A Tickler File For Sales And Networking

If you are involved in sales, fundraising or just an active networker, you have probably tried a variety of tools to manage your contact list and remind yourself to stay in touch with all of the prospects and people you meet. This tickler file is designed to be an inexpensive, effective, tool that can be used by salespeople in a variety of different types of organizations.

This tickler file uses inexpensive index cards and a simple file box. You will need the following items to create your own index card sales tool. I found everything I needed at my local office supply store. The total cost was around $25.00.

- A box to store the index cards
- Monthly 3" by 5" index tabs
- Daily (1-31) 3" by 5" index tabs
- Alphabetical 3" by 5" index tabs
- A ton of white ruled 3" by 5" index cards (you don't need a photo, right?)
- A bunch of colored 3" by 5" index cards (pick your favorite color)
- A small case to carry your in your pocket

Once you have purchased the required supplies, you can organize your 3X5. For the sake of simplicity, let's assume that you are assembling your 3X5 on January 1st. If this is the case you would first organize your tabs in the order below (front to back):

- January tab
- Daily tabs 1-31
- February - December monthly tabs
- A-Z alphabetical tabs
- Blank index cards - white and your favorite color

All of your cards should now be in the file box and the first thing you should see is the January tab.

Next, you should start creating cards for your leads. In the beginning, this is going to take some time (assuming you have a lot of leads). You might choose to use one color card for prospects, one color for customers, another for personal contacts, etc. If you are not going to organize your contacts by color, you will only need white cards. Nonetheless, you can either copy your contacts information onto the cards or simply staple their business card to one of the index cards.

The system works like this.

Let's imagine it is January 1st. and you attend a networking event where you meet a potential client. You get this lead's business card at the event and you want to contact him/her on the 2nd., so when you get to your office, you staple the leads business card to a white index card and drop it behind the "2" tab and then go home for the day. After all, it is new years day and you have been working hard to create your new sales system and you attended a networking event.

So, you arrive at work on January 2nd. and open up your tickler file. The first thing you should do is move the "1" tab back behind the February tab. You will always be rolling the system forward like this, so that the first tab you see in the box represents the most current month, then the most current day.
Now, you go to the tab for today (Jan 2nd.) and find the card for the lead that you met at the networking event yesterday. You call the lead and learn that he/she is out of town until January 6th. so you make a note which says, "1/2/05 - Mr. Lead is on vacation till 1/6". Now you drop the card behind the "6" tab for the month of January.

You will continue to roll this lead forward in the system, making notes at each step, until the lead either turns into a customer or asks you to leave them alone.

When the lead turns into a customer, I staple their business card to a colored card and place it behind the appropriate alphabetical tab. If their is another opportunity with this client, I move the colored card back to the dated section and move them through the process again.

Of course, as you add more people to your pipeline, you might not get to contact everyone on the day you have them slotted for. Just move them to the next day's slot at the end of the current day so you contact them tomorrow.

You will not want to carry around a huge metal box full of index cards, which is why you want to have a small index card wallet or box, so if you are going to be on the road or out of the office, you can simply grab your cards for the day and go.
Not just for salespeople.

While the system is great for salespeople, it also is a great tool for those of us who are focusing on networking. I actually use three different colored cards and use white for leads, blue for clients and red for my networking contacts (patriotic, I know). On the red cards, I write either 7, 14, 30, 45, 60, etc in the upper right hand corner of the index card to remind myself how frequently I want to contact the person, so I simply move the card forward based on the number on the card. If I want to contact someone every seven days, I move the card ahead a week after I make contact.

A Sales Resume Is Your Ultimate Sale, Your Skills and Experience Are Your Pitch

The toughest of all resumes to write is a sales resume. Basically, the employer is looking for a person who can sell himself through the resume first.

Every employer is looking for that specific set of skilled sales executives who will determine their next quarter sales and drive their growth. As a candidate you will want to win the employers' heart just with your resume. Minute details can be exaggerated or big failures can be hidden by a good sales person. Also, any employer will be expecting a sales executive to possess reasonable learnability and good convincing skills. A good sales resume will convey these messages directly or indirectly.

Basically, your resume should include the following information:

A clear cut career and job objective which shows your sense of direction to the employer.

Your resume should have the names of each of your employers and your corresponding job titles.

Give a brief description about the employer like what they are doing, if they are not well known.

As a sales person, include your sales results and targets in a highlighted manner.

The number of staff that you manage in your team or company in general.

Include your overall roles and responsibilities in planning and budgetary matters in your department or company in general.

Include your sales responsibilities with some description of what you sell and the markets in which you sell your products or the concepts and the type of clients that you targeted.

If you had budgetary responsibilities, specify some of the important projects that you have worked on and whether you completed the projects on budget and on time.

Include, if you have introduced new sales procedures, practices and techniques which helped or enhanced in improving sales.

Mention how you improved the efficiency and productivity within your department or the organization in general.

Mention how you have reduced costs and saved money in your department or the organization in general.

Highlight any other achievements that have benefited your department and obviously your organization.

Auto Sales Training

If you're a salesperson whose dealership has recently gone online, you're probably wondering about the best way to handle online customers. This new breed is entirely different, and dealerships everywhere are incorporating internet sales techniques into their existing auto sales training programs as a result.

The internet buyer is much more discriminating than their offline counterpart. They are searching for added value, choice and much more than the best price.
Therefore, being able to turn their enquiries into sales should be the goal of all online dealerships. But how do you, as a salesperson go about this effectively?

To begin with, a good understanding of today's internet buyers is in order. They are much more educated about what can be had online. That's because most auto dealer websites allow them to do just about everything except kick the tires. Internet car buyers have greater control over the buying process. They can access information around the clock, greatly reduce searching time, comparison shop and even obtain financing online. That means that once they've reached you, they are much better informed than the car buyers of old. However, it doesn't mean that the salesperson has been outmoded! Salespeople are as an integral part of the auto-purchasing process as they've always been. Customers still need someone to help clear confusion and finalize the sale.

It should be understood that the internet presents a golden opportunity for auto retailers and sales people to re-evaluate and reinvent their customer image. For example, the online salesperson can elevate the entire dealership's image by assuming a more advisory role with customers. This role is highly important, considering that said customer will already know a great deal about what you have to offer. As well, internet buyers, already being used to the low pressure, self-controlled buying process are more likely to respond negatively to traditional pressure selling tactics.

Internet auto sales training should communicate the benefits of using the internet to engage a customer at the shopping stage and provide superior customer service, something that has always been a cornerstone of the auto industry. Training should also identify the benefits of utilizing internet customer relationship marketing to reinforce strong brand loyalty.

How many internet sales a dealership makes will ultimately depend on the amount of useful information on that dealership's website. Today's internet buyer will not wait for new information to be added; if a website does not have what they are looking for, they will simply go elsewhere. The internet is seen as 'the great equalizer' of all businesses. Dealerships are no longer just competing with companies down the street; they are being compared to dealerships world wide. Therefore, it is even more critical that any auto sales techniques be original and dynamic; something that catches the buyer's eye or ear and leaves them compelled to know more.

Customer service is just as important online as it is offline; the salesperson must be willing and able to follow up with any and all internet enquiries received. According to a recent J.D. Power Autoshopper survey, 22% of all new vehicle buyers said that the internet affected their choice of a dealer, up from 14% in 2002. Therefore, how a dealer or salesperson responds to internet requests is of increasing importance to customers.

Quality customer relationship management software is another way that a net-savvy dealership can manage its enquiries. Incorporating technology into the office has many other benefits as well. Today's salespeople can now communicate from anywhere, whether it via PDA, cell phone or laptop, making them more accessible to customers than ever before. Web chat offers an additional outlet for sales people and customers to connect, giving customers the opportunity to receive real-time answers to pressing questions.

But the tactics and advice is the same: take the time to listen to what customers are saying so that you can tailor services to meet their needs, don't rush the sale and if a problem arises, avoid excuses; instead, explain why the problem has occurred. Assume a courteous disposition, be willing to ask what you can do for them, and showcase the benefits of working with you and your dealership. Internet customers are after the same things traditional customers are; to be heard and be advised.

Adopt the ‘T’ Method to Sales Performance Improvement

What’s your approach to sales training? Do you have a process that defines which sales performance competency to train to and what impact it will have on selected performance silos if the training objective is successfully met? Or do you rely on ‘field feedback’ not associated with actual performance numbers and related ROI to decide where to put your training dollars?
Here’s a simple blueprint to gain more revenue in less time while maintaining fiscal accountability to the ‘Top-floor’.

At JDH Group, our go-to-market strategy is to understand a sales organization’s revenue goals and define what key results are needed in performance improvement. To illustrate it, we produce diagnostic performance solution ‘Blueprints’ for sales organizations that utilize the ‘T’ method; both vertical and horizontal.
Horizontally, we look at each KPI and help companies understand how to identify, train to, improve and measure competencies in each of the critical performance indicators.

The ‘T’ method of training evaluation is a process that utilizes both a horizontal approach to key sales performance indicators (KPI) and a vertical examination to calculate the impact, or ‘Return on Training Investment’ (ROTI). Aligning the two will not only give you the path of least resistance to your overall revenue objective but will point to performance silos that will produce more revenue and/or recover unnecessary costs from sub-par sales performance.

Horizontal Examination
Here’s an example of sales organization KPI’s that sells business solutions to small and medium size companies:

•    1st Appointment to Proposal ratio (60%)
•    Closing ratio (40%)
•    Average Revenue per Sale ($3500)
•    Sales cycle (38 Days)
•    Revenue goal ($25,000)
•    Average New appointments generated per rep (5)

This model represents a sales team that statistically has an opportunity to reach 67% of their revenue goal. So let’s take a closer look at which KPI performance training could achieve the required result the quickest.

One way would be to focus on front-end activity. Improving the average appointment generation to 7 new appointments would achieve the revenue goal, all other factors remaining the same.

Option 1: Establish a Prospecting Methodology; a single, documented and agreed upon prospecting method across all sales regions. The training objective should be to spend less time to gain more ‘Targeted’ business appointments to initiate your current sales process.

Another choice might be to evaluate your current sales methodology to understand if there is any room for improvement in your current closing ratio of 40%. As an example, improving this KPI to 60% would secure the monthly revenue target with no other KPI changes. Or splitting the difference; improving the 1st appointment to proposal ratio by 10% and the closing ratio by 10% would achieve the same result while maintaining the necessary new appointments at (5).

Option 2: Initially, choose a ‘Top-down’ approach versus a bottom up; target and initiate your sales process with a fiscal level of authority. Develop a diagnostic sales process that points to the prospect company’s business objectives parallel to you product/service solution. Speak in terms of Return on Investment, Soft and Hard Dollar recovery and Investment Payback Period. Sell the diagnostic parts to your process in line with the prospect’s annual business objectives; don’t rely on ‘Features & benefits’. Then customize your proposal as a hypothetical case study with measurable results.

Vertical Sales Performance ‘Impact Silo’ Examination
Whether you are initiating sales performance training internally or outsourcing a niche training organization, most folks sitting on the ‘Top-floor’ now require accountability in line with budget expenditures.
Another way to say it is the CFO knows he’s wasting half the sales training budget, he just doesn’t know which half.
Approaching sales training expenditures with a Vertical ‘Silo’ inspection will help score points to the fiscal authorities within your own organization.

Let’s take a look at this same sales organization’s vertical performance silos:

•    Average New-hire Ramp-to-Quota (5 months) (35 hires per year)
•    Sales employee Turnover due to low appointment activity (30)
•    Percent of sales reps at or above Quota (70%)

First, calculate your ‘sub-par’ average revenue. This number reflects the average monthly revenue a new-hire achieves before they achieve quota attainment.
As an example, if your current Average Ramp-to-Quota is 5 months, take the average total Revenue sold in the first 4 months of a new hires routine and divide it by 4. That will give you the average 'Sub-Quota' Revenue per Month during Ramp.
In this example, we will use $8,000 as the average ‘sub-par’ revenue.

One of the overall training objectives could be to improve the New-hire Ramp-to-Quota. So you consider the training result and impact as it relates to revenue recovery by selecting a ramp-to-quota goal that’s more efficient than the ‘status quo’ of 5 months. In this case a 1 month ramp-to-quota reduction would recover $595,000 in additional new sales. That equates to $17,000 per new-hire. And if you have determined that the performance training Cost-per-head is $2500, there’s your internal training ROI; 680%.
And we’re not done yet.

You have defined that 30 sales reps per year go out the door directly related to low activity, not setting enough new business appointments to justify the required revenue result.

Let’s take a closer look at it pertains to related costs and potential recovery. Here are your expense breakdowns relating to a new-hire sales rep:

•    Average Salary: $28,000
•    Recruiting Costs: $1,200
•    Training Costs per Rep: $2500
•    Monthly Sales Quota: $25,000

If the focused KPI training initiative reduces your sales rep turnover by 50% (15 reps), that recovers $1,953,500 in measurable dollars, something everyone can actually put their finger on.
That’s over $130,000 of real return for every rep that learns how to effectively set new business appointments.

Considering this cause and circumstance versus the realistic training benefit as a ROI factor, you choose Option 1 to establish a Prospecting Methodology across all sales regions. And in this case, that also justifies the training investment to the “Top-floor’.

In the 3rd Vertical Sales Performance ‘Impact Silo’ we determined that an average of 70% of the sales reps are achieving quota per month. And the average month ‘sub-quota’ revenue achieved for the 30% of reps not reaching quota is found to be $16,000.
We also determined the average new appointments generated per week is (5), but
by improving the 1st appointment to proposal ratio by 10% and the closing ratio by 10% we would achieve Quota consistently.
Next, let’s determine our Return on Training Investment if we meet our training objective of improving the 70% team Quota ‘water-mark’ up to 90%.

•    1st Appointment to Proposal ratio (Improve to 70%)
•    Closing ratio (Improve to 50%)
•    Average Revenue per Sale ($3500)
•    Sales cycle (38 Days)
•    Average New appointments generated (5)
•    100 sales reps

Implementing a focused performance improvement system to advance our middle KPI’s in supporting an additional 20 sales reps per month to achieve Quota would increase our monthly revenue results by $180,000.
That’s an annual return of $2,160,000 or a training ROI of 864% based on a $2500 cost-per-head training investment. And with a 38-day sales cycle, the training investment ‘break-even’ point would be approximately 80 days.

Because of this cause and circumstance versus the realistic training benefit as a ROI factor, you choose Option 2 to establish a ‘Business acumen’ sales methodology, develop supporting diagnostic tools to establish financial business metrics parallel to your prospect’s initiatives and your product/service solution.

Adopting this ‘T’ method to sales performance training will allow you to determine the shortest path to your revenue goals, determine and implement ‘Best Practice’ sales performance training and justify the training investment to the “Top-floor’.

Because at the end of the day  it’s all about Return on Investment.

9 Amazingly Easy Ways To Writing Your Greatest Sales Letter Ever

It is very common that people who are new to Internet Marketing will face with difficulties writing their own sales copy – a job called copywriting. Nevertheless, it is amazingly easy if you follow these 9 easy ways:

1. Headline
The most important thing in a sales letter is the headline, it can’t be emphasized more. Use a red headline to grab attention. Make sure the headline is catchy, in bigger font, and preferably in the font Tahoma.

2. Attention
You need to start your sales copy by getting the prospects’ attention. After the headline does its job, you’ll need to get your prospects’ attention by telling them what they are seeing here. Tell them right away what they are getting in the sales letter they are reading now.

3. Interest
You’ve got your visitors’ attention, what you need to do next is start telling them a story and have them interested in what you have to offer. Interest them by mentioning what You have for Them – them, them, them, you’re always thinking of the benefit on Their side!

4. Desire
When they are ready to know what you want to offer them, then it is a good time to make them want it more. Mention how your product is able to change their lives, tell them how bad things can turn to good after getting your product – always remember that it’s about them, not you!

5. A Call To Action
Already have them thirst for your product deeply now? Great – you are now going to sell them the product. Urge them to buy your product, tell them that they must have this product of yours.

6. Long Copy
It is proven more than enough that direct sales letter with a long copy of a single page works the best to sell a product. This way you can list out everything your prospects need to know and wouldn’t let them have a moment to be confused at all. You get their attention, interest them, explain everything, get their desires out and Bam – sell them the product.

7. Testimonials
Nothing is better than a proof from people who have their lives changed because they purchased your product. By providing testimonials, you get a third party to support you and that urges your prospects into buying more easily. We rather purchase something people recommend, don’t we?

8. Clean and neat sales copy
You don’t want to clutter your sales copy with fancy colors, graphics and so on. It is important that your prospects focus more on your words, the texts rather than the design of your sales letter, color of the background etc.

9. Write a story
A good sales letter will need to hook its readers without fail. We are used to finishing a single task – in this case, a story since young. Ever watched an exciting movie and stopped in the middle because you need to accomplish some other things? It feels voided if you do so, right?

This is the same case, people will try and finish every story they read, especially an interesting one. If you can write a good story and keep your prospects hooked right down until the order button, you succeeded.

7 Ways to Stay Sharp in Sales ... or how to catch your first monkey

One of my very good friends leads a top performing sales organization selling financial services out of Boise Idaho. His team is consistently rated as the top producing office in North America for his company. We are always exchanging ideas on selling, challenging each other on philosophies and suffice it to say, his past performance has always caused me to listen intently to what he has to say.

I have no idea if the story he told me is true or not. He has played a practical joke or two in his day. Short of travelling to Africa, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Even if there is a bit of embellishment to the story, it is a great tell with an insightful message.

In Africa, as Charles tells it, the natives have a clever way to catch monkeys. They take a coconut shell, cut a small hole in one end, and hollow it out. The hole is just big enough to allow a monkey's hand to enter.

Then they attach a string to the other end of the coconut shell, place some peanuts inside, put the shell in the middle of a clearing and hide themselves behind a tree until a monkey comes.

The monkey smells the peanuts inside the shell ... it reaches in to grab the peanuts ... but when it does, its fist, full with peanuts, is too large to pull back through the hole.

The natives start pulling on the string and reel the silly monkey in. Why, because the monkey will not let go of those peanuts to save his life. All the monkey would have to do is let go of the peanuts. He doesn't, as he has to have the peanuts.

I'm thinking there may be some truth to his story. I did a Google search "catch a monkey using a coconut" and found one hit on a bladder cancer website that included an article on relaxation that references an African legend, where they do they catch monkeys using coconuts with a banana inside. Seriously!

So let's assume this monkey catching technique works. Chances are if you're like me, you'll never get a chance to try it out. I don't recommend you doing this at your local zoo!

So why tell the story? Do you find yourself grasping a fist full of peanuts? Do you ever get hold of something and not let go? Do you want the peanuts so badly that you fail to consider other alternatives to achieve your goal? Are you flexible and effective in your thinking? Are you prepared to try other methodologies and techniques? Do you seek out others for advice? Do you use your power of observation on those who are successful?

I believe one of Charles' greatest strengths is his ability to make things simple. Once he has done this, he shares the basics for success with his team. He then walks the talk and leads by example. He believes in his people, they believe in him. He's the type of leader that wouldn't use coconuts to capture monkeys, he'd sit down with them, and using his big smile and power of persuasion, have them convinced they should simply follow him home. They probably would!

Charles goes on to offer some simple advice on how to "get the peanuts." I wonder if this is the basics of sales success.

1.Always be prospecting. "Everyone is an opportunity for new business or a referral."
2.Keep the calendar full of appointments. "A body in motion stays in motion, a body at rest stays at rest."
3.Be proficient in your presentation skills. "Confidence sells."
4.Your customers are a gold mine for future business. "Treat them right and they will take care of you."
5.Set stretch goals. "Great things happen to those who make things happen."
6.Hard work is just that. "Honest intelligent effort is always rewarded."
7.Have fun. "Enjoy what you do and you'll be good at it."

Great advice Charles, thanks for sharing. Wishing you continued success!

5 Ways To Beef Up Sales Immediately

Last week, one of my clients—we'll call him Rick—had a demo scheduled with a prospect. The standard "show up and throw up" they typically did early in the sales cycle.

Trying to shorten the sales cycle, I asked naively, "Why does the customer want to buy? What are they trying to accomplish?" Rick couldn't tell me. I asked if he thought the salespeople knew. He said no. I gave him an assignment: he had to find out "Why," "Why now," and "What's it worth." Otherwise no demo.

In other words, no compelling reason to buy...No demo.

So Rick took a risk, and is rapidly moving to a fully-paid trial implementation.

Sure, long-term objectives and plans still matter, but I've been getting more and more inquiries focused on "what to do now." Entrepreneurs and executives alike are demanding help on how to improve revenues and profits right away.

How do you make the quickest difference? Focus the bulk of your energy on revenue generation. In other words, sales! And don't do it the same old way either, because -- as you may have noticed -- it isn't working that well.

Here are five ways for your sales force to bring in more business in short order. There are no magic bullets, but just last week I taught one of these techniques to a client (#2) and he used it to close a deal the following day! Use one or use them all. Each technique will have its own effect, and each will multiply the power of the others.

1. Sell return on investment, and sell it to the CFO.

Sales people are complaining that while the pipeline may be full, the deals are taking too long to close. Perhaps that's why the pipe is so full! What are the reasons for this? Companies have money, and in many cases they have needs. But many people are so scared THEIR customers aren't going to buy THEIR wares, they are loath to spend any money themselves. The result? They are only willing to spend money when they absolutely see near-term financial payback, and the CFO is killing many deals.

The solution? Sell the return on investment. Sell the payback. And sell it to the CFO. Arm your salespeople with two things: A series of case studies that document the returns from using your product, and a well-defined ROI process worksheet. Work with the CFO to build the ROI case so that he or she owns it. This is the only way they come to believe it. Make it their idea and instead of killing your deal, they will help you close it.

2. Forget USP. Determine your Usage Cases

Instead of focusing on why your product is the latest and greatest, clarify the ways in which potential customers will use your product to solve specific problems and produce tangible results. Then, instead of touting the "benefits" of your product--which often fall on deaf ears, anyway--engage your prospects in conversations about what costly and quantifiable problems they now have, and how they might use your product or service to alleviate those.

And, as sales guru Mike Bosworth says, don't tell them your offering IS the solution. You're a sales "guy" and they won't believe you. Instead, ask them if your possible solution might help them. If they believe it does, they have accepted your solution as truth. Then get them to tell you, in real dollar terms, what fixing that problem is worth.

3. Increase Sales Training. Use the 10% solution.

But don't expect any one salesperson--even your superstars--to be 100% at every part of your sales process. They almost never are. But there is a way you can raise the level of every person in your sales organization—immediately.

Use this process adopted from W. Edwards Demming's principle of optimization. Break your sales process into as many discrete--but meaningful--steps as you can.. Cold calling. Letter writing. Setting appointments. Identifying pain. Writing proposals. Presenting. And so on. Find out who in your organization excels at each step, and have those reps explain their methods and mindset to the rest of your sales force. Do all the steps at once in a marathon session, or one step at a time. Either way, the results will be amazing.

4. Use the 80/20 Rule. And get rid of the bottom 20.

There's no room in today's world for mediocre producers. Hold each member of your team accountable for reaching two kinds of performance benchmarks: results measurements, which include not only revenue, but perhaps new accounts and repeat business, and action measurements, which might include prospecting calls, appointments, and new contacts.

Not every sales person will be a superstar, but every one should pay their own way--and then some. Salespeople who aren't producing not only cost you money, they drag down the performance of your whole organization. You may not pay them very much, but why pay them anything? I suggest you do both yourself and them a favor, and let them go. Don't worry about having an empty desk: that warm chair was an expense your company doesn't need.

If you feel it isn't fair to "dump" them, or if your sales cycle is too long to measure short-term revenue results, give the problem reps a 30-day plan to increase their level of activity in specific ways. That's long enough to see an improvement if there's going to be one.

5. Track your results and work harder

Most entrepreneurial sales organizations fail to analyze their efforts. They have no idea how much effort--or money--it takes to create a new customer. The only indication they have of whether salespeople are "doing enough" is based on the revenue numbers. The answer? Track both activity and results, and use the statistics your garner to quickly raise performance. Break your sales process into a series of meaningful steps, counting each time a rep completes one. Calculate averages and set a benchmark. And while you're at it, analyze the percentage of deals that close whenever you complete that step. That knowledge can dramatically improve your sales forecasts.

Once you establish benchmarks--this one's a no-brainer--RAISE THE BAR. Yes, that's right, because the fact is, revenue isn't coming in fast enough. Do everything discussed above to improve your sales effectiveness--then do more of it. Just working smarter isn't going to cut it. You're going to have to work harder as well. And anyone who doesn't want to? See number 4 above.

I've developed a unique Sales Audit Process based on the work of W. Edwards Demming. This program is guaranteed to produce an immediate 10-25% improvement in your company's sales, or more. If you'd like to find out more about how you can increase sales right away, call me at 858-951-3055, or visit paullemberg contact.html and send an email with details about your company's sales situation.