Your Sales to Leads ratio is the number of leads you convert to paying business. Like, how many of the leads that you've had this year actually resulted in more money in your pocket?
To do the figures, you'll need to know both how many leads you've developed and how many of these leads panned out so you were able to work with a new or returning client.
(You did keep track of the leads as they came in, right? If you haven't been tracking leads and sales, make a resolution now to do it from now on.)
You can determine the ratio by comparing the number of leads you have with the number of sales you made from those leads.
For example if you have 5 leads and you close 3 of them, your ratio is 3:5 or 60%. Sometimes this is called a closing ratio. (This is only an example to demonstrate the math. You will probably have many more than this from the marketing programs you have implemented.)
Your Sales to Leads Ratio is an indicator of your success as a sales person, as well as checking up on your Marketing efforts.
Higher ratios tell you Marketing is attracting the right kind of leads and Sales is doing a good job of closing. Both of your systems, Marketing and Sales, are being successful.
If your income is lower than you would like and your sales ratio is high, (you're selling lots of the leads you've been getting) increase your marketing to deliver more good leads.
With a high sales to leads ratio, more potential customers hearing about you will mean more sales. In other words: do more marketing. Develop more marketing venues and send out the same marketing message more often.
If your Sales to Leads Ratio is low, look both at the kinds of leads coming from Marketing and your selling skills.
Have a colleague review your marketing materials and give you feedback. Ask current customers and clients what else they are looking for. Beef up your marketing materials and efforts.
Recommit to being more aggressive with sales and selling.
Consider taking a sales skills class. Selling doesn't always come naturally to many independent professionals. All too many of us still consider selling to be unprofessional or beneath us.
If this is you it's time to get over yourself so you can not only start supporting yourself in a comfortable life style, but provide the people who need what you offer the opportunity to buy what they want from you.
Sometimes it just takes more effort than you have been giving. Remember, it takes at least 4-7 contacts with many customers to make a sale. Don't wimp out and give up too soon.
About the Author
Pat Wiklund is known as the One-Person Business Turnaround Specialist. She works with professional services business owners so they can make more money and get more personal satisfaction from their work. Begin continuing developing your selling expertise by claiming your complimentary copy of Pat's latest ecourse. Just go to: http://1personbusiness.com/mini-ecourse
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Wiklund
