Happy Half New Year

There are less than two full weeks left in the 1st half of 2011. Now is an excellent time to take stock of your progress and to talk to your customers about doing the same. Sit down and review your numbers and your goals, look for areas of potential improvement. If you don't have written goals this is a good time to establish them.

Talk to your customers about their plans and goals for the 3rd and 4th quarters. If they are not on target thus far, now is the time to make course corrections. If they cut back on their advertising in the new year, ask them about changes in their traffic. Perhaps it is time to reconsider this decision. Ask them how they feel about your performance and if they have any suggestions regarding what you can do better. This type of review will save you a lot of grief later. Ignoring a problem is like ignoring a small wound, treat if right away and it disappears, ignore it and it festers and gives you a great deal of pain. A proactive approach is the best way to achieve your goals.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Set behavorial goals for yourself

Luck always plays a part in our sales success. Sometimes customers will cooperate with us and sometimes they don't. As sales people there are always things that lie outside of our control. This is why we must control the things that do lie within our power. One of the best ways to do this is to step behavioral goals for ourselves. We can not say for certain "I will sell $10,000 per week." because this requires the cooperation of our customers. We can say "I will make 15 calls per day"--this is totally within our control. We can decide to refuse to accept the 1st or 2nd "NO" from a customer. The curious thing is that when we take charge of the things within our circle of control that circle expands. Setting rules for ourselves forces us to do the things which will make us successful. If we concentrate on our own behavior, the world will be much more responsive to us.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Goodbye 2010

My wife and I were in the car this evening and talking about some of the things we had done in the past year. We both agreed that it seems like years since we attended the AFCP conference in Tucson last spring. This year went by very quickly and I am sure 2011 will be no different. This is why this is a good time to think about the changes we want to make in the coming 12 months. I suggest you start by looking at where you have been. Look at your records for 2010, your sales numbers, your account lists, anything you have that tracks your progress. Flip through your 2010 calendar and look at your appointments. Once you have done this sit down and think about the year, your victories and your problems. If you wrote down goals at the beginning of the year, review the list and note which ones were completed and where you fell short. Do this with a detached attitude, resist the temptation to beat yourself up. Regret is a waste of energy, you can not change the past but you can learn from it. Taking the time to ponder the lessons of the previous year is the first step to a great new year. Schedule a time to do this, and make it a priority. Time management expert Alan Lakein said that planning is "bringing the future into the present" to fix it. Reviewing the past and planning for the future allows you to take control of your destiny. This week I will discuss some ideas to make 2011 the best year ever.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Take advantage of resolution season

On New Years just about everyone makes resolutions. A good question to ask your prospects at this time of year is "What are your New Year's resolutions for the business?" This is a good way to start a discussion about their goals and how advertising can help them realize them. You should prepare some ideas and perhaps some layouts to demonstrate your interest in their business. You want to be sure that you are a big part of their business plans for 2011. Any time you talk about their goals and the future of their business you exchange your sales person's clothes for the much more attractive garments of a consultant.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Quote of the week

"Discipline is remembering what you want" David Campbell

This quote is deceptively simple. It is about how we achieve our goals, one action at a time. Lots of people go to great pains to set goals but then file them away and never act on making them become reality. We must constantly remind ourselves of our goals and take myriad small steps toward them every hour of every day. As Mr. Campbell says we must discipline ourselves to keep our goals in sight.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Carve your goals in stone

There is an old saying "May your troubles last only as long as your New Years resolutions." The key to making goals real is writing them down. Write down what you want to accomplish, when you want to achieve your goal and why it is important to you. I also recommend recording what you know about your goal, what you need to learn and where you can get the information you need. I also like to write down the steps you need to take to get closer to realizing your goals. Look at your goals often, at least weekly, if not daily. Keeping you goals in front of you greatly increases your chances of making your dreams come true.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim B.