Symptoms:
Erin looked at her monthly sales report and did not like what she saw. Despite working harder than she had all year, the numbers told Erin that she could forget about getting her quarterly bonus. It seemed like each quarter turned out the same; one month that Erin thought would carry her to a bonus and two months that fell short. The pattern was frustrating for Erin as she tried to figure a way to break into the top performer group in her office. It seemed like all the wins she posted in the one good month stole the time she needed to prospect for the other two months. Besides, how could anyone be expected to stop the customer service fire drills that popped up all the time? Erin was beginning to feel trapped.
Diagnosis:
Many sales people struggle to find the balance between prospecting, closing opportunities and servicing existing business. Erin's results typified those struggles, and unless she can understand the behavior patterns that keep repeating, things are not bound to change. The one thing that never changes is the amount of time available to us to get everything done. 24 hours a day will always be 24 hours a day no matter how much we wish it would change. Erin has the same amount of time to produce the results that the real top performers have to work with each day. What Erin struggled with was consistency of effort, and committing to doing the right things no matter what else comes up.
Prescription:
Sales success starts with prospecting or marketing and the most successful sales people commit to that task every day and week. By making sure that you know how many calls you need to make each week, and not letting anything get in the way of meeting that goal, you give yourself the best chance of becoming a true sales leader. The up and downs that sales people like Erin live with will flatten out and turn into consistent performance if they stay focused on the right activity behaviors.
Create a success formula for the amount of prospecting needed to meet your goals, track the length of your sales cycle and track your performance against those standards. Only then will you see if you are doing the most fundamental thing that will lead to consistent sales success and end the monthly or quarterly stress of making your numbers.
There is nothing to close if you don't open something!
Critical Thinking:
How often have you found yourself worrying about a sales slump instead of focusing on the prospecting that keeps the slump from occurring?
The Drill
Final Thought for the Morning:
Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.- Tony Robinson
Your Top 3 Goals & Tactics for the Week
LAST WEEK: Update us on how things went last week with your stated Goals and GD Tactics.
THIS WEEK: Please share your Top 3 Goals for this week and the GD tactics you plan to deploy.
