Sales 101 – Back to Basics

Informal discussions and newspaper articles indicate that employee attrition is once again on the rise – not only in Bangalore but across all major metros. Of course the big three – TCS, Infosys, Wipro with their large workforces have made the news – as have the multinationals amongst them Accenture, HP and IBM.

Bad news for HR and engineering mangers is of course good news for talented employees, who are in greater demand and yes, good news for sales folks. This rise of attrition is the most definitive indicator, even if a lagging one, of improving demand in the marketplace and therefore increasing chances of revenue. So for all of us sales folks who’ve struggled – hopefully playing the hardworking ant – in the downturn, finally some good news seems on the horizon. Whilst the rising tide of a growing economy will pick up all of our boats, it’s likely to do better for those of who go don’t forget the basics.

One such basic is the ACB selling technique – yep ACB not ABC.  Most sales funnels can be divided into three regions – a large hopper – the top most portion, where in you are drawing a large number of leads (C), the narrowing mid-section (B) which are leads likely to convert into real deals and finally the narrow neck (A) which convert into paying customers.

In the downturn, we all (grasshoppers at one level) likely chased every little deal – however inconsequential – if it looked like it would close (the As). And in the little time left between trying to close deals we tried to move those active prospects (the Bs) to the next step.  And how many of us were truly ants continuing to work the leads (Cs), that were still early and likely to take a while to even become prospects (Bs) before fructifying into a real paying customer?

The ACB method eschews a linear traversal of the sales pipeline from the highest probability (A) deals to the lowest (C). Instead you

• work the As first and once done with them or having parked them at a logical break point,
• move on to your Cs – this way you ensure a steady flow of prospects B. Given the size of C and usually their state of uncertainty, allocate a finite amount of time each day to it – or at least a minimum fixed amount of time each week,
• finally work on your B’s to help move them forward from being prospects to paying customers.

The key here is to work on your Cs (leads) every day – as the As and Bs will demand and get the time they need. However, the longer we go without working the Cs, the greater the probability that the pipeline will dry up with Bs shrinking and the As won’t be too far behind.

The simplest way I’ve found to work the ACB system is to set aside some time each day, usually 30 minutes would do the job to follow up on the Cs. Others have done it three days a week. It could be the first thing in the morning, if that’s when your leads are available, or mid-day just before lunch or your afternoon break, so that there’s a fixed time that doesn’t squeezed out – you treat it like a standing meeting – one that you cannot excuse yourself from.   So get started today and you can discover what works for you as long as you cover all  your Cs once each week. Happy hunting!

Tags: ACB, funnel, sales