Review your objectives
It is midyear. A perfect time to revisit your goals, reflect on your activity and measure your progress to date. Are you committing focused time to the handful of critical priorities that will get you to your year-end targets faster? Are you seeing progress? If not, what’s getting in the way? What do you need to do differently? And what do you need to stop doing to be on track for December 31st?
Get out of the rut
Summer is a great time to take a candid look at your sales messages, proposals and presentations. Are you creating selling vehicles that differentiate you? Or are you simply regurgitating marketing blurb that looks a lot like that of your competitors? Do not simply aim to be better than the rest of your industry. Be different. Use the summer to talk to you clients, assess your important sales materials, and figure out how to make them more relevant to your buyers, regardless of what the competition does.
[bctt tweet=”Are you creating selling vehicles that differentiate you? Or are you simply regurgitating marketing blurb that looks a lot like that of your competitors? ” username=”JillSalesSHIFT”]
Revisit your social strategy
Uh first, do you have a strategy? Or are you simply using social media as a playground for random activity. Have you identified the platforms where your best clients and prospects hang out? Are you thoughtful in how, and with whom, you connect? Do you think about how your contacts may support your success? And vice versa? Or are you simply adding to a list that is gathering dust?
[bctt tweet=”Do you think about how your contacts may support your success? And vice versa? Or are you simply adding to a list that is gathering dust?” username=”JillSalesSHIFT”]
Hit the pedal to the metal
Many sellers see the summer as a time to take their foot of the prospecting gas pedal. Their reasoning? Everyone is away. Shorter summer hours equate to less patience with sales people. Companies do not make buying decisions in the summer. My response: Wrong! Wrong! And wrong! The fact that many sellers hit the brake in summer means less competitive noise and a great reason to pump up intelligent prospecting activity to get noticed faster.
Reorganize your list
Do you have hundreds of “leads” on your prospecting list? Ridiculous lists drive two common results: Paralysis due to overwhelm. Or a knee jerk reaction to send out impotent generic messages to cover as many on the list as possible. Neither of which is smart. I have two words for you: Cull and prioritize. Take time this summer to remove names that you’ve ignored for months. Prioritize your shorter list by identifying the highly desirable and winnable leads, your VIPs (Very Important Prospects.) Then focus quiet time this summer on developing, and executing, smart thoughtful access campaigns for your VIPs.
Get curious
The warm weather provides a perfect reason to invite your best clients and prospects for a patio lunch. Use this quality time to learn. Not to pitch. Show them that you are genuinely interested in deepening your understanding of their world, their interests and their priorities, so you may better support their success in the future. And remember: Quality information is power in selling. But only when you share it with everyone who touches this client, and when you all use it to contribute “relevant value” by your client’s definition.
[bctt tweet=” Quality information is power in selling. But only when you share it with everyone who touches this client, and when you all use it to contribute “relevant value” by your client’s definition.” username=”JillSalesSHIFT”]
Leverage your advocates
Summer is a great time to re-thank your best clients, share how much you have enjoyed working with them and ask if they know of others (just like them) who would benefit from working with your company. Yes… proactively ask each of your raving fans for a quality referral. Also get curious about why they come back to you year after year. And use your trusted clients’ testimonials to beef up your marketing messages, prospecting emails and winning proposals.
Schedule “me” time
We all need to step away from our work, both mentally and physically, if we want to operate at peak performance. I admit to being a workaholic. But I always schedule and protect my personal time. And so should you. Make time to relax and re-energize this summer. Schedule time to enjoy family and friends the way you would schedule an important meeting with your best client. Then protect this time as if your future success depends on it. Because it does.
[bctt tweet=”Schedule time to enjoy family and friends the way you would schedule an important meeting with your best client. Then protect this time as if your future success depends on it. Because it does.” username=”JillSalesSHIFT”]
Helpful Summer Resources From SalesSHIFT
Summer is a great time to get away from our desks and get caught up on reading. In case you missed them, here are a handful of salesSHIFT resources to help you make the most of the summer months:
- Cut through the competitive noise and get your sales messages read, heard and acted upon. Listen to my latest interview with Kevin Micalizzi on Salesforce.com’s Quotable podcast.
- If you feel like you’ve become a slave to technology, check out my article in the June issue of TSW Magazine. It may get you thinking twice about how you use technology.
- Sales managers, summer is a smart time to reflect on your approach to team coaching and development. Need some guidance? Read my recent article in Training Industry Magazine. And download your complimentary copy of the Uncommon Sense Sales Leader’s Coaching Guide.
- Revisit some of the earlier salesSHIFT blog posts. Voted again in 2018 as one of the 50 Top Sales Blogs Worldwide by Top Sales World. Check out all 50 Top Sales Blogs here. And, if you are based in Europe, check out this advanced preferred pricing available to the salesSHIFT community for the upcoming “TSW18 European Sales Summit” in London on September 13th 2018. Tickets purchased before July 31st will be just £195 rather than the full price of £495.
- And if you have yet to do this, grab your copy of Uncommon Sense while it’s on sale on Amazon this summer. Or download the Kindle edition. Each chapter ends with a summary of the critical shifts that will reset your thinking to deliver faster results in the months ahead. And if you need a little motivation to get reading, just check out Lisa’s Uncommon Sense Success Story.
