Ask the Coach: A question from a B2B marketing expert

How many prospective customer companies do you think a field salesperson should be able to proactively manage at any given time?

How about an inside (phone-based) salesperson?

Thanks in advance,

Mac McIntosh of http://sales-leads-experts.com

Well Mac, I am honored you would come to me for an answer to this question. It is not a question that has a simple single answer. Also, there is no magic answer, for there are many factors related to how you would pass leads to a field or inside rep. Let’s look at some of those barometers:

1. Average sales cycle for the product
2. Total sales hours required to cultivate the lead
3. Number of people needed to close the average deal on both sides of the relationship
4. Average deal size in dollars
5. Average lead time from purchase to completed order

That said there is an easy way to estimate the effectiveness of a lead cultivation and passing program. Apart from what you are doing today, run the current scenario independently. Take two reps, one being of a high caliber and one being in the middle of your stack rank. Give them each 50 qualified leads that are truly sales ready. Track their effectiveness while adding five leads a week until you notice they are running out of activity or their effectiveness starts to decline. If it is the former, add 2-3 more leads a week until you see the opposite. If it is the latter, deduct 2-3 a week until you find a balance. If the number drops below 50, or rises about 100, do not fret. The goal here is maximizing the effectiveness of a sales representative and getting every cultivated lead through the pipeline properly.

Mac, I hope I have satisfied your curiosity and I look forward to a comment or two.

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