Take two office furniture salespeople that work for the same company. One has a sales closing ratio of 25 percent and one has a sales closing ratio of 10 percent. Which of the two do you think is a better salesperson?

Of course, everybody will choose the first salesperson with the closing ratio of 25 percent.

But, just as in most statistics one stat, taken on its own, cannot be representative of the big picture. The salesperson with the 10 percent closing ratio may not be the better salesperson.

Take, for example, two baseball hitters. One bats with a .270 batting average and one bats with a .280 batting average. Your team is down by three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Which batter do you want to come to the plate? If you are a baseball fan, you know you need more information than this. Let us add another statistic to the mix. The batter with a .270 average only hits singles. The batter with the .280 batting average is a power hitter and the reigning league home run champ. Now who do you want at the plate? A single won’t win the game. A home run would.

Back to the two office furniture sales reps. Let’s say that the rep with the 25 percent sales closing ratio sells a lot of single chairs. And, let’s say that the rep with the 10 percent closing ratio manages to sell entire office furniture sets on a consistent basis, including chairs desks, cubicles, file cabinets, water coolers, meeting tables, copiers, fax machines, and lamps. The second rep’s commissions, on average, are 20 times the first rep’s commissions. Now who is the better salesperson? The second salesperson hits more home runs. He is better.

The bottom line is that too many salespeople are focusing solely on improving their sales closing ratios when they may not really need to. Perhaps this is egged on by sales consultants or their sales managers? But it probably need not be the case. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with your sales closing techniques? Perhaps you don’t need to generate more sales leads?

Just as in baseball, one sales statistic, taken on it own, cannot tell the whole story.

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