The 2018 sales sprint begins!
Is your mindset ready? How about the mindset of your sales team?
Are you and your sales team taking the necessary actions that will crush 2018?
Are you and your sales team using proper form?
Time to refocus.
Recently I took a hard look at what I thought I was working to accomplish in 2017. To be honest, I wasn't as focused nor committed in some areas as I would have liked to have been.
I have allowed mediocrity to creep into areas I expect excellence. My actions speak loudly. There has been a mismatch between what I sought to achieve and the actions I was taking (or not taking).
It is no one's fault but my own. I allowed myself to become distracted from achieving what I really wanted and mattered most.
The frank truth is my actions reflected what I was truly interested in and committed to.
So do yours.
What are your actions reflecting?
Interested people do what is convenient.
According to Dictionary.com:
Interested people do what is convenient.
Committed people do whatever it takes.
According to DIctionary.com:
Committed people do whatever it takes.
Interested vs. Committed.
Interested people do what is convenient. Committed people do whatever it takes to succeed.
Where in your life are you interested when you should instead be committed?
Where in your life are you saying or thinking one thing and doing another?
In your personal life? Relationships?
Your professional life? Form - the way things should be done?
Your leadership roles? Being a role model?
Hope is not a strategy.
Unless you have a terminal illness, hope is not a strategy.
Hope is for when your back is against the wall and you have nothing else you can count on.
Review your personal and professional commitments. Then identify the best practices or proper form that will lead you to success.
Make sure your mindset is in alignment with your commitments.
Decide to get back on track if you are astray.
Remember. Your actions or lack thereof always reflect what you are interested in and committed to.
Be certain your actions reflect your commitments.
"Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."
These are wise words shared by Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield was a British statesman and man of letters. His letters are published in Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and Gentleman (1774).
There is a truth or an optimal way to do pretty much everything worth doing. There is an optimal way to the office, an optimal way to perform a squat, an optimal way to hire the best salespeople and an optimal way to sell.
I can cut corners and make excuses. Much of the time no one will know but me. But I know and that is all that matters. And others are watching.
The first thing to go when I am tired and distracted is form. When I am tired and distracted I lose focus and my commitments become interests.
Interested people allow form to go when they are tired and distracted. Committed people do not allow form to be lost.
Are you holding yourself accountable for using proper form? Are you holding your sales team members accountable for using proper form?
What are you optimizing and holding accountable to?
Proper form is absolutely essential in sales.
- A bad sales hire, poor onboarding, misguided coaching will result in incredible time waste and missed opportunity.
- Salespeople who are not properly trained to follow a particular sales process waste valuable time and resources.
- Salespeople who are not aware of nor held accountable to a particular action plan and activity standard waste valuable time and resources.
If you are committed to crushing sales...
Then commit your "sales engine" to doing so.
Your "sales engine" has many moving parts. It is essential to review every major moving part of your sales engine.
Crushing sales is a continuous cycle of pushing hard (execution), measurement and optimization.
Key areas you must execute well to crush sales in 2018 include:
- Identifying and hiring only the best salespeople.
- Ensuring your salespeople are following best sales practices and are accountable for how they use time.
- Creating a culture of accountability for actions AND results.
- Measure everything possible.
What gets measured gets optimized.
Commit carefully.
