Schewanick Computer Services

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

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