It may be just about now that you’ve broken your new year’s resolutions. How about setting ones that actually work?
Be realistic.
Stop kidding yourself. You know what’s important to customers by where they spend their time and money. You’re no different. You should be spending your time on activities that produce sales. Examine your networking activities from last year. How much revenue can you trace to those activities? Now factor in the time you spent on those activities. Keep going to those events if you’re ahead. Stop going if you’re not. You do get to include a factor of your emotional well being if you say the group contributes to increased knowledge or brings you joy. Now where are your activities after looking at this bottom line? This year participate in activities that bring you results.
Learn more.
This means assume less. Do you really know why your prospects bought from you? Do you really know what you’re doing well with existing customers? This year focus on asking questions that give you real information that is useful for your selling. You can simply ask a customer, “I want to be sure to meet your expectations. What made you select me and my company?” or “I would like to improve as a supplier. What would you suggest?” Your customers can show you when you need to learn more. It’s when a customer looks confused when you’re presenting. It’s when a customer hesitates after you ask a question. Why was there hesitation? Be sure to ask questions this year when you need to learn more.
Sell to better customers.
All prospects are not your great customers. Some won’t even be good ones. Do you kid yourself into thinking the good will be great? Too many salespeople do. This year know who your ideal customers are and be quicker to reject an unsuitable prospect. Now commit to find a replacement for that volume. Even better would be to proactively prospect for the customers who most fit your description of an ideal customer. You know who you should be selling to when you do a better job of qualifying prospects. Examine your past sales and determine company size, location, entry selling point, gender, and any other characteristic that defines a great prospect. You can move on sooner when you know who you should be selling to and you realize that a prospect doesn’t fit. Then you can find a better replacement for the volume/revenue you need for your sales goals.
I work with sales teams to excel in the real world. That includes setting goals that get set and achieved in the real world of selling.