SELLING FOR LIFE

Well it's early August and in spite of the temperatures we know that Labor Day and back to school are just around the corner.  Hopefully you have been able to enjoy some time with friends and family.  I don't know about you but sometimes it takes a while to get the sales motor started after taking some time off.  As the late John Savage was fond of saying, "Anyone who would rather work than play, has never really played."  John would also say it's time to take a deep breath and get your second wind to finish out the year with extraordinary results.

As you begin the "second half" think about these ideas to help you finish strong.

1. Review your personal goals.  Do your activities reflect your commitment?

2. Do you follow an ideal week calendar?  In other words do you block out times for specific sales activities such as calling for appointments, asking for introductions and working "on" your business?

3. Do you set aside 15 minutes before you begin the day to prioritize what has to get done and when you will do it?

4.  Do you have someone you are accountable to, not just for your results but your behaviors?

Not an all inclusive list to be sure but some ideas that I hope will help.  Even though it's still "smokin hot" take a deep breath, get your second wind and let's go!

When you don't make the sale, who is to blame?  Is it the economy?  Is it your competition?  Is it your company?  OR could it be you?  Good sales people know that when they don"t get the sale it is no one’s fault but their own.  They assess what happened so they can learn from it. As Malcolm Gladwell would say in his book Outliers you are just making progress towards your 10,000 hours.

• Do you have an effective sales process for moving opportunities from suspect to prospect to customer?
• Are you preparing for every sales call with a pre-call plan? 
• Do you ask quality questions that help the prospect uncover issues that are compelling enough to solve?
• Do you know when and why to walk away?
• Are you always asking for introductions so you always have someone else to call?

Control the one thing you can.  You!