News Year’s Sales Resolutions

As 2007 draws to a close, New Year’s resolutions emerge from the unfulfilled promises of the year and the excesses of December. According to Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D., in an article on Psych Central, the Internet’s largest and oldest independent mental health social network created and run by mental health professionals, ”most New Year’s resolutions are broken within 48 hours.” So as we plan our 2008 sales year, this statistic begs the following questions:

• Should we even make New Year’s sales resolutions?
• If we choose make to make resolutions, what should we change and how do we quantify that change?
• Once we commit to change, how do we keep these resolutions?

Should we even make New Year’s sales resolutions? Absolutely! The seed of progress is the desire to improve. It is true that we either grow or we die, so it is imperative that we seek never ending improvement. A salesperson that is “comfortable” is in long-tern or possibly seven short-term peril.

If we choose make to make resolutions, what should we change and how do we quantify that change? The thing we should not resolve is to change results. You can’t manage results; you can only manage behavior. The decision to change behavior (activity) creates meaningful changes, and sometimes quickly. There are only two ways you improve sales results – increasing activity and improving technique. Improving technique takes time, but increasing activity gives immediate or near immediate results. Make plans to improve activity and technique.

Once we commit to change, how do we keep these resolutions? Follow these four tips to help make 2008 your best year ever.

1. Set realistic goals. Make these goals activity oriented, even if you are scheduling new training to improve technique. If you reduce your goals to manageable activities, you will see positive change.
2. Set timetables and review dates. Goals without deadlines are daydreams. Give yourself a deadline for projects, such as signing up for a particular sales course no late than (date), and schedule daily and weekly sales activity objectives, such as five calls per day – minimum.
3. Don’t make activity goals cumulative. In other words, if you exceed your sales call goal Monday, there is no carry-over to Tuesday. Likewise, if you miss a daily activity goal, start over the next day without feeling the need to catch-up. Don’t be afraid to fail, and don’t get down when you miss a day. Resolve to succeed tomorrow.
4. Develop a personal reward system. When you achieve any goal, no matter how small, have an appropriate reward and celebrate your success. For example, if you hit your sales activity goal early in the day, give yourself a pat on the back. Hit a weekly activity goal? Take your spouse or a friend out for dinner, or see a show, or take a day off.

New Year’s resolutions can be the start of something great. Follow these tips to jump-start your newest best year of your life.

Happy New Year – and Good Selling!