It’s the start of a new month. Your numbers are back at zero and you need to refocus on getting the job done. What does it take? The hardest of all human behaviors.
Discipline.
Gone are the days when some salespeople could eek out a living simply by waiting for the phone to ring and taking orders. Today, only the most disciplined survive and thrive. Here’s what you can do to bring more discipline to your daily business habits.
- Do away with improvised scheduling. Replace it with a structured business day in which prospect development and contacting clients are your top priorities. Fill-in empty blocks on your calendar with specific activities supporting you prospecting pipeline.
- Follow-up regularly on all new leads. A vast majority of these, in my experience, aren’t ready to close until up to as many as seven follow-ups. Adopt a multistep approach using several channels for leads (e.g., email, direct mail, social media, websites, e-newsletters).
- Make a habit of making that one more call, of attending one more networking event, and of spending one more hour rehearsing your sales script or presentation.
These 3 steps will all add up to make big changes. Changes that will guarantee a strong result in September and for the rest of the year