Business sales growth accelerates when the sales team responds to enquiries on time, sees agreed purchases through to payment and secures further orders from existing customers. Look for untapped potential within the team in four places: handling enquiries, unfinished deals, bringing customers back and repeat sales. The size of this potential depends on the number of purchases held back by correctable mistakes in salespeople’s work.
If you are agreeing the next sales plan, the increase is easy to put into one line: sell more with the same team and the same flow of enquiries. The team does have opportunities to do this when buyers are waiting for a reply, proposals receive no follow-up and no one tracks when the next order is due. But adding up all unpaid invoices raises expectations too high: some buyers have decided against the purchase itself, some have chosen another supplier, and some are still deciding.
I believe a promise of growth must start by setting a boundary: which purchases the team can secure by changing how it works. Otherwise, the head of sales is given a sales plan that includes money the company no longer has grounds to expect. The demand to deliver that money by the end of the month encourages early orders from regular customers and shifts in expected payment dates. For a while, the figure looks better. The supply of orders does not increase as a result.
Sales growth opportunities
Sales growth opportunities within the team lie where a buyer’s confirmed need fails to turn into an order because of a delay, a missed action or the lack of a suitable offer. Each opportunity needs evidence of where a purchase was lost and an action that can change the outcome of the next similar purchase.
Below is a map for discussing growth. The head of sales uses it to gather data, and the business owner can see what change they are being asked to support. A large figure in the column for refusals alone is not a reason to strengthen that particular area.
| Area | How to identify the loss | What to change in the work | How to see the result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handling enquiries | The customer chose a supplier before receiving a useful reply | Response times, allocation of enquiries and cover for a busy salesperson | More buyers receive a reply before their decision deadline and place an order |
| Following through to payment | The offer suits the buyer, but the salesperson missed an agreed step | Preparing calculations, clarifying terms and following up on what was agreed | Once the delay is removed, the buyer completes that particular purchase |
| Bringing customers back | Purchases stopped for a reason the company has resolved | Contacting a suitable group of customers with changed terms | Orders return after the reason for leaving has been resolved |
| Repeat sales | The need arose, but the offer arrived after the purchase | The timing of contact before the next need arises | The company secures the next order in line with the buyer’s usual timing |
When measuring response speed, count the time until the person receives a useful reply. An automatic “enquiry received” message says nothing about availability, timing or how to buy. If a bot replies immediately but the customer gets the information they need after choosing a supplier, speeding up the notification is pointless. The head of sales needs a deadline within which the team can give a useful reply, and a procedure to follow if it is missed.
The same logic applies to completing a sale: first, you need to identify the unfinished step. When the buyer is waiting for a delivery cost calculation, another payment reminder does not help them decide. The salesperson should obtain the calculation and come back with it. Once the terms have been received and agreed, the discussion shifts to what is preventing the order and when the buyer is ready to place it.
Bringing customers back and making repeat sales require different reasons for getting in touch. In the first case, you need to know what has changed since purchases stopped. In the second, you need to know when the need will arise again. There is a detailed analysis of work with existing customers in the article “Sales have dropped. And who was supposed to bring existing customers back?”. Here, the business owner’s task is to compare the scale of the available opportunities in these areas before adding an increase to the sales plan.
A separate opportunity lies in expanding an existing customer’s purchase. This requires a known need that the company can meet. Having a product in your catalogue does not provide that basis. This is examined in “You have customers. Why do they buy the rest from someone else?”.
Which losses can the sales team actually address?
The calculation of available potential includes purchases where the offer suited the customer and the outcome depended on the team’s action. Refusals caused by unavailable products, unsuitable terms for fulfilling the order or a need that no longer exists require a separate decision.
The last point at which the salesperson could still influence the outcome helps distinguish these losses. If they had all the information needed for a proposal but sent it after the promised date and after the buyer had chosen another supplier, there is a specific delay. If the proposal was sent on time but the buyer needed a delivery deadline the company cannot meet, demanding more frequent calls does nothing to change that constraint.
Keep the “no response” category separate. Here, the buyer’s decision is unknown. Including its entire value in the available potential means treating uncertainty as demand. The first action here is to find out what the customer decided; filling gaps in the information does not yet justify counting all these orders as future revenue.
To choose an area, it is enough to start with one product and one normal period for completing a sale. The head of sales takes the opportunities that ended during that period and groups them by reason. The business owner needs the result in three lines: losses the team can prevent, limitations of the company’s offer, and unknown outcomes. Each line has the number of orders and their value, if it is confirmed by the proposal sent to the customer.
Past losses show where to change how you handle the next enquiries. They do not promise that previous buyers will return. The purchase from another supplier has already happened; an improved response time will benefit the next person who needs your product. This difference also determines when to expect an increase.
How do you calculate whether the potential you found is enough for your target?
Compare the number of extra orders needed with the number of preventable losses from the same flow of customers. This shows what share of those losses you will have to turn into purchases to reach your target.
For the calculation, take one product with comparable order sizes. The head of sales will prepare three figures from your business: how many purchases the company secured in the chosen period, what percentage growth is needed and how many suitable purchases were lost for reasons the team could address. The periods and the number of enquiries must match; otherwise, the potential and the target relate to different levels of demand.
- Extra orders = current orders × desired growth as a percentage / 100. Round the result up to a whole order.
- Required share of losses prevented = extra orders / preventable losses × 100%.
- Increase in revenue with the same average order value = extra orders × average order value for the chosen product.
A line you can fill in with your own figures, for example: “We currently receive 100 orders. To grow by 10%, we need another 10 orders. We found 20 preventable losses. So we will need to secure a purchase in 50% of these cases.”
If the result is more than 100%, the chosen area cannot deliver the target even if all the losses found are prevented. If it is exactly 100%, the sales plan requires work without mistakes and agreement from every suitable buyer. You cannot treat this calculation as a promise you can work to. If there are no preventable losses, the division makes no sense: you need to look elsewhere for the increase.
A small required share does not confirm a future result either. It shows that there is enough potential to make an attempt. Next come changes in how the team works and actual purchases. For this reason, it helps to separate the decision to allocate resources to an attempt from the decision to raise the team’s ongoing sales plan.
When order values differ greatly, calculate products separately. Multiplying the average order value of large equipment by the number of lost orders for consumables will show an increase that is not available from those enquiries. For the first calculation, it is better to take a narrow group where the purchase is clear than to use one average for the company’s entire revenue.
Company sales growth: how do you distinguish an increase from a change in timing?
Company sales growth is measured by the additional volume of orders over a comparable period, with purchases shifted in time and one-off payments recorded separately. Early payment improves the cash position, but does not in itself increase how much the customer buys.
The most uncomfortable part of this analysis is looking beyond the last day of the month. If a regular buyer takes early delivery of the quantity they intended to order later, the current month gains at the next month’s expense. Both dates must be included when assessing the result. The observation period is set by the customer’s usual interval between orders, so the same thirty days for every buyer will not work here.
| What happened | What the company gains | How to account for it when assessing growth |
|---|---|---|
| Payment for an agreed order arrived earlier | Money came in sooner | Keep the original order volume; note the date change separately |
| The customer bought stock for the next period in advance | Current volume increased at the expense of future volume | Compare total purchases up to and including the next regular order |
| A delay that caused similar enquiries to be lost was removed | Additional purchases were completed | Compare the results of comparable groups of enquiries after the full time needed to complete a sale |
| An old backlog of stalled deals was worked through | A one-off increase was achieved | Separate it from the result for new enquiries |
The last row is especially important for the next sales plan. The old backlog has a finite size: once it has been worked through, the same volume of stalled orders will no longer be there. Carrying a one-off return into every future month means demanding that an already used opportunity be used again. Look for a repeatable increase in what happens to new enquiries after the work has been improved.
The head of sales prepares the comparison between groups. Each contains enquiries for one product from a comparable source, received over the same length of time. The result for each group is assessed after allowing the same time for a purchase. The number of payments divided by the number of enquiries in that group gives the share that led to purchases. Changes in price, product availability and the mix of customers are noted separately: otherwise, the team will be credited with a result that came from elsewhere.
How do you make the approach you found part of daily work?
The approach becomes part of daily work through a specific action by the salesperson, a deadline for completing it and intervention from the head of sales if there is a delay. The change must work for new enquiries that arrive after the review of old losses.
For response speed, this means assigning someone to pick up an enquiry when a salesperson is busy, and someone to spot a missed deadline before the customer leaves. For completing a sale, it means ensuring that the promised step is completed: a calculation, clarification or agreement. Saying “be more attentive to customers” does not define any of these actions.
Before work begins, the head of sales specifies the date after which enquiries will follow the new process. The first results are visible in how the work is done: a useful reply was given on time, a calculation was sent by the promised deadline. Sales are assessed after the full time needed for a purchase. If the work is now being done properly but the share of orders remains the same, the analysis returns to the reason for refusal. Adding more reminders about the same action is pointless.
When the business owner personally tracks down delayed replies and reminds the team about every calculation, tapping the potential they found costs them time every day. RENTROP takes on this work through its “turnkey sales management” product: increasing company sales is based on the speed of enquiry handling, completing sales, bringing customers back and repeat sales. The percentage is charged only on the increase.
When is there not enough potential within the team?
There is not enough potential within the team if the required increase exceeds the purchases available, or securing it depends on conditions the team has no authority to change. The calculation must then state the missing volume and the constraint: demand, product range, ability to fulfil orders or team resources.
This conclusion puts an end to an unproductive argument about salespeople’s effort. If the required number of purchases is not there in the existing flow of customers, more supervision will not create them. If the orders are available but the company cannot meet the promised deadline, speeding up sales will create new commitments to customers. The business owner has a basis for deciding which constraint to change and whether the expected increase justifies the cost.
For me, a good result from looking for growth opportunities is the right to set the team a higher sales plan without a rescue effort in the final week of every month. That right comes when new enquiries generate extra orders through the team’s normal work. Until then, it makes sense to test the opportunity you have found, but it is too early to live on money it has not yet brought in.