Have you ever met with a prospect, gave your presentation, answered every question and still left without the sale? Most advisors have. And when it happens often enough you start to wonder if prospecting and sales are just a game of hit or miss.
I recently had a client tell me, “I think my number #1 challenge in my business is I just need more leads.” Typically, when I hear this type of statement it makes me want to take a step back to determine if this is the real issue.
So, we talked about how much time he was actually prospecting each day. We looked at his sales pipeline to determine how many people he had in it, the total potential assets found, as well as possible insurance premiums, if he closed everyone. Next, we examined any possible clogs in his pipeline to determine any challenges he might be having.
Within minutes, it was clear the issue wasn’t lead flow. It was a lack of process clarity. He wasn’t prospecting consistently, tracking his pipeline accurately, unclogging his pipeline or measuring his closing ratios. This mini-sales audit was the lightbulb moment that he needed!
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing is the wrong thing; and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
A sales audit forces you to do something very important which is to look, not at what you intend to do, but at what you are actually doing to determine what is working, what is not working and why.
Let’s walk through a five-step framework you can use to conduct your own sales audit.
Step 1. Audit Your Activity
Start with the basics by honestly evaluating your level of activity. How many initial prospecting conversations, first appointments, closing appointments, and referrals are you generating each week?
During sales audits, one of the most common discoveries is the gap between perceived effort and actual activity. Advisors believe they are prospecting consistently, but the calendar often tells a different story.
If the activity isn’t there, nothing else matters.
Step 2. Audit Your Conversions
Most advisors track revenue, but very few track conversions. Without conversion data, you cannot identify bottlenecks. You don’t know if the issue is volume, your conversations, objection handling or closing techniques. Use the following questions to audit your conversions:
- How many first appointments turn into second appointments?
- How many second appointments turn into new clients?
- How many referrals are you consistently generating?
When you measure conversions, emotion leaves the process and logic steps in. All you are trying to do is understand yourself better and explain where the challenges are.
Step 3. Audit Your Conversations
This is where it gets deeper because surface-level problems rarely represent the true issue. Instead, you have to understand if your conversations aren’t making connections. Ask yourself the following:
- Am I clearly uncovering their situation?
- Am I helping them understand their problems?
- Am I helping them understand the implications of not solving the problem?
- Am I helping them see the value of your solution before presenting it?
In my experience having a strategic dialogue of knowing what to say and how to say it can make or break your prospecting and sales efforts.
Step 4. Audit Your Tracking System
Having an updated clearly written sales pipeline is a must in any sales success. If you don’t have a written sales pipeline you don’t have an accurate picture of your prospecting and sales process and you can’t clearly track results.
In many sales audits, the absence of a written pipeline is not an organizational issue but rather it’s an accountability issue, advisors who don’t have one oftentimes don’t want to be accountable for their lack of activities.
Step 5. Audit Your Standards
After reviewing your activity, conversions, conversations, and tracking system, the final question is this: what standards are you holding yourself to?
It’s one thing to know your numbers. It’s another to consistently act on them. Are you prospecting regularly, updating your pipeline weekly, and following a defined sales process with discipline? If not, why not?
Why the Art of Doing a Sales Audit Works
The art of doing your own sales audit works because it forces you to see your business as it actually operates, not as you assume it does. It shifts your focus from surface frustrations to measurable behaviors and identifiable gaps.
When you review your activity, conversions, conversations, tracking system, and standards, patterns begin to emerge. Those patterns give you control. Instead of reacting to slow months by chasing more leads, you can identify where your process is breaking down and correct it. That way you are working smarter and not just harder!