activity but actually lose $50 net. What’s wrong with this picture? On the other hand, if you pay $20 for a lead and you only need 4 leads to generate the sale with $150 in gross profit, spending the same $200 will now produce an average of two and a half sales for a gross profit of $375 and net a profit of $175. This is a much better picture, isn’t it?

The effectiveness of your sales floor along with the effective targeting of your advertising can made dramatic differences to your bottom line. If you don’t have an accurate traffic count, consider hiring a ‘greeter’ to do a count for a month. You might be surprised and even shocked at what you discover.

Once your sales team increases their closing ratios, you can increase your advertising with the confidence of knowing your sales team will be up to the task of converting the new leads into ‘paying’ customers. Don’t waste your money without a competent sales force.

The power of Surveys.

Many companies make a big deal about their great customer satisfaction records. They send out surveys to customers that have made a purchase and solicit feedback. Many do surveys to impress the media. Some even try to skew the results.

Businesses seeking to build a sales floor that operates at mastery will take a different approach. If you want truly valuable information that you can use to develop your sales team and add to your bottom line, try surveying the leads that entered your place of business and did not buy. Employ someone for a week every quarter to invite non buyers to fill out a short survey in exchange for an entry in a draw for a small prize or a dinner out.

Have them fill in contact information and ask for ratings on things like selection, service, courtesy of staff, pricing and so on. Limit to about 5 items.

he effective targeting of your advertising can made dramatic differences to your bottom line. If you don’t have an accurate traffic count, consider hiring a ‘greeter’ to do a count for a month. You might be surprised and even shocked at what you discover.

Once your sales team increases their closing ratios, you can increase your advertising with the confidence of knowing your sales team will be up to the task of converting the new leads into ‘paying’ customers. Don’t waste your money without a competent sales force.

The power of Surveys.

Many companies make a big deal about their great customer satisfaction records. They send out surveys to customers that have made a purchase and solicit feedback. Many do surveys to impress the media. Some even try to skew the results.

Businesses seeking to build a sales floor that operates at mastery will take a different approach. If you want truly valuable information that you can use to develop your sales team and add to your bottom line, try surveying the leads that entered your place of business and did not buy. Employ someone for a week every quarter to invite non buyers to fill out a short survey in exchange for an entry in a draw for a small prize or a dinner out.

Have them fill in contact information and ask for ratings on things like selection, service, courtesy of staff, pricing and so on. Limit to about 5 items.

licit feedback. Many do surveys to impress the media. Some even try to skew the results.

Businesses seeking to build a sales floor that operates at mastery will take a different approach. If you want truly valuable information that you can use to develop your sales team and add to your bottom line, try surveying the leads that entered your place of business and did not buy. Employ someone for a week every quarter to invite non buyers to fill out a short survey in exchange for an entry in a draw for a small prize or a dinner out.

Have them fill in contact information and ask for ratings on things like selection, service, courtesy of staff, pricing and so on. Limit to about 5 items. (You decide on what you would like to learn). Then ask a specific question on why they did not make a purchase. Add one more that asks what would make their shopping time with you a better experience.

Your non buying leads will often tell you everything you need to know to crank up your sales. These surveys will often point to weaknesses on your sales floor. That may be a clue that they need to sharpen their skills.

Bonus Hint:

If your non buyers are telling you that your product mix isn’t right, before you consider realigning your inventory, take a look at what market demographics your advertising is targeting. To be most effective, your advertising needs to be targeted to potential buyers of your products or services.