What does “high volume” mean?

I attended a training class in December where the sales trainer talked about the difference between high dollar and high volume sales. It was an important distinction from a qualification perspective!

TEN thousand $100 conversations…
One Thousand orders at $1000…
One Hundred deals of $10,000…
Ten $100,000 projects…
or a single $1,000,000 check

• How many people get involved in a purchase at a company is very different
• From a hierarchy perspective – where each person falls, of course, changes as well
• Not to mention the roles and responsibility that each decision maker
• The buyer’s process will change
• What is most important will be viewed differently
• How long a decision will take
• etc.

The piece, for me, that was a disconnect was that the trainer appeared to believe that those $100 conversations would be with TEN thousand different prospects and customers. While this might be the case in a B2C (business to consumer) sale, in my B2B (business to business) universe it is more likely that there will be a plethora of $100 conversations INSIDE each account.

Which got me thinking about – What does “high volume” mean?

It could mean $100 conversations with TEN thousand different prospects and customers. On the other hand it might mean TEN customers who do $100,000 – one hundred dollars at a time over the course of a year.

That too will change the way you look at the qualification process. If you are in a “high volume” sales environment, make sure you know what it means AND what steps you need to qualify accounts in for your long term success!