It’s that time again. The year is coming to an end and many of you are thinking about your New Year’s Resolutions. It won’t be too long before many of those same resolutions become a distant memory. Instead of wasting your time on resolutions that get broken, why not make some resolutions that you can actually keep?
Focus on process not results.
You might have some difficult sales goals to reach next year. Too many salespeople will focus only on the numbers they have to reach each month. Focus on the process instead of the results and you’ll be more successful. Why? You really can’t control the results, but you can control the process. What you do is the process. The process leads to the results.
Think about this. You can control how many customers you call for appointments. You can’t control how many of them make appointments with you. Focusing on what you can control in your sales process is the only way to actually get better results. So examine what you can control. Set some targets for those areas and then work on achieving those targets. I predict at the end of a few months when most salespeople have abandoned their goals, that you’ll still be working on your process which will actually get you better results.
Give yourself permission to relax.
Burn out is a real issue for sales professionals. I maintain that there is no other profession as difficult as selling. Rejection is the name of the game and it beats down too many people. Your job is to hone your skills so you can be more successful. Meanwhile, you must take care of yourself as you work. Preventing burn out by scheduling your down time is a smart solution.
Look back at your calendar for this year. Did you take time to enjoy yourself? Did you work seven days a week? You didn’t give yourself permission to relax if you were working seven days a week. I think you would have been more successful working six with one day off than if you worked seven. Worn out salespeople miss listening clues, they lose their creativity, and they lose momentum. Set a goal to enjoy yourself each week and watch your selling improve.
Get help when you need it.
Why do you think you have to do all the work yourself? You don’t. Think about who can help you instead of planning to do all aspects of selling all by yourself. Can your customers introduce you to new prospects? Could your manager help you sell? How about asking your peers in sales about ideas that they have found to be successful for them? You might be able to adapt their strategies to your prospects and customers to be more successful.
Too many salespeople work in isolation. That’s not the best way to be successful in sales. There are too many ideas that are good that you can adopt to make your selling easier. Just remember that you learn from everyone. From some it’s what to do and from others it is what not to do. Get help from the ones who can show you what to do.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy new selling year. With these resolutions I predict you’ll have a successful one as well.