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‘Always Be Closing’<\/strong><\/p>\n For the second year running, South Africa was named at the top of the conversion rate league table – followed closely by the the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand –\u00a0 which were the only nations where salespeople are able to close north of 20% of their prospects into customers.<\/p>\n In speaking to a number of South African organisations, Rein said that the high rate of closing did not seem to surprise them.<\/p>\n “They see an unusually straight link between making it in sales and being able to survive,” said Rein.<\/p>\n “This top-three African economy apparently has less of a safety net in the form of welfare and more pressure to succeed. Many people point to a \u2018if you don\u2019t kill, you don\u2019t eat\u2019 metaphor. It\u2019s arguably a case of an environment shaping the people operating in it.<\/p>\n “South Africans also have a reputation for directness and an aversion to small talk,” he said.<\/p>\n “They get to the point quickly. When it comes to the sales data, it does seem like South Africans understand the lay of the land far earlier in the sales process, that is, knowing when to \u2018step on it,\u2019 and also when to throw in the towel.”<\/p>\n Quickest to ‘yes’<\/strong><\/p>\n Another factor looked at by Pipedrive was the speed or velocity of revenue coming in. Following the similar pattern from earlier studies, salespeople in Brazil get to \u2018yes\u2019 quickest, needing less than 30 days to do so, while\u00a0South Africa and Chile complete the top three.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Local Brazilian salespeople are somewhat surprised they lead in this category as Brazilians tend to put a lot of emphasis on being really friendly and conversations often drift to many other areas besides business,” said Rein.<\/p>\n “However, they also recognize that if they\u2019re not the fastest to close, someone else is going to be even friendlier and more pushy and likely will end up winning. Competition is extremely tight and, again, it shapes the way people get things done in sales.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Conversion-rate.jpg\")
<\/a>Conversion rate is one of the best indicators of sales skills, and it is key for any salesperson to take a possible sale (or “lead”) and turn it into a sale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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