Free to Five

So now you have a list of specific and measurable goals for you to focus on this month. In addition to the organizational advantages listed above, your sales strategy should incorporate competitive advantages on a personal level – for example, long standing customer relationships, experience in a specific sales territory or well honed selling skills. And since this is a VCR/DVD combo you can also easily transfer your old VHS tapes directly to the blank DVD’s as well — out with the old, in with the new. When done properly, goal setting can make the difference between you being an average salesperson and the top of the class. As a sales professional you can use goal setting to help you keep your motivation strong. I want to give you an example of a three pronged attack for goal setting by focusing on sales activities, personal development, and motivation. The purpose is to give you a visible outline of the priorities you want to tackle and hopefully accomplish during the week. The Plan of Work is a simple listing of action items by account or prospect which you have estimated can be accomplished within the next week. Once a week go for lunch with one of the more inspiring salespeople from the office.

If you’re a small retailer, Thanksgiving represents the starting line of a one month sprint to the finish of the holiday selling season. Watch the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” once this month. What activities are you going to have to do to give yourself the best chances of making 4 sales this month? They will be able to give you some excellent feedback and maybe add a goal or two to your goal setting list list. Here is how you use the power of goal setting to make more sales. While it is fine to have a number in your head and we all need something to aim at, we have to make sure our goal setting goes a few steps further. While there is an initial cost involved, it evens out over a period. Every morning read over you mission statement. Every morning read over my mission statement.

Ask the most aggressive salesperson in your office if you can shadow them for a morning. This growing company needs a sales manager, someone who can provide the guidance and determination to see it through. Place it where you can see it everyday. Most thieves are opportunistic, if they can’t see anything worth pinching, they’ll simply move on until they find a ute or van with gear on display. If you do not know you had better find out. Send out an email newsletter to keep in touch with prospective clients. The last step you need to take in this goal setting process is to create a system to keep track of your progress. One of the most powerful tools you can have in your sales kit is Goal Setting. Make sure that your close is backed by the belief that one should eat a cow one small piece at a time.

Make a spreadsheet, or write it out on paper. A tool that will be very helpful to you in planning your sales activities, monitoring progress and measuring achievement is the Plan of Work which I define as a structured “to do” list carved out on a weekly basis. You want to be realistic in your estimate of time required but also be aggressive in pushing yourself to achievement. With time and experience you will get better at developing a reasonable estimate. A strategy defines how you will gain competitive advantage in the markets you sell to. Review the current status of each target or key customer or prospect in the light of your competitive advantages and the sales strategy you developed earlier. The best way to accomplish identification of action steps is by thinking about individual prospects -those companies that are either key customers or prospects. Others have told you that you are not aggressive enough in your sales cycle so you need to figure out a way to change that. In the Physical Plant Section, Erie wants to make sure they have enough 1st shift capacity not to pay overtime to employees. It was not because they did not have enough customers.