In selling, this is the time of the year to think about and work on plans for next year. My sales cycle is pretty much 70 – 90 days we have only a few days left in the year. I have already been selling into 1st quarter 2021!
Make time to review this year and look at next year. Look at the sales metrics you completed and look at what you want next year to look like. Many of us by putting in more work, can increase salary and make q much better paycheck.
Here is some food for thought on selling:
We all know there are 365 days in the year except leap year with one added day.
Look at these numbers as a starter for a basic sales year:
365 days available
Less 104 weekend days
Less 10 holidays
Less 10 vacation days
Less 11 Misc./Sick/Personal/etc. days
Leaves 230 days available to sell!
Think about these numbers in two ways. First this is the minimum amount of time you have available to make sales. Second, if really committed to a great sales year 2021, how can you manage and expand your sales time.
Get some time between now and the new year 2021 to set a plan and go! – “Really knock it out of the park!”
As business people and especially sales people, I believe that we need stop and reflect where we have been, where we are now and where we are going from time to time.
As we complete fourth quarter of 2020. Start planning some time dedicated to reflection and goal setting.
Following is a starter list of reflection points for being a good salesperson.
Go through each and get a list ready for looking at your sales potential and goals for 2020 fourth quarter and begin goals setting for 2021:
In sales and selling if your selling cycle is 60, 90, or more days; your year is pretty much complete! We have 74 days left in the year – WOW! So, when should we be selling into next year? NOW!
Have you ever thought of setting up a full one-year sales plan?
I have been working on this for many years. Mostly, it’s easy to set a daily, weekly, and even a monthly plan. However, it seems a daunting task and almost impossible to vision for 12 months.
I can see the entire year and I have worked with several good salespeople that can see value in continuously planning out the next 12 months. They have a rolling 12-month plan.
Today start working on your 12 months of 2021. If this is put together and the entire year is planned out, then it becomes easy to start building a continuous 12-month rolling plan.
I know that if I set up daily weekly and monthly contacts totaling 4,100 for the year, I will likely have success in meeting my sales goal.
See the numbers: Meetings face-to-face or zoom 200/Year, Telephone contacts 2,400 / year, other contacts (Snail mail, e-mail, text, etc.) 1,500 / year for total contacts for the year of 4,100.
Owning my last company, aerospace manufacturing, I taught and required salespeople to use this contact system for sales-tracking. Also, I provided and required ongoing sales training. Salespeople that “Got it” were extremely successful.
Get ready to set up the year 2021 with 340+ contacts per month, and watch sales increase.
Let me know your thoughts.
Visit www.pavethewaylifestyle.com for more and expanded information
As I have progressed through my selling career watched and taught many salespeople, I can attest that many of us, including me, do not always know when to stop and listen during the selling process. Many times, I have watched the entire sale unfold favorably and unfavorably, due to not listening. I spent many years trying to train myself to SCRL – slow down, stay calm, relax, and listen as the sale unfolds.
Here is an example:
Immediately after purchasing my first company in July 1997, Photo Etch Company, I found myself in my first big sale, watching and learning from the quotes department and salespeople on how they thought sales worked.
We had secured a large quote from a company about a hundred miles from us in Waco, Texas. Our estimators worked on it and trying extremely hard to be accurate and show me they knew their job. It was discussed that this would be an extremely competitive quote and we needed to go in with aggressive pricing, which to me meant low margins. It was determined that we need to go in at $23K and we would have a good chance to win.
The lead salesman and I drove down to Waco to present our quote. After introductions and telling everyone I was the new owner of the company and assuring them of our continuation and future growth, we settled into the particulars of the quote.
There were two of us and four people from the customer company. We had not discussed price but one of the engineers did want to know if we had really dug in and understood the requirements of the job. We asked what this meant and what were they exactly looking for. One engineer said in the past people quoting similar jobs, missed some critical aspects and he was sure this would be over their budget and would cost in excess of $85,000.
I then told them we could probably do the job at a lower price because we are a small business with lower overhead. We told them we needed to go back and review the quote to make sure we did not miss anything. I asked if we could come in around $45,000 could we have the job. They in unison said yes. We took them to lunch. We drove home and submitted a winning bid the next day for twice the price we had taken with us.
This provided our sales department a good lesson in selling. Both companies were happy. We did produce on time and continued doing business with this company for many years.
SCRL — Slowdown, calm, relax, and listen. Good selling!
Here is a review of sales calls needed before a prospect buys. I have watched this and experienced this a lot. A majority of sales people cannot take the rejection and really do give up after the first contact. As the president of a company I experienced the one call and never call back syndrome over and over again.
Successful sales people get past this:
Prospect — (Qualified to need and buy your products)
Contact # 1 50% of sales people have given up
Contact # 2 65% of sales people have given up
Contact # 3 79% of sales people have given up
Contact # 4 89% of sales people have given up
Contact # 5 Just now you are becoming a factor in your prospects mind
Contact # 6 Nurturing slowly, your prospect is getting to know you
Contact # 7 You can harvest low hanging fruit
Contact # 8 You are probably the only person to make 8 contacts with this person
Contact # 9 At this point when your prospect is ready to buy you have a 90% chance of being called
Maybe thinking about revisiting resolutions and desired change for 2020?
I have read about people making changes in life that were great. I have applied the following to myself and achieved good results.
However, changing a habit is not an easy task. Changing habits requires a lot of attention and requires replacement of the old habit. Just changing a habit does not always work, it needs to be replaced
Make changes that help you move forward in your life’s work, goals, and ambitions.
Here are 4 items needed to make habit changes:
1. You must first decide a change is needed. Sounds like a basic no-brainer, but you need first decide it is needed. Admit change is required and stop denying a problem exists. Take responsibility for making the change. Ask yourself – Is this activity moving me forward toward my goals and desires in life?
2. You cannot break old or bad habits. You can only replace them. The process is not necessarily fast. It may require a year or more. Commit to the long haul and you will eventually be glad you did.
3. Get up and get going on the new habit every day. Daily routine will eventually become second nature. Make a list of the benefits your new habit will bring. Review the list often to stay motivated.
4. Having changed the habit — stay away from the old habit. If you do slide back into the old habit, do not allow yourself off easily. Say “I’ll start over now and I’ll be strong enough to get it right”. Keep moving forward toward your goal.
Do not let the past control the future. Keep reminding yourself that learning and repeating new behaviors can change your habits for life.
Do you take time to reflect on the past and plan for the future? Or are you a person who seemingly does not have time to reflect and plan. Or a person who will not take time to reflect and plan.
We are now in the last month of quarter three for 2020. Barely 4 months left to complete the year. We have holidays and time off coming up.
Are you reflecting and planning how to finish and complete your goals for the year?
Easy to say, but with such a disruptive year that 2020 has been it can be easy to make excuses for not completing the year as expected.
Of course, we all are aware that there are many distractions and in many cases obstacles have been thrown at us that will prevent or make a different outcome for this year 2020.
I believe now and for the next few months each of us need to make time for reflection on the past and look hard at our futures. This may be one of the best disruptive times in our lives to really think and plan for the future. Certainly, with the disruptions and more home time, we can all carve our reflection and planning time.
20 to 30 minutes per day — Reflect and plan. Do this daily through the end of the year and you will have created a habit that will benefit you for the rest of your life. Be sure to take notes and keep them for review.
Good luck!
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