How can you enjoy a larger average deal size, a greater number of new accounts and retain a higher percentage of existing customers? By focusing on pursuing the right opportunities and not pursuing deals you will not win.

So how do you know if an opportunity is worth pursuing?

At Ninety Five 5, we have found that there is a direct correlation between the probability of winning a deal and the free flow of meaningful information between clients and consultants. In assessing the viability of potential opportunities, ask yourself if you understand the:

• Issues – What are the problems a client is trying to solve and the business results they want to achieve?
• Evidence – How do those problems appear? How is success measured?
• Impact – What are the costs and risks of doing nothing? What does success mean to the bottom line?
• Context – How would a solution fit in with other client initiatives? How would other employees or departments be impacted?
• Constraints – What has prevented them from solving these problems or achieving these results in the past?

Many sales people will guess if their solution fits the client's needs and then needlessly spend a lot of time and money trying to convince the client that they guessed correctly. The cost of these failed pursuits goes way beyond the waste of valuable company resources; the opportunity costs cannot be calculated.

We have seen how focus drives performance.

• By focusing on the right deals, you will spend less time pursuing deals which don't make sense.
• By focusing on the quality of your client interactions, you will increase the probability of having more meaningful conversations.
• When you focus on what is most important to your clients, you increase the odds that you will become regarded as a trusted advisor.

When you enjoy a relationship built on trust, you meet much less resistance and are able to focus on quality, which in turn drives performance.

Next week, let's look at the obstacles we need to avoid in managing our sales pursuits and how we can increase the probability of success.