Building monthly sales success day by day

Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal - February 19, 1999
by Jeffrey Gitomer

Looking to make your month the greatest ever? Ask any successful salesperson the secret for having great months and they will all say positive attitude, creative preparation and consistent performance.

To succeed month to month, you must execute day to day. Here are 31 creative ideas mixed with fundamental sales concepts.

You can't add more days to the calendar, but you can make every one more productive. I challenge you to add these to your days.

Day 1. Establish your pipeline goals. How many calls, leads, appointments, mailouts, follow-ups will it take to exceed your sales dreams? Make a top 10 list of people you want to sell so you will have clear vision of the task ahead.

Day 2. Figure out your daily dose. After you establish the goals, figure out what you must do every day to make them a reality.

Day 3. Examine your tools. Take a hard look at the sales tools in your kit. Are they the best in the business? If not, make a plan and a deadline to change them.

Day 4. Evaluate your image. Look in the mirror. Like who you see? Get someone impartial to give you an image once-over. Act on their recommendations as fast as you can.

Day 5. List the main reasons why your customers buy from you. Don't be a fool and make the list without asking 10 customers. Use the list to adjust your presentation and your approach.

Day 6. Network someplace where your customers and prospects go. Ask your best customer to attend their monthly association meeting.

Day 7. Take a customer to breakfast. Using meals for business is an excellent time-management tool (and wallet builder).

Day 8. Take a prospect to lunch. You can get to real issues over lunch. A relaxed, neutral court.

Day 9. Have dinner with a small group. Combine a meal with a mini-seminar. Bring people together to make a group sale.

Day 10. Get peer evaluation. Ask your co-workers to rate your performance once a month. Get honest feedback. Use it.

Day 11. Join Toastmasters. You only have to do this once, but the impact will last a lifetime. An hour and a half each week of speaking skills and peer evaluation. Just do it.

Day 12. Buy a book about sales. Reading one book a month will make you a world-class expert in five years.

Day 13. Record your presentation. Play it in the car. If you say, "Oh man, that's terrible," imagine what your customers and prospects are saying.

Day 14. Play golf with a customer and someone he or she can do business with. Bringing your customer potential business is the most powerful business building (and keeping) tool there is. Combining it with golf makes it memorable.

Day 15. Brainstorm objections with co-workers. Get with co-workers and figure out the best responses.

Day 16. Take your boss (or salesperson) on a sales call. If you're chicken, you've got the wrong boss (or salesperson) or you're unprepared. If you do, you'll make a sale.

Day 17. Make it a point to deliver your best customer one hot sales lead. Want to keep your best customer forever? Just keep bringing them business.

Day 18. Product Knowledge Day. Take the time to read the fliers and product updates you've been shoving in drawers all month.

Day 19. Read Your Trade Magazine Day. One of the best sources for "the latest" sales ideas. A bible to the most successful.

Day 20. Create five new questions. To keep the blood pumping, you must continually have new questions.

Day 21. Detail you car. If your customer gets into a perfect car, he or she thinks "perfect salesperson, perfect product, perfect company." If she gets into a crummy car ...

Day 22. Contact one person on your chicken list (the people you're scared to call). If you don't have your "chicken list" on paper, do it now.

Day 23. Brainstorm creative follow-ups. 97 percent of all sales take more than one call to complete. Gather a group and generate 10 new ways to call a prospect back--that combines creativity with purpose (and get the sale).

Day 24. Thank Your Customer Day. Pick 25 customers and send them cards, a bag of candy and write, "How sweet it is to have you for a customer--Thanks."

Day 25. Take a customer to a ballgame. Add some fun to one of your relationships. Get to know someone personally.

Day 26. Mentor Day. Ask the salesperson you respect the most if you cam make sales calls with him or her and watch them work.

Day 27. Work on your biggest goal for four hours. It will never get done if you don't work on it month by month.

Day 28. Do community volunteer work. You meet the best people and you feel great.

Day 29. Make a speech at a local civic group. Get visible, get credible. Lousy at or afraid of public speaking? Revisit "Day 11" for the sure cure.

Day 30. Make your biggest sale. End your month with a big sale to create the momentum for next month.

Day 31. Celebrate your success. Reward yourself for a job well-done.Then relax and get set for next month's success. You're the greatest. Way to go.

Free by fax: A one page strategy to meet your individual sales goals by establishing your pipeline numbers. Fax your letterhead with your name, and the word "Pipeline" to (704) 333-1011.

Jeffrey Gitomer is author of The Sales Bible and president of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy/Gitomer Inc. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112.

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