I used to think New Year’s resolutions were nonsensical and useless…well, I still think they are nonsensical, but I love them and find them very useful in shifting my focus every year to what’s important.
Thus, I have put together a list of five things that I think salespeople should do in 2019. Whether you do one of them, all five, or simply use this article to stimulate other ideas, you should seriously consider implementing at least one initiative in your week-to-week business that will pivot your activity and move the needle on your performance.
1. Get back to the old-school process. Do you remember the process you followed when you started selling? I would start an hour of phone calls at 8:30, with the goal of doing 35 calls by 9:30. I would then head out into the field to do 25 personal cold calls by noon. I used my afternoon for appointments and demos, and then would wrap up the day with our team debrief at 5:00.
The first thing to do in 2019 is to forget everything you have read on my blog or this column – before implementing a modern-day selling strategy, you must to have an old-school process.
2. Cut the bottom 20 percent of your accounts. There is a technique I use to help my clients keep their seasoned salespeople from becoming reactive account managers – before every year, have them give away the bottom 20 percent of accounts. I don’t care how they rank them, but take the bottom 20 percent and give them to other salespeople who are still growing their business, or make them house accounts.
By April, the seasoned salespeople who are reluctant to give away any customers become thrilled that they are now freer to find new, more profitable accounts, and spend more time with their major clients.
3. Commit to regular sales training. Sales training should be implemented and executed like working out at a gym – do a little bit every week. Unfortunately, most salespeople do zero sales training, or at best they will attend a two-day boot camp every other January.
Regular sales training means an hour or two per month. There are a few options: ask your boss to facilitate a self-training routine with your sales team; create your own process in which you regularly read helpful blogs, articles and books; or register for an ongoing virtual sales training program like ours (www.vectorfirmacademy.com).
4. Create a private networking group. A private networking group can become the most powerful source of new business that you have ever encountered. This is not a leads group; a private networking group is an exclusive membership of three to six salespeople who call on the same customers. For example, one group could consist of salespeople for security, HVAC, landscaping, IT and pro A/V. The key is not to randomly bring in leads, but for each person to bring desired targets to the meetings. Then, the group determines a plan to get them into the targeted accounts.
The first step is to select the initial member of your group. This is a critical decision, because all future members will look at the two of you as co-founders. Be 100-percent certain that your first recruit fully embraces your intentions before committing to them.
5. Become a digital marketer. In 2019, salespeople who capture the most market share will be the ones perceived as subject matter experts. There is no better forum than social media – blogging, podcasts and videos – to becoming known throughout your marketplace as an expert.
I suggest starting with social media because it does not require content creation. Using LinkedIn and Twitter, one can share helpful articles and comment on other discussions to shape their reputation. Start with posting a blog post or article twice per week and joining one discussion with a comment on LinkedIn every day.
Chris Peterson is the founder and president of Vector Firm (www.vectorfirm.com), a sales consulting and training company built specifically for the security industry. To request more info about the company, visit www.securityinfowatch.com/12361573.
