Workflow or BPM - Super Freak, Super Freak

One Short Week

It's already over. Done. The first half of 2009 is effectively behind us. June has started and July 1 marks the first day of the second half of the year. It flew by. (Somehow the first fifty eight years of my life seems to have passed almost as quickly. Hey, how did I get so old anyway? But, I digress.)

Before I was in sales I used to be a clock-watcher. In the non-sales world you win the game of business when the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the five and you're still breathing. You're off. It's over. You get to go home. Put five days like that back to back and you get the check. Now, in the sales world it's a little different. You become a reverse-clock-watcher. You race to get everything done before the clock strikes five and still you don't finish. It's not always your fault either. Sometimes you just can't reach the people you need to talk to. Sometimes you have to put out unexpected fires. And always, everything takes longer than it should. Oh, and by the way, you may not get that check.

You've only a half year left to make your sales goals for 2009. (And for many this is a tough year). Already you've established the pattern. Maybe you're on track. Maybe you're already behind. Maybe your plan to do things the way you did them last year is working. If so, I hope that you'll be content with last year's results.

Maybe you see now that you need to make some changes. You have a new plan. I hope that it's a good one. I hope that you've developed mechanisms to keep you on track. I hope that you have a support system to make this race easier. There's a reason that most people don't make it in sales. It's not because the money isn't there. It's not because the job is physically difficult. It certainly has nothing to do with the market.

Ask most salespeople what they need help with and they'll say: "Time Management". Do they not know what to spend their time on? Do they not know how to keep a schedule? Do they make poor choices during the day; all the while knowing inside that what they are doing will never help them accomplish their goals?

The first half of the year is effectively over. You can't redo it. You're either: unhappy, happy and kidding yourself, or justifiably happy for good reason. This may just be your best sales year ever. This may be the year you lose weight. Or quit drinking. Or make all the necessary prospecting calls necessary to achieve your goals. Perhaps you don't need help. You'll do this all on your own. I don't need to bring any of this up. You already know exactly what 2009 will bring... or what you'll make of it.

Mad at me? Then quit reading here.

Worried, uncertain, or mad at yourself? Then:
1. Plan the rest of the year's prospecting activities in detail and commit your plan to writing.
2. Share your plan with someone who knows more about sales and salespeople than you do.
3. Fix your plan according to their advice.
4. Establish a way to track your selling activities.
5. Find a way to be held accountable by someone who won't accept excuses from you.
6. Commit to upgrading your deal-closing skills.
7. Join a peer group whose members are as serious about their sales careers as you are about yours.
8. Personally invest in your professional abilities.
9. Don't expect others to take you more seriously than you take yourself.

It's not too late to make 2009 your best year ever.

Mark Fitzgerald, Sales Training Institute, Inc., Tampa, Florida provides this column weekly. Mr. Fitzgerald provides both group and customized sales training for professionals and companies. For more information, please contact him by telephone at 813-831-5555 via email at mark@saleskills.com or visit www.saleskills.com.