A new virtual tour photographer asked me today if I could share the secrets of our successful virtual tour business.  The bottom line, I told her, is it boils down to is consistency and persistence in making new contacts.  Sure, it helps that Ben is a great virtual tour photographer and that RTV, Inc. virtual tour software company provides us with great virtual tour software. But all that really means is that the number of calls I have to make to close a single sale for a 360 degree virtual tour l is a lower than if I didn’t have those things.  Closing ratio means that x calls yields y sales.  The key is to figure out what your x and y are.

The great thing about sales is the understanding that once you know what your closing ratio is, you can easily extrapolate how many calls you need to make in order to close a set amount of business.  I have learned that I have to make about 100 calls to book 10 virtual tours.  If Ben was a less experienced virtual tour photographer, then I might have to make 200 calls to book those same 10 business virtual tours.  The formula remains the same – the only thing that changes is the x and the y.

To say that I have a 10% closing ratio DOES NOT mean that I win one out of ten times.  It means that if I make 100 contacts, I feel pretty confident that we will end up shooting 2 -3 virtual tours and if I make 1,000 contacts, we will eventually shoot 100 virtual tours.  Charles J. Givens, author of Wealth Without Risk puts it this way,  “Success requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. Your momentum will then produce ten units of results with each unit of effort.”

I start a running tally every week knowing that I need to make a minimum of 100 calls if I want to maintain the growth of our Assisted Care Photography business.  I write everything in a notebook that I keep with me at all times and I write down the number beside each new call, email or face to face contact.  I know that I need to make 100 contacts every week to keep our business growing.  The challenge is not giving up on the 95th call.  I hear the word NO more than most people because I keep calling.  That’s the secret of our successful virtual tour business.