PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook: Why is There No New Business?

by | May 16, 2008 | PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook®

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.comis a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur’s Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

As we roll into the second quarter of calendar 2008, I thought I might take a moment to focus on some interesting research about sales, and new customer opportunities. Here is some recent research on the topic.

  • More than 70% of sales leads are never followed up, while 43% of those not contacted purchase what they inquired about within 13 months. Source: Cahners Publishing
  • Companies that retain 5% more of their customers can boost corporate profits a minimum of 25%. Source: Bain & Co.
  • Over 80% of generated leads are never followed up or are dropped or mishandled. Source: Abderdeen Group
  • An 11% reduction in dropped/lost leads, combined with a 1% improvement in lead to order conversion rate, can increase gross profit by 136%. Source: BtoB Magazine

It’s pretty clear from this research data that successful companies that are finding new business have established a process for the recording, distribution and follow up of sales activities within their organization. Most people call this Customer Relationship Management or CRM and the related activities. The activities and the attitudes your employees take in these processes is critical to having a successful CRM program.

How successful are you?

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