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Almost every time I get a new client and start to look at what the sales team is doing, I see the same patterns and mistakes over and over again.

Many times there is a plethora of things to fix but what I’ve found is that if you can just focus on two key areas, a lot of other things align and allow you to significantly increase sales. So, instead of overwhelming them with everything they need to fix, I break it down to two steps and tell them to simply focus on these two areas.

Step 1: Make Lots of New‑Business Sales Calls

Every time I share this one, as it’s coming out of my mouth, I’m thinking to myself, “C’mon, everyone knows this is the fastest way to increase sales, right?” I mean this one is as simple as those seven words: make – lots – of – new – business – sales – calls. Maybe there’s a little bit of explaining, but not much. Literally if you just follow that directive and make lots of phone and in-person sales calls, you’ll sell more.

To get a little more specific, we give each salesperson a set number of new-business calls they have to make each week. Let’s say it’s 50, to use round numbers. All calls have to be in-person if possible, and if not, they have to be phone calls; also, the number is probably higher if it’s phone calls. The only calls that count are in-person cold calls or outbound cold phone calls that the salesperson has initiated. This is important. I’ve had people count a call-in as a new call, a follow-up call as a new call, and someone they met while out networking as a new call. Those don’t count. Intentionally ringing the phone and knocking on the door of a stranger counts; nothing else.

Behind the scenes we also do the math to figure out how many calls they have to make to hit their annual sales goal and we track contact rate, first appointments, second appointments, proposals, closed sales, and similar; but bottom line, even without those, if you simply focus on making lots of in-person and phone new-business sales calls, you’ll significantly increase sales.

In fact, here’s a simple way to double sales: double the number of new-business sales calls. If a sales rep is making 10 new-business calls a week, and they double it to 20, sales will double. Why? Their call is the same, their skills and results at each level of the sales process remains the same, they’re simply doubling the number of opportunities they have, and with everything else remaining the same, by the law of averages, sales will double.

Step 2: Practice and Continually Improve Sales Skills

This one is almost as obvious as step one, but people usually need some help and direction with the execution of this one. Also, this step takes some time. Unlike step one, where you can simply better manage your 168 hours a week and make more calls, acquiring improved sales skills isn’t a light switch you can simply turn on. While you can double your sales calls this week, doubling your sales skills takes weeks to months of hard work.

Going a step beyond that, becoming the absolute best you can be takes years and is an ongoing, never-ending process of learning and improving. This is why 98 percent of salespeople don’t do the latter, and 80 percent don’t even put in the initial weeks and months. Yes, this step takes self-discipline, patience, and stick-to-itiveness even at the weeks-to-months level, but if you can get yourself to hunker down with some really good content for a few months, the increased sales will be well worth it.

Note: Don’t Be a Perfectionist

Don’t wait the few months to improve your sales skills before you start making lots of calls; start making lots of calls right away.

Improving sales skills starts with having really good sales content: what to say and do, and when to say and do it. Next, you need to practice, role-play, and otherwise become highly skilled with that really good material. Finally, before, during and after learning your new sales skills, you need to go out and use that new content on lots of potential customers.

Once you combine steps one and two, the magic happens. Increased calls alone lead to increased sales, but with step two in place you’ll also be a lot more effective on those calls, which leads to even more sales.

Of the two steps, making lots of sales calls is the most important. Because while you can make sales doing number one without number two, you can’t make sales doing number two without number one. You can have the best sales skills in the world, but if you don’t talk to anyone, you won’t sell anything. So, at the very least, you want to make more sales calls, hopefully significantly more. The next level would be the same number of sales calls you’re making now, assuming it’s well above zero, with vastly improved sales skills. The highest level is many more sales calls coupled with much better sales skills.

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