January 31, 2021

 

How many touches does it take to make a sale?

In other words how often does a prospect buy on the first touch/first meeting?  If you’re brutally honest and not giving Rolexes, wine or Ferraris away for free, probably not often if ever.  Even more important how may touches does it take to get that first 2-way communication, where they respond to you?

Personally and from much experience I think it takes a lot of touches.  A whole lot.  To quote an old friend who was also a customer back when I sold printing, it is all about The Law of 9’s.  Yes it takes 9, 99, 999 touches or some number in between to make a sale.

There are so many ways people communicate – text, email, message (WhatsApp) and personal meeting and even by phone.  And with all these methods to communicate it is all the harder to break through the clutter.  And if someone isn’t enthusiastic to buy or even communicate there are so many ways to avoid communicating. Today I think the number is even higher as getting in touch/in front/communicating with someone – even someone you know is all the more challenging.

Here is an interesting statistic that bears out what my old friend Betty Conner said a long time ago.  Research show It takes an average of 8 cold call attempts to reach a prospect.  Keep in mind prospecting is VERY hard and most of us hate it. But if you give up on a prospect after too few attempts, you are passing up a potential sale.

Here is one more even more sobering statistic, 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls after the meeting. 44% of salespeople give up after 1 follow-up.

Here is what all this means – you must be consistent, persistent and never stop trying build your book of customers.  It means The Law of 9’s, just might be the Law of 99’s.  It also means every touch, every communication must have a true purpose and lead directly to the next touch. And finally – use your network strategically!

Let’s succeed together.     Larry Golden