Table of contents
- What is Sales Volume?
- How to Calculate Sales Volume
- Understanding Sales Volume Variance
- Strategies to Increase Sales Volume
If you want to stay ahead of the competition and drive business success, understanding your sales metrics is key!
Sales volume stands out as a critical metric that you can use to track your company’s health and growth potential.
But what exactly is sales volume, and why does it matter? Plus, how can you use this knowledge to not only measure performance but also increase your sales?
Well, you’re about to find out!
In this guide, we’ll explain what sales volume means and show you how to calculate it with ease. You’ll also discover some actionable tips that can help boost your sales volume.
Ready to transform your sales approach? Let’s get started!
What is Sales Volume?
Sales volume refers to the total quantity of goods or services a company sells within a specific period, such as a day, month, or year.
It’s a key metric for businesses as it provides a clear picture of how well products are performing in the market.
Unlike revenue, which measures the monetary value of sales, sales volume focuses purely on the number of units sold.
Sales volume can be monitored at various levels, such as individual products, product lines, customer segments, or even sales regions.
Some of the reasons why this metric is important include:
- Tracking performance: Sales volume provides a clear indicator of how well a company is performing in terms of moving its products or services. By analyzing these numbers, businesses can evaluate whether they’re meeting their sales targets and identify trends.
- Budgeting and forecasting: A strong understanding of sales volume allows businesses to create accurate budgets and sales forecasts. This, in turn, can help you manage resources efficiently and plan for future growth.
- Sales strategy adjustments: If a company notices a decline in sales volume, it can take steps to adjust its strategy—whether by increasing marketing efforts, offering discounts, or adjusting prices to stay competitive.
- Product and market insights: By monitoring sales volume across different products or markets, businesses can identify which products are underperforming or which customer segments are more profitable. This helps optimize product offerings and tailor marketing campaigns to boost sales in target areas.
How to Calculate Sales Volume
To calculate sales volume, you need to determine the number of units sold over a specific period.
Here’s the formula:
Sales volume = Number of units sold x the specific period
Source: Goodmeetings
For example, if an electronics store sells 1,200 smartphones over the first quarter (3 months).
To calculate the sales volume for the quarter:
1,200 smartphones x 1 quarter = 1,200 smartphones for Q1.
Here’s another example. Imagine a clothing store that sells 500 jackets in one month.
The sales volume would be:
500 jackets (units) x 1 month = 500 units
You can also calculate sales volume using the percentage formula. This calculates what percentage of total sales a specific product represents.
The formula is:
(Units of individual products sold x 100) ÷ Total units of all products sold
Source: Goodmeetings
For instance, if your company sold 4,000 total pairs of shoes in Q1, and 500 of those were running shoes, then running shoes made up 12.5% of the total sales.
Related: 4 Ways To Measure and Improve Sales Effectiveness
Understanding Sales Volume Variance
After knowing your sales volume, you’ll want to check if it’s meeting expectations. This is where sales volume variance comes in. It shows if your sales performance is better or worse than anticipated.
For example, let’s say a phone accessories company sold 800 and 1,000 units of phone cases in Q1 and Q2, respectively.
The 25% increase looks good, but what if the company expected to sell 1,500 units each quarter? This is where sales volume variance helps.Sales volume variance formula: (Actual sales – Budgeted sales) x Standard contribution per unit
Source: Goodmeetings
Let’s assume the company budgeted for 7,500 phone cases but actually sold 9,000. The difference is 1,500 units.
If the standard contribution per unit is $10 (after considering production, shipping, and marketing costs), your sales volume variance would be:
1,500 x $10 = $15,000
In this case, the variance is favorable, meaning your product exceeded expectations.
Strategies to Increase Sales Volume
Want to boost your sales volume? Here are some top tips and strategies that can help you do so:
1. Generate and nurture leads
Generating leads is the first step in expanding your customer base and increasing sales.
This involves attracting potential buyers through various marketing channels like email, social media, and content marketing.
However, nurturing these leads is just as critical! A well-planned lead nurturing strategy can move prospects through the sales funnel, engaging them until they are ready to buy.
You can leverage automated email sequences and targeted follow-ups to keep your brand top of mind until they make a decision.
2. Align sales and marketing efforts
This next strategy is crucial for driving consistent lead conversions.
When your sales and marketing teams communicate effectively, it becomes easier to close leads, as marketing can generate qualified prospects, and sales can focus on converting them.
Companies that unify sales and marketing often see a significant boost in sales performance.
Related: 10 Best Sales Tactics That Work in 2024
3. Offer discounts and promotions
Discounts and promotions are powerful tools to increase sales volume quickly.
Flash sales, seasonal promotions, and buy-one-get-one (BOGO) deals can create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to make purchases they might otherwise postpone.
Plus, offering loyalty programs or discounts for repeat purchases can help retain customers and increase long-term sales volume.
4. Improve your online presence
A strong online presence can also help boost your sales volume.
To create one for your business, start by optimizing your website for search engines (SEO) so that potential customers can easily find you when searching for products online.
Make sure the site is user-friendly, with clear navigation and a smooth checkout process to reduce cart abandonment.
Adding features like customer reviews, live chat support, and detailed product descriptions can also enhance the shopping experience.
Beyond your website, content marketing through blog posts, video tutorials, and newsletters can keep your audience engaged and educated about your products.
Related: 10 Best Sales Engagement Platforms to Boost Your Sales Performance in 2024
5. Ensure competitive pricing
Ensuring competitive pricing is a key factor in boosting sales volume, as price is often one of the most influential factors in a customer’s purchase decision.
Competitive pricing involves strategically setting prices that align with or undercut your competitors while still protecting your profit margins.
To achieve this, you need to conduct thorough market research to understand competitor pricing structures and consumer expectations.
You should also consider the perceived value of your products to ensure that the pricing reflects both the quality and market demand.
Related: 10 Best Sales Intelligence Software For 2024
6. Improve time management skills
This strategy increases your sales volume by helping your reps focus on high-impact activities that drive revenue.
With effective time management, salespeople can allocate their time more efficiently and prioritize critical tasks like prospecting, building relationships, closing deals, and following up with leads.
By minimizing distractions and low-priority activities, your sales reps can spend more time on the actions that directly contribute to hitting their targets.
7. Implement a CRM system
A CRM system helps streamline the sales process by centralizing customer data, tracking leads, and providing insights into customer behavior.
With better data management and automated tasks, sales teams can focus on what matters—building relationships and closing deals.
CRM tools also make it easier to personalize communications and monitor the progress of each deal.
8. Upsell and cross-sell
Upselling and cross-selling are proven strategies that help you increase your average order value and, consequently, sales volume.
Upselling involves offering customers a more expensive version of the product they’re considering, while cross-selling suggests complementary products.
For example, if a customer is buying a smartphone, upselling might involve recommending a higher-end model with more features. On the flip side, cross-selling could include offering a phone case, screen protector, or wireless charger.
These strategies work because they cater to customers’ needs, often presenting them with options they hadn’t considered but might find useful.
Related: 15 Best Sales Methodologies You Need to Know
9. Expand your market reach
This means tapping into new geographic regions or targeting new customer segments to boost your sales volume.
For instance, if your business is primarily local, you can consider offering products online or partnering with larger retail chains to reach a broader audience. Selling on e-commerce platforms like Amazon or eBay allows you to reach customers worldwide, eliminating the need for a physical presence in new regions.
You can also consider diversifying your product offerings to attract different demographics. For example, if you currently target young adults, creating products aimed at families or older customers could open up new sales opportunities.
10. Enhance product and service quality
With high-quality products or services, you can meet (and even exceed!) customer expectations. This, in turn, leads to stronger customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.
When customers feel they’re getting excellent value for their money, they’re more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend your brand to others—thereby expanding your customer base and increasing sales volume.
What’s more, superior quality can differentiate your products from competitors and help your brand stand out in a crowded market. It can also reduce return rates and improve customer retention, which directly contributes to higher sales over time.
11. Discover high-performing sales reps (& assign them high-value leads)
As you may already know, top sales performers often stand out due to their strong desire to win, consistent drive, and disciplined approach to sales.
They tend to be goal-oriented, proactive in their planning, and relentless in their pursuit of excellence.
Now, by assigning these reps the most promising leads, you can leverage their skills to maximize the conversion rate. This ensures that your most valuable prospects are handled by the most capable individuals.
With this strategic allocation, you can enhance productivity and also boost overall sales outcomes.
Related: Sales Enablement Strategies 101: A Beginners Guide to Success
12. Assess your sales territories
Evaluating and optimizing sales territories is crucial for efficient resource allocation.
Assessing your territories involves analyzing geographic or market-specific areas to ensure fair distribution of opportunities and workloads among sales reps.
With a well-structured sales territory management plan, you can reduce inefficiencies, optimize travel routes, and ensure that the right reps are handling accounts that match their strengths.
You should also regularly review these territories, as this allows you to effectively respond to changing market conditions or performance metrics. It also ensures sustained growth and improves sales performance.
13. Know your product’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Understanding and effectively communicating your product’s USP is key to standing out in a competitive market.
The USP is what sets your product apart from competitors—whether it’s price, features, or an exclusive benefit.
Top salespeople leverage this knowledge to create a strong pitch, positioning the product as the best solution to a buyer’s problem.
By consistently highlighting your USP, you ensure that prospects understand why your product is the ideal choice.
14. Set realistic sales targets
Setting achievable yet challenging sales targets keeps your team motivated and focused.
These targets should be grounded in historical data, market conditions, and the capacity of your team.
Overly ambitious targets can lead to burnout, while targets that are too low won’t push your team to excel.
By setting realistic goals, you create a balanced approach that drives progress without overwhelming your reps.
Related: What Are Smart Sales Goals and How to Set Them? (Examples and Tips)
15. Concentrate on top buyers
Focusing your efforts on your highest-value customers can significantly boost sales volume. This is because these top buyers often generate the most revenue and have the potential for repeat business.
By nurturing these relationships and delivering personalized value, you ensure long-term loyalty, which is much more profitable than constantly chasing new leads.
High-value customers can also become advocates and bring in more business through referrals.
16. Leverage helpful sales tools
The right sales tools can dramatically boost your team’s performance by streamlining workflows, increasing productivity, and improving communication.
One such tool is Goodmeetings—a robust AI-powered platform designed to enhance sales meetings and drive better outcomes.
Source: Goodmeetings
By automating tasks, providing actionable insights, and improving the overall quality of sales interactions, Goodmeetings helps businesses increase their sales volume.
Key features of this platform include:
1. Call recording & high-quality transcriptions
Goodmeetings automatically records and transcribes meetings—making it easier to review key points.
This helps sales reps prepare more effectively for follow-ups, reducing missed opportunities and increasing deal closure rates.
2. AI-generated summaries
You can also access concise meeting summaries that allow your reps to quickly review conversations and stay focused on high-priority tasks.
This improves productivity and ensures that nothing critical is overlooked.
Related: Complete Guide To Conversational AI for Sales
3. Meeting analytics
Goodmeetings also provides valuable insights that can help you analyze meeting performance, identify trends, and optimize sales communication strategies.
With these analytics, your sales team can pinpoint what works and adjust their pitch to improve conversion rates.
4. Automated action items
After each meeting, Goodmeetings automatically identifies and assigns action items to ensure that follow-ups are done promptly.
This ensures that no opportunity is missed, which helps maintain momentum in the sales process and close more deals.
Related: 15 Best Sales Automation Tools to Boost Your Revenue in 2024
5. Deep CRM integration
Goodmeetings seamlessly integrates with CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot to make sure that all meeting data syncs with customer profiles.
This reduces manual data entry and keeps customer information up-to-date to enable better decision-making.
6. Coaching tools
This platform also provides coaching tools that compare the ideal pitch with actual performance to offer insights into areas for improvement.
By highlighting strengths and areas for development, this continuous feedback loop helps sales reps enhance their skills. It also leads to more successful deals and a higher overall win rate.
Related: 12 Sales Training Ideas to Increase Team Readiness in 2024
7. Video meeting library
Goodmeetings also stores recorded meetings in a searchable video library for future reference or training.
This provides a valuable resource for reps to review successful meetings, learn from them, and apply best practices to future deals.
8. AI-generated key moments
Goodmeetings automatically identifies critical turning points in sales meetings, so teams can focus on what matters most.
9. Meeting search
You can also navigate through past meeting details with an AI-driven ‘Ask me anything’ feature that delivers quick, precise answers
This allows you to stay informed and prepared for follow-ups by accessing instant insights from past interactions.
Related: 12 Best Conversational Intelligence Software 2024Want to try Goodmeetings at no cost? You can sign up for a 7-day free trial or book a free demo.
Leverage Goodmeetings to Boost Your Sales Volume
The Takeaway
Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of sales volume, you can leverage it to gain invaluable insights into your company’s performance.
By implementing the tips we’ve outlined and using a tool like Goodmeetings, you can effectively drive your sales efforts, make data-driven decisions, and achieve your business goals.
