You’re probably still thinking about having a stellar selling year. And why not? Most new year resolutions haven’t gone by the wayside just yet. One way to be sure you are on track to have a great year is to have a plan. That plan will guide you to success. Here’s how you can have a great 2025 in sales.
Do you have a plan for a great 2025 in sales?
What’s your plan for success? Do you have one? It’s still early so don’t panic if you don’t have a plan. Start by looking at last year’s data. How many sales calls did you make per week or month last year? Determine how many proposals you submitted? How many sales did you make from the proposals you submitted?
You can start with last year’s sales data even if you didn’t make your sales goals. Why? Because if that plan didn’t work for you last year, you will at least now know that it won’t work for you this year. Repeating the same mistakes over again is not an option for this year’s success!
Analyze your plan for a great 2025 in sales.
You might think that you have to increase the number of sales calls you make this year to be successful. Perhaps you consider increasing the number of proposals. Either is not necessarily the best solution for sales success. Why? Because if you’re calling on less than ideal prospects, even if you submit a proposal, you’re not likely to reach sales goals. You’re wasting valuable selling time on the wrong prospects.
Instead, look at the criteria you use for identifying ideal prospects. Perhaps different prospect criteria should be the focus you have in 2025 to make your sales goals. You might have to target larger accounts or different industries to target more ideal prospects. A plan is only as good as the data in it. Be sure your plan makes sense with reasoning behind the data you include.
Know your numbers.
Knowing your numbers is another place to be honest with yourself. You do have to have an idea of what was successful for you in the past to determine how many sales calls you should be making each week or month. Then you can determine how many proposals you need to submit. You won’t know if you are doing enough if you don’t know the numbers in either category.
The good news is that this examination of data helps you focus on process not results. It may sound counterintuitive especially if you are in sales. You can only control yourself and your sales process. You cannot control results like who works at a prospect, their budget or their purchasing cycle. All you can do is impact, control or modify your process. A good process will give you good results. A bad process needs to be improved.
Be vigilant about reviewing. your progress often while looking for improvement. Do something else if something’s not working. Just know that it’s important to recognize when your process is not working.It’s nice to have hope to guide your selling. Hope is not a sales strategy. As quality guru W. Edward Deming once said, “In God we trust. All others bring data.”