Sales is not a numbers game

I was surfing the web this morning and came across a post by Frank Rumbauskas (author of the New York Times and Amazon #1 bestselling book, "Never Cold Call Again: Achieve Sales Greatness Without Cold Calling") who says, Sales is NOT A Numbers Game!

What do you think... is sales a numbers game?

If you think that "sales is a numbers game" means say anything you want to anyone you want and eventually you will get a sale then 'no' sales is not a numbers game. I do not know anyone who thinks that is what "sales is a numbers game" means.

Yes, the more qualified prospects you have appointments with the odds are the more deals you are going to get. I guarantee it!

Maybe "cold calling" means something different to Frank.

However ... even if you're satisfied with cold calling, would you make more money if you didn't have to spend your time making cold calls, and instead you simply had the leads coming in? Of course you would!

Most salespeople will never achieve a six figure income because of the amount of time they spend cold calling, when that time would be better spent closing sales instead of hunting for leads. Self-marketing enables you to eliminate cold calling, have leads come to you, and give you 100% of your time to spend in front of qualified prospects.

Yes, exactly, and when you are making cold calls you are NOT on a call with a qualified prospect. Your very own statement quoted above proves my point. On the "Sales Is Not A Numbers Game" issue, if you read the original post you will see that I'm talking specifically about cold calling, so please do not try to play a semantics game with me.

No semantics game intended. I'll modify my statement to address cold calling versus qualified appointments.

... sales is a numbers game meaning the more calls (skilled cold calling) you make to potential buyers the more deals you are going to get. Wouldn't you agree?

BTW, what does cold calling mean to you? Does it mean telephone prospecting or door-to-door prospecting or both?

Also, did you agree with the other two points in the same post that you quoted?

I used to argue with marketing on the difference between an inquiry and a lead. An inquiry is someone looking for information and a lead is someone who raises their hand and says 'I'm interested'. They wanted to call everything 'leads'

The reason I mention this is to show how sales isn't a numbers game. Most sales people would rather have 1 lead than 10 inquiries.

I would agree that sales is not a numbers game if the prospects are attracted through the correct marketing message.

Susan

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Isn't the concept of sales being a numbers game about the ratio of contacts to closed deals? If the contacts are unqualified then the conversion rates will be lower than if the contacts are qualfied but you're still talking about the ratio of contacts to closed deals right?

Yes, I'm talking about the ratio of closed deals to the number of inquiries generated. (contacts)


Susan

This is why sales is a numbers game right?