If You Didn't Sell, You Didn't Eat
Why selling was never just a numbers game.
When I was 20, I was knocking on doors selling double glazing.
Before I was 22, I'd also sold burglar alarms, aluminium doorsteps and Kirby vacuum cleaners. Different products, different challenges, but one thing they all had in common: they were commission-only jobs.
No basic salary. No guaranteed income.
If you didn't sell, you didn't eat.
Anyone who's experienced door-to-door selling will understand. You could spend an entire day walking the streets, knocking on doors, dealing with rejection and working incredibly hard, only to go home having earned absolutely nothing.
It was quite an education. And one that shaped how I've thought about selling and performance ever since.
It's a numbers game. Isn't it?
I heard it constantly. "It's a numbers game." The more doors you knock on, the more people you speak to. The more people you speak to, the more chances you have of making a sale.
Want to earn more? Simple. Knock more doors!
But consider two salespeople.
One knocks on 100 doors and makes two sales. Another knocks on 50 doors and also makes two sales.
Same result. Half the activity. Why?
Better targeting? Better selling skills? Better knowledge of the customer? Or simply luck? And more importantly, what could we learn that would help both salespeople improve?
Remember CAPS?
Some of the more experienced salespeople reading this might remember CAPS.
Contacts. Appointments. Presentations. Sales.
A remarkably simple sales management mechanism I've used throughout my career. Its real value comes from understanding the conversion ratios between each stage.
Let's revisit our two salespeople. Imagine their results looked like this:
CAPS | Salesperson A | Salesperson B |
Contacts | 100 | 50 |
Appointments | 20 | 20 |
Presentations | 10 | 5 |
Sales | 2 | 2 |
Now things become interesting.
Salesperson A converts 20% of contacts into appointments, 50% of appointments into presentations and 20% of presentations into sales.
Salesperson B achieves 40%, 25% and 40% respectively.
Same sales. Very different conversion ratios.
The ratios don't tell us why. They tell us where to investigate. Perhaps B is better at targeting and opening conversations, while A is better at progressing appointments. But B is twice as effective at converting presentations into sales.
This is where CAPS becomes far more valuable than simply counting activity.
Measure stage conversion → Identify the weakness → Diagnose the selling behaviour → Train or coach → Measure improvement.
That's more than pipeline reporting. It's a practical mechanism for developing sales competence and improving management effectiveness. And importantly, the person achieving the better overall conversion rate may still have a weaker ratio at an individual stage.
Everyone can potentially learn something from the comparison.
From individuals to teams
The same principle works across entire sales teams. By examining the combined conversion ratios, managers can identify where the team is collectively losing effectiveness. Perhaps the team is excellent at securing appointments but struggles to turn presentations into sales. Or perhaps certain individuals consistently achieve stronger conversion at particular stages.
Now we have an opportunity to share knowledge, learn from successful behaviours and focus training where it will make the greatest difference. Rather than sending everyone on another generic sales course, we can target the specific skills that need strengthening.
And, crucially, measure whether that investment actually improves performance.
Where are we losing effectiveness?
I've used CAPS throughout my career, adapting the stages to different selling environments and responsibilities. My ambition has always been to improve conversion towards a 1:1:1:1 between meaningful stages, adding measurement points whenever necessary to understand where performance is being lost.
The principle is simple.
Understand where effectiveness is deteriorating, identify why and develop the skills and behaviours needed to improve it.
That's as relevant to sales leadership today as it was when I was knocking on doors more than 40 years ago.
Effectiveness first. That's the PROBOS approach.
At PROBOS, we believe that improving commercial performance starts with understanding what's actually happening. Not simply demanding more activity, but identifying where opportunities are being lost, strengthening the skills and decisions that matter, and measuring the improvement.
As Q4 progresses, that question becomes particularly relevant.
Could improving the conversion of opportunities already in your pipeline deliver more value than simply generating more activity?
Our Q4/Q1 Revenue Sprint is designed to help sales teams answer that question and we have just 2 slots left before the end of the year.
Over three focused weeks, we work alongside your team on live opportunities, combining customer insight, deal coaching and proposal refinement to identify weaknesses and improve the chances of progressing valuable business.
The objective is straightforward.
Finish Q4 stronger. Start Q1 with momentum.
If you'd like to explore where your sales effectiveness could improve, take a look at the PROBOS Revenue Sprint and arrange a complimentary Revenue Opportunity Review.
Because sometimes the fastest route to more sales isn't knocking on more doors.
It's getting better at converting the ones you're already knocking on.
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