You may be celebrating a great year or mourning a poor one. Now is the time with the year winding down to think about and prepare for next year. You want to do better next year and trust me. Next year, it will be different. Next year will change.
Why will next year be different?
You have probably noticed that nothing stays the same. Companies get bought and sold. Management changes even in companies not getting sold. Products get eliminated or new ones come along. Business climates change. I predict that next year will change and be one with a different business climate. I expect a lot of change. What that means is that those salespeople who can deal with change are going to thrive. Others who can’t accept change will be tested and probably won’t do well.
How do you deal with change?
Another larger company once bought a company where I worked. For months there was discussion about what would happen. New management was a given. Salespeople discussed the hot topic: which jobs would be eliminated. Some people were afraid of losing their jobs. They were distracted by their fears and that affected their work.
What I observed was that the new management made changes. Management eliminated some jobs. That didn’t mean that the person whose job was eliminated lost his job. Management found a place in the new organization for top performers. The ones who lost their jobs were the ones who were underperforming.
Start working a little harder or smarter immediately if your organization is undergoing change now. Don’t waste your time on speculation about what change will happen in your organization. Do your work instead.
Make a plan.
Another way to deal with change is to take charge. It’s one thing to think that you have no control over the change you are experiencing. You do. Most salespeople have the authority to choose their prospects who become customers. Salespeople set their own schedule and plan their sales calls. What may challenge you next year is that you must work differently. Old sales strategies that worked in the past might not be effective next year. Develop a sales plan that addresses the new business reality. Having a sense of control might also relieve some of the stress that comes from change.
I once worked with a salesman with a new management. Management expanded sales territories. The salesman couldn’t accept the new reality that he couldn’t call on all the accounts he previously did. He had to change how he served his smaller accounts. This salesman didn’t think that a telephone call would be an acceptable strategy instead of face-to-face sales calls. He never challenged himself to change. He left the company even though a telephone strategy would have worked.
A comforting thought in sales is to focus on process, not results. You can control your sales process: who you call on, what you say, how you prepare. It is not possible for you to control the result of the sale. You are not in control of a customer’s budget or their business plan. Focus on what you can control and do it.
Challenges are part of selling. The beauty of sales is that there are so many creative ways to make a sale. Challenge yourself now to develop your sales strategies for next year’s business climate.