Every successful salesperson has his or her own tricks to get prospects to say ‘yes.’ And while there’s certainly something to be said for honing your own skills and developing your own unique approaches, there’s nothing wrong with learning from the best. That being said, if you could stand to close a few more deals (and really, who couldn’t?), you might want to give the following proven sales hacks a try.

Use visuals.

The human brain processes pictures at a rate of 60,000 times faster than text. Furthermore, people are 85% more likely to buy a product after viewing a related video. If you aren’t incorporating visual content into your sales pitches, you are limiting your potential to sell. In other words don’t just tell your prospects what you have to offer. Show them using compelling images, powerful video footage and, of course, the product itself.

Make five attempts.

When it comes to closing the deal, persistence is often the key. But if you push too hard, you could end up driving your leads away. The key is finding that sweet spot, which for many successful salespeople is right around five attempts. In addition to keeping the lines of communication open without overdoing it, you should also make sure each of these connections adds value to your prospect. For instance, you might follow up your initial meeting with an article or free eBook that addresses your prospect’s pain point or answers a question.

Time it right.

Believe it or not, studies have shown that Wednesdays and Thursdays are the most effective days for generating sales. There has even been research conducted to determine the best time of day for reaching out to a sales lead (consensus is between 8am and 9am or 4pm to 5pm). Conversely, the worst time to make a sales call is during lunchtime. These statistics matter because research also indicates that calling a prospect at a favorable time can increase your likelihood of closing the deal by 164%! 

Make it about them.

People aren’t interested in your product or service. They are interested in what your product or service can do for them. To improve your chances of winning a new customer, always focus your sales pitches on the needs, struggles or preferences of your prospects. Instead of touting all the features of your state-of-the-art product, demonstrate the specific benefits that your product will have for your prospect. The more you paint a picture of how you can solve their problems, the more likely they’ll be to bite.

Believe in yourself.

You believe in what you’re selling, but do you believe in yourself? 95% of our thoughts are subconscious in nature, and if we aren’t careful, a good portion of those thoughts can be negative. When you practice self-confidence, people will naturally be drawn to you and when you can win people over, you can get them to buy from you. It’s really that simple. Practice positive thinking and self-talk and when those negative thoughts arise, push them away.

These are just a handful of the many different tactics successful salespeople use to improve their bottom line. At the end of the day, it’s not so much about knowing these strategies as it is being able to put them into practice. Make a concerted effort to put these tips into action and you should see your results improve.

It’s hard to sort through the noise of online trainings. There’s so many eBooks, influencers, and courses out there that’s difficult to figure out which ones are worth your time. Sales gurus have taken to the internet to espouse their wisdom, but sometimes their writings come off as a little preachy or out of touch.

There’s a wealth of information online that can help your business go to the next level. The right training can give you brand new ideas, exciting innovation opportunities, or reignite your inspiration. The trick is to find it. 

So, let’s look at a series of trainings and inspirational sales leaders that are true to their promise—their guidance can help your business find new areas of sales and success.

1. American Small Business Institute

The American Small Business Institute doesn’t look like much from their rather basic website, however, the knowledge inside is extremely helpful for writing advertising copy or coming up with marketing campaigns. The founder of the American Small Business Institute, Roy Williams, runs a marketing school in Austin, TX called the Wizard of Ads (and has a book series of the same name). While yes, that name does sound cheesy, his advertising writing style is simply captivating. In his video series, Roy teaches how to build engaging and memorable stories using your brand or product that sink your offerings into your customer’s consciousness. Whether you take his online course or visit the Wizard of Ads in person, his teachings will redefine the way you present your business to the public.

2. BE BOLD Live Training Session with Jeff Shore

There’s a lot of fear in the sales process. When it comes to the bottom line of your company and potential commission cash in your wallet, it’s hard to take risks that could inadvertently cause financial harm. Jeff’s seminar teaches principles discussed in his popular book, “Be Bold,” about the uncomfortable moments of the sales process. Many salespeople look to avoid rejection, awkward silences, client ghosting, and other uncomfortable situations. In fact, it’s common for many of us to find a level of complacency in our work. Jeff Shore looks to shake up your professional life and find ways to make meaningful connections with your clients through his in-person program. 

3. Jeb Blount at SalesGravy

Jeb Blount is a best-selling author about marketing, business, and sales. He’s often seen in the business world giving extremely engaging talks on prospecting, sales, and discipline. He has a powerful stage presence and is a highly sought-after keynote speaker. On his website, he maintains an excellent podcast that covers a lot of fascinating and useful topics for the sales professional, like effective listening skills, negotiation tactics, and competitive displacement. He also writes an in-depth blog that shares his professional insight and sales tactics and builds on topics covered in his books.

Jeb Blount is one of the best-known names in the industry, and between his podcast and blog, he offers an endless supply of excellent resources on his website for free. If you’re looking to gain some nuggets of information to add to your arsenal, and what to read them in an engaging and easy-to-digest way, Jeb’s works are worth a look.

4. Tiffani Bova at “What’s Next!” podcast

Tiffani Bova has been in the sales industry for more than 20 years. She now bills herself as a salesforce strategist and innovation evangelist. Tiffani is a business selling business author and speaking guest. While she is well known for her keynote engagements and published works, where her online presence really shines is through her podcast. Tiffani collaborates with some of the most influential minds in sales and marketing to have in-depth conversations about the industry and its people. Each episode features a different guest and topic, so there’s something new to learn every time. Outside of her podcast, Tiffani also distributes an email newsletter that is chock full of blog posts and articles about content marketing, lead generation, and tips for finding success in the business world.

Tiffani Bova’s approach to growth, innovation, and customer experience are worthy of emulation and extremely exciting to get a more in-depth look into.

There you have it. Four well-known movers and shakers in the industry to fill your head with excellent ideas. It’s easy to get complacent in sales. When you find a formula that works, it’s hard to want to break out of that mold. But, to truly shine in the world of business, you have to constantly learn, adapt, and innovate.

It’s important to surround yourself with fresh ideas and occasionally take a moment from your busy life to take in some new training or check out an insightful podcast. Not only can these influencers bring you great new ideas to implement, they just might reignite your spark for your industry.

Running a small business is a lot like running a marathon. To get to the finish line successfully (which, in this case, is coming out in the black each quarter), you have to pace yourself along your journey, consciously expending your energy only when it really counts. This is especially true in sales, where focusing on the wrong thing can mean neglecting something that would have made a bigger impact.

Small business sales KPIs run the gamut in terms of scope and use. To make sure that you’re revving up action on the sales KPIs that matter most, you need to know which of them are essential to operating your business effectively and which are interesting but ancillary. Below, we’ll go over the six SMB sales KPIs that you should definitely be tracking, with advice on why to measure them and how.

1. Sales Lead Prioritization

Let’s start with a KPI that you’re probably already measuring already though possibly not getting full utility out of: lead qualifications; in particular, prioritizing your leads according to sales potential.

Remember — the name of the game is focus. You need to know where the most time- and cost-efficient place is to channel your resources, and for that, you need to know which leads are most worth your sales team’s energy.

To figure it out, rank each of your prospective customers based on estimated sale amount and deal probability, then set your sights on the ones at the top. It’s a smart way to organize your efforts, and the more you do it, the better you’ll get at qualifying your leads. If you’d rather leave it up to math, rank each lead by taking the value of their potential sale and dividing it by the total number of leads. Then prioritize accordingly.

2. Opportunity-to-Customer Conversion Rate

This next KPI is an obvious extension to Sales Lead Prioritization. Closely tracking the percentage of qualified leads who ultimately go on to become customers is key both for conversion purposes and for informing how you prioritize in the first place.

To measure your Opportunity-to-Customer Conversion Rate, take the total number of sales you made, divide it by your total number of leads, and multiply it by 100. The number you’re left with is the percentage of leads who paid off by converting into customers.

3. Visitor-to-Lead Conversion Rate

Is your website optimized to carry your leads down the sales pipeline? One of the best ways to find out is to calculate your Visitor-to-Lead Conversion Rate, which tells you how much of your traffic is converting in some way.

Measure your Visitor-to-Lead Conversion Rate by taking your total number of website-driven leads, dividing it by the total number of website visitors, and multiplying that number by 100.

You can repeat this formula for more specific conversion metrics by swapping out the total number of leads in general for the total number of leads who closed a deal, total number who signed up for a demo, etc. In addition to giving you a clear picture of the numbers, doing these calculations will also highlight where your website is succeeding and where it could use some work.

4. Sales Closing Ratio

The decision stage is one of the most tenuous parts of the sales cycle, especially the time in between sending out a proposal and closing a deal (or not). See how well you’re performing in this critical period by calculating your Sales Closing Ratio.

To calculate, divide the total number of proposals you sent out in a designated time period by the total number of closed deals. This number will cue you in on your sales team’s efficiency in this area, as well as whether you’re improperly qualifying and/or prioritizing your leads.

5. Sales Cycle Length

All businesses need to know how long it takes them to close a deal. This is helpful for allocating resources, and also for pointing out flaws in your process.

Figure out your average Sales Cycle Length by adding up the total number of days it took each of your customer-converted clients to go from first contact to a closed deal, then divide this number by the total number of deals that you made. Compare your Sales Cycle Length with both your industry average and, even more importantly, your own metrics. Calculate this KPI each quarter for ease of comparisons over time.

6. Average Cost Per Lead

How much does it actually cost for you to sell your products or services? One way to determine this is to calculate your Average Cost Per Lead, which lets you know how much you’re spending to generate each lead on your prospect list.

To calculate, take the total amount of money you spent on marketing in a set period and divide it by the total number of leads you acquired. You can do this for each marketing channel as well — such as Instagram, for example, or emails. Just be sure that you only divide by the leads driven from that specific form of marketing.

Use these KPIs to determine your sales best practices, and share them across your team so that everyone is on the same page. Putting numbers to these otherwise hard-to-visualize concepts is one of the most effective tools you have for targeting efficiency where and when it counts.