What Are Your “Sales-olutions”?

It’s another new year, and once again we get to make the resolutions that we promise to keep and invariably don’t. You know the ones I am taking about—get in shape, lose weight, pay off the bills, clean the house, and so forth. Blah, blah, blah.

In that spirit, I want to offer some “sales-olutions” for 2015 – the things we as great salespeople (and I mean YOU) can do this year to bring us the success we all seek. This year, you have something to sell, and I want you to stop apologizing for it and get to work.

1. Lose sales weight. What is holding you back from hitting your goals? Do you have a client who is holding you back? A prospect who has been stringing you along? A colleague who is trying to sabotage you? A vendor who doesn’t see you as a priority? Identify your roadblocks and FIRE them. Enough of you carrying and tolerating deadwood. This is YOUR time and you may not get a second chance.

2. Are you planning to do the same stuff you have been doing year after year and still hoping that something different will happen? Einstein’s classic definition of insanity is what that is. Establish a small group of people you trust and seek their advice and counsel. Be open to the fact that your old ways are…old. Buck up and learn to change it up and do something – one thing – different. Push yourself to do ONE thing that you have been terrified of doing. Try picking a new market vertical you would like to crack and network your way in. Push the old crap aside.

3. Talk more and text less. In fact, try to reduce your emailing and all forms of electronic communications by a third. If you want to get something done and deepen your relationships, talk to people. It’s damn frightening to me how many people simply can’t or don’t want to have a conversation. Find your device that has buttons and numbers on it and punch those buttons in a way that you hear a ring and “hello”? Call people to check in, reconnect, and establish.

4. Network, network, and network. Life and opportunity are rarely serendipitous, and we have to make things happen. If you are a member of the “I Hope” school of success, you will be repeating your grade for years to come. Get out and have one NEW networking meeting a day. A coffee or a meal is a great way to get connected and get what you want.

5. Do you know the value that you bring to the universe and the marketplace? You do something amazing. That’s a fact, and it’s an undeniable truth. What is your secret sauce? How do YOU help people achieve their goals? You are cool, and I want other people to know it!

6. Ask for more. If you have done everything right, you have earned the right to ask for the business, the job, or whatever you seek. Speak UP and get what you have worked for and earned.

7. Don’t give away your microphone. You are an expert at what you do, and it will stay that way until you decide to let people know that you aren’t. Your confidence in what you do will make people see that you are the expert in “front of the room” instead of being “one of the crowd.” What are you doing to protect your turf, maintain and grow your expertise? Get it now?

8. Know your goals. What do you need to achieve this year? Are your goals reasonable and attainable? HOW are you going to get there? Start now and build your plan. Know the what, when, where, and who of your success objectives! Stuff doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Doing a few things well is better than being mediocre at many.

9. Introspection and gut check. If you truly know yourself, your business, and your worth, then you will have the insight necessary to be vulnerable, and now you have the courage to be introspective. If you can do this, you will have the courage to follow your gut and do more that serves the goals you set for yourself and shut out the noise, nonsense and B.S. that is holding you back.

There you have it…nine “sales-olutions” for 2015. There are many more that I haven’t thought of. That’s your job now. Good luck, and please do let me know how it works out.

Wishing you all the success in the New Year.

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