There a many practical tips and techniques to help a sales professional reach a professional goal (or personal). Here are three tips to gain traction and be effective that have worked for me and my clients.
1. Announce your intentions. This is effective for two reasons: Outside support and internal accountability. In 2017, I decided to lose 35 lbs. in four months, I told everyone what I was doing. Most of the folks with whom I shared my goal, helped support my efforts. However, making my goal public was like stepping on a tennis court for a singles match; everyone will know if I win or lose. Sports, weight loss and sales are all similar in that accountability is essential. State your intentions to make you quota, beat your quota, improve your close ratio, or be the best qualifier on the sales team.
2. Discipline with smaller segments. Losing 40 lbs. (I lost 40 lbs. in four months) or making a $5 million sales goal, can be daunting. What is the discipline you need to have every day to reach your goal? What must you do every morning or every day to reach the goal? Discipline is much easier to maintain in smaller bites. Break down the goals into bite size pieces. Think…how many accounts you need to reach goal/how many proposals/how many meetings/how many conversations/how many dials?
3. Momentum. By announcing your intention and finding the discipline to make incremental movement you will gain momentum. Building on small and consistent success, yields significant results over time. With this forward motion, you will naturally be guided to new resources, tools, coaches, like minded colleagues and mentors to help you stay focused.
Sales is exciting and challenging. To be successful in sales there are 21 Core Competencies that are essential. It is unfair to expect a sales team to perform, if they lack the skills and competencies to Sell. If you ever wondered, WHY your sales people have certain behaviors that are counterproductive; or WHAT are the reasons you cannot get to perform, maybe we can help.
