It took us three months of hard conversations and tough work toget to the “start line” and begin executing our process — but itwas worth it.

I know you might be struggling to increase your — or yourteam's — performance. So, I wanted to share a few secrets I'velearned about a cool process I found called “PredictableRevenue” (which may or may not be so predictable, but I didn'tname it …).

Here is how you can do the same:

1. Get laser-focused on your leadgeneration.

Finding new customers is hard. Really hard … which is whyyou need a system or a process. And it's hard to sell to people youdon't know exist.

That's where smart tools, like the following, come in:

• Lead generation apps, like LeadFuze or AeroLeads, will allow you to piggyback off ofLinkedIn data in order to build your lists.

• We've also heard great things about Clearbit Sheets, another killerproduct for doing lead generation at scale via your Google Sheetsinterface.

2. Double (or triple) your outbound salese-mail.

Frankly, you can't increase your sales unless you increase thenumber of high quality outbound e-mails sent, phone calls logged,in-person visits made, smoke signals sent — you get thepicture. It can be a numbers game, so start acting likeit.

By the way, our process is 14 conversations in 30 business days.It works because it's “human” and accounts for the fact that mostof our ideal targets are super busy and won't take action rightaway.

3. “KISSS” your e-mails.

Keep, It, Short, Sweet, and Simple. Make your emails nomore than five sentences, with a full paragraph between eachsentence.

Don't preach to your prospects in industry jargon or buzzwordsor what you do — talk about what the they will receive.

4. Fall in love with sales technology.

Marc Andreessen is famous for saying, “Software is eatingthe world.” This is especially true in sales.

It doesn't matter what part of your sales process you're on,there's an app for that: lead generation, e-mail automation, orcontract management.

Want new super powers? There's an app for that. For example,see all of the goodies. Yeah, I like those guys.You should, too.

5. Systemize your next move.

We both know it's far easier to ask your existing customers toupgrade than to try to find new customers. So do that. How?Develop a specific plan that includes an outreach cadence thatmakes it easy for them to want to upgrade.

Figure out:

• How long do you wait until you reach out and try to upsell moreproducts?

• What specific products are you pitching as your upsell?

• How do your e-mail templates read?

6. Learn all you can.

Frankly, we found that the process of Predictable Revenue isextremely helpful — some smart people have even called itthe “Silicon Valley sales bible.” We took what we learned and addedour special sauce to it. The more we saw it working, the morecreative we became.

We are still learning what works. We're only a few months intothe New Year and already have more business booked than all theweeks of last year combined.

And we're not going to stop learning. It's making us millions ofdollars.

7. Live by your numbers.

Develop a “sales dashboard” that you can look at and check yourprogress. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't matter whatprogram you use to create it, just make sure to include thesethings:

• Number of sales e-mails sent per week.

• Number of leads generated per week.

• Number of inbound leads received per week.

• Number of wins per week.

• Average deal size.

• Average sales cycle.

8. Specialization is your friend.

If we break down the process, you've probably got three specificsales tasks (like we do):

1. Lead generation – Finding new potential customers..

2. Closing – Securing partnerships with these new customers.

3. Account management – Managing your customers.

If you have the benefit of having multiple sales team members,specialize their roles. If you're a one man band, specialize yourtime. For example, dedicate:

• 5 hours – lead generation.

• 3 hours – closing.

• 2 hours – account management.

9. Put your awesomeness on atemplate.

Make what you do repeatable, repeatable, and … repeatable. Asawesomely as “repeatably” possible. But make sure that yourtemplates do not look like templates. They've got to beemotional and personal. Write like you're only talking to oneperson. After all, you are.

Turn your whole sales process into a series of “templates.” Andkeep making them better by learning. Remember: You have to stop anddig into the ugly details of what you have been doing — andwhy.

10. Follow up on your follow up.

A “no response” from your prospect is unacceptable.You (or your sales rep) was just too lazy to follow-up.Don't hate; that is truth.

It might take something like this to get a reply:

• Day 1 – E-mail.

• Day 3 – E-mail.

• Day 4 – Voicemail.

• Day 5 – LinkedIn Connection request.

• Day 7 – E-mail.

• Day 9 – Cold call.

• Day 11 – E-mail.

• Day 13 – Twitter mention.

• Day 15 – E-mail.

No more guesswork: Now you know when to reach out, how to reachout, and what specifically to say.

Stay hungry

Everything you do affects your sales process: technology,marketing, psychology, and finance. All of these play a part in thesales hustle.

Study the new sales apps. Take a writing class — or imitategreat authors. Read a good book. Practice your spreadsheetwizardry. Whatever you do, keep fighting.

Related: Take an 'inside' look at your salesprocess

Here's the crazy math

We started off the year with a target list of 400 potentialcustomers. I wanted to do business with 10 of them. That wouldyield epic results for us. We ran into a problem — a goodone — after 17 selling days. We had reached out to 81 of thosepotential customers, talked with 53 of them, and signed a deal with27 of them with more deals following. We achieved 1,300% betterresults than expected.

I think you can do the same. It's not easy. And certainly thisarticle won't change everything all at one time. But it might bethe best start you've had in a long, long time.

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