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Success Tip #48 - Boost Your Business Batting Average by 20 to

Article:

Copyright 2005 Ike Krieger

Let's take a look at how a baseball statistic can improve your

business bottom line.

I love baseball. I find the history of the grand old game

fascinating.

Baseball history and baseball lore are based on the

personalities of individuals and on more than a century's worth

of statistics.

First, bear with me, especially you non-baseball fans, while I

explain one of the statistical components called "batting

average". Batting average is a tool for measuring a player's

relative success at hitting a baseball.

Hitting a baseball at the professional level is difficult at

best. A player's batting average is determined by the number of

safe "hits" divided into the number of attempts. The resulting

percentage is the foundation for this particular measuring stick.

Twenty seven safe hits out of every one hundred attempts produce

a batting average of 27%. Add one more decimal and you have a

.270 batting average. No player has ended the season with a

batting average of .400 or more since Ted Williams of the Boston

Red Sox accomplished the feat in 1941.

What's the difference between a professional baseball player of

today with a batting average of .270 versus one who is hitting

.310?

The difference is $1,000,000 in average salary. That's right,

$1,000,000 in average salary.

Professional baseball is willing to pay someone an additional

one million dollars because they are successful 31 times out of

every 100 tries versus someone who is successful only 27 times.

Four additional safe hits out of every 100 tries are all that

separate the two.

Turn these statistics upside down and you arrive at an even more

intriguing conclusion.

A major league ball player who fails only 69 times out of every

100 tries commands an average salary totaling a million dollars

more than someone who fails 73 times out of every 100 tries.

This comparison can be transferred readily to the world of

business. A small change in your marketing and sales

effectiveness can make a big difference in your overall success.

I've been boasting for years that I can help increase your

business by 20 to 50%. This seems almost outlandish until you

examine the numbers.

Your conversion average, your "C.A.", is the business equivalent

of a batting average "B.A".

Your C.A. is determined by the number of new clients, or sales

you produce, divided by the number of your qualified prospects.

How many of your qualified prospects are converted into clients

or sales?

If you're converting 2 out of every 10 prospects into loyal

paying clients, you have a conversion average of .200.

Increase your effectiveness to where you can get 3 out of 10 and

you have increased your average to .300. But, by what percentage

have you increased your business?

When you experience an improvement from 2 out of 10 to 3 out of

10, you have increased your business by 50%. If you go from 5

out of 10 to 6 out 10, you have increased your business by 20%.

You can bring about this increase by making a simple, but not so

easy shift in what you say, how you say it, and the questions

you ask.

Baseball players turn to their hitting coach when they need

objective advice. I guess that makes me a "conversion coach."

Here are three tips that can improve your conversion average.

* Talk Less

* Ask the right powerful open ended questions

* Listen More

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As simple as these may seem, these three steps are the secret

ingredients that lead to a higher C.A.

My clients become really effective at all three. They learn to

ask the right question and say the right thing at the right time.

Talking less will help you get, rather than give, valuable

information.

If you believe that talking more, or talking more glibly, is the

key to producing a higher conversion average, you're wrong.

Those who attempt to control a communication by talking more

don't really control the conversation at all, they dominate it.

The right open ended questions will help you control the

communication. With open ended questions you can direct the

conversation.

Effective listening is the most powerful communications tool of

all. When you listen you give a real gift and will be viewed as

a "great conversationalist."

This quote by Wilson Mizner says it best. "A good listener is

not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know

something."

So, when it's "your turn at bat" remember to Talk Less, Ask the

right powerful open ended questions and Listen More.

Use these three steps and you'll be well on your way to

increasing you C.A.

Let's go. Batter up!

About the author:

Ike Krieger is a speaker, author and mentor. Ike provides tips,

tools, ideas and resources that focus on boosting your sales,

business networking and business building success. Ike will help

you get in front of more of your ideal contacts, and then turn

your contacts into contracts™...or clients... more easily and

more often. - Subscribe to Ike's Success Tips mailing list at

http://www.BusinessSuccessBuilder.com