1. Write your sales strategy plan. Know what you have in secure customer repeat business, the current business that is subject to elimination and the balance tells you how much you need to aquire and meet your goal. Only it doesn’t stop there. Determine many new clients and the number of weekly or daily prospects you need in the pipeline List the specific actions to take each day, week or month. Now execute it!
2. Teach yourself. If you think you know it all, that’s when you are most vulnerable to lose your edge because you’ll start taking short cuts. Read articles, blogs and/or books on selling tips and techniques. Every sales book or article has at least one winning idea to advance more sales or close more deals. When you come across that good tip, use it.
3. Find a partner or stakeholder. It feels like you’re on an island by yourself, yet there’s no good reason to do this alone. Partner up with a fellow seller, your boss or someone you know and respect their sales ability. Meet with them weekly (phone is fine) for 30 minutes. 15 minutes on them and 15 on you. The clarity and suggestions this 30 minutes provides is worth thousands in commissions.
4. Keep the invisible, visible. Display your Top 10 Target Opportunities. Keeping the list in a drawer, folder or file on your computer isn’t enough. Targets need to be visible to hit the bulls-eye. Place the list in multiple places to look at them often. Plan each morning to take action to advance each of these accounts. Check in at the end of the day and answer truthfully to yourself what action you took.
5. Plan before each sales conversation. Winging it doesn’t work. Ask yourself: what is the objective of this conversation, how does this contact like to be communicated to, what questions do I need to ask to meet the objective of the call, what barriers might keep them from buying and what are the best clarifying questions to ask to remove any barriers? Take the time to plan and the customer will buy.
6. This one is up to you. What worked so well before that you stopped doing it? What is currently working well for you that you want to keep doing it and improve upon it? What does your sales manager harp on you to do that you’ve been dragging your feet? What do you see other top performers do that you wish you were doing? Start doing it now and watch your sales soar.