What You Should Actually Measure to Have Better Closing Rates [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 51]

About this episode:

As a business leader, you’ve built something great. But now you’re asking: ‘What’s next?’ You know there’s potential for growth, but the path forward isn’t always clear. The challenge isn’t just growing – it’s knowing exactly what to grow. So how do you identify those key areas that, when nurtured, could transform your solid business into a true leader in your industry?

In this episode of Endless Customers, Alex Winter sat down with Connor DeLaney, Lead Sales Consultant at IMPACT, to dive into how businesses can uncover their true obstacles to growth and develop strategies to overcome them.

The Growth Dilemma: More Leads or Better Processes?

Many business owners come to us at IMPACT believing they simply need more leads to fuel their growth. But as Connor explains, that’s often not the real issue:

“For a lot of them, they say we’re not getting enough leads right now. And you know, the initial reaction is we can help you get more leads, but that’s not actually what we want to talk about. Instead, it’s, ‘Okay, why not?’ Or ‘what does more new leads look like?’”

The key is digging deeper to uncover the true challenges. Maybe you’re getting enough leads, but your close rate is abysmal. Or perhaps you have the right volume of opportunities, but your team lacks the systems and processes to capitalize on them effectively.

As Connor notes, “When you start digging into those challenges, that’s when you really get into the nitty gritty of things and you start talking about real problems, not the surface level stuff, but the stuff that drives a business to be successful or not.”

Defining Success: The First Step to Bridging the Gap

Before you can solve your core business challenges, you need to clearly define what success looks like. As Connor explains:

“Where I always start is where are you today? So it always has to begin with, what are we doing right now? Quantify what today’s success looks like.”

He recommends starting by breaking down your current state:

How many leads are you getting per month?
Where are they coming from?
What’s your appointment rate?
What’s your close rate?

Once you have a clear picture of where you are, you can define where you want to go. Do you want to double revenue? Increase market share? Expand into new territories?

“You now have an understanding of the things they’re doing. You have an idea of what’s working, what’s not working,” Connor says. “As you start to dig into those, then you dig deeper.”

This process allows you to quantify the gap between your current state and desired future state. And that sets the stage for developing a targeted strategy to bridge that gap.

Uncovering the Real Problems Holding You Back

As you analyze your business, you may discover that your assumed problems aren’t actually the core issues. Connor shared an eye-opening example:

“There was this payroll company that we had maybe two conversations with, and they came in and they said, yeah, we’re struggling to generate leads and we’re struggling to generate opportunities. And as we got talking with them, the owner said, I’m not sure I have the right person in my VP of sales seat.”

By digging deeper, they uncovered that the real challenge wasn’t lead generation – it was that the owner had never taken the opportunity to clearly define what success looked like for his VP of Sales.

“He had this moment of realization of like, I am responsible for this. As much as I want to blame it on him,” Connor explains.

This highlights the importance of looking beyond surface-level symptoms to identify root causes. Your perceived “lead problem” may actually be a lack of clear goals, misaligned teams, or ineffective processes.

The Gap Isn’t Always About Revenue

While revenue growth is often the ultimate goal, the gap you need to bridge may be more nuanced. As Connor notes:

“Maybe you’re at $5 million of revenue here and you want to be at $10 million and you say, how do I get to that extra five million? You have a $5 million gap. But the actual gap you have is I don’t know how to get there. I’m struggling to fill that gap.”

The true gap could be:

Lack of in-house expertise
Misalignment between sales and marketing
Ineffective systems and processes
Inability to scale operations

Identifying these core challenges allows you to develop targeted solutions, rather than just throwing money at surface-level fixes.

Bridging the Gap: A Collaborative Process

Once you’ve defined your gap, bridging it requires a collaborative effort. As Connor explains:

“At the end of the day, I want it to be something where I’m not just going to fix the problem for you, but everyone’s going to work together to build the solution that’s going to work for everybody.”

This means getting buy-in across your organization and potentially bringing in outside expertise. But it starts with you as the business leader being willing to take an honest look at your challenges.

“If they believe in something and they see the opportunity and they see how you can help them get to where they want to go, they will help form a solution,” Connor says. “It’s not all on you as a salesperson, and it’s not all on you as a business leader. That’s where that outside help can be really, really helpful for them.”

Overcoming Budget Objections

Of course, investing in growth initiatives requires financing. But as Connor points out, it’s often a matter of priorities rather than lack of funds:

“I always start by challenging that business owner. If it’s enough of a priority. I believe that you can manipulate your budget to make it something you have to solve.”

He recommends quantifying the potential return on investment:

“When we quantify it, we’re saying you’re a $5 million company. You want to get to ten. Same example we’ve used throughout. That’s a $5 million revenue gap. If you’re going to spend money with IMPACT, let’s say you’re spending $10,000 a month. If you’re saying you’re going to work with us for 12 months, is $5 million over the course of the next five years worth investing $120K into?”

When framed that way, the investment often feels less intimidating. It’s about reallocating resources to your highest priorities and biggest opportunities.

Key Takeaways for Business Leaders

As you look to bridge the gaps in your own business, Connor offers two key pieces of advice:

Ask lots of questions. “Don’t jump to assumptions so much or jump to this isn’t working. Ask yourself a lot of questions and it’s going to help you dig deeper”
Be aware of misplaced effort. “Be really self-aware of the potential that you’re putting too much effort into the wrong things. And that’s where most business owners can go wrong”

By continually questioning your assumptions and analyzing your efforts, you can uncover your true challenges and develop targeted solutions to bridge the gap to your goals.

The growth journey is rarely linear or simple. But by digging deep to identify your core obstacles, clearly defining success, and developing collaborative solutions, you can overcome the challenges holding your business back.

Remember – the gap isn’t always what you think it is at first glance. Take the time to truly understand your business, your team, and your market. That self-awareness is the first step to explosive growth.