The new year is the best time to determine what it is you really need to do so you can meet your specific goals.  There is only one way to do it and it break down your numbers into an achievable figure that is in front of you monthly, weekly and daily.  Identify your working days for the year (be realistic) and divide that by your goal. Set up your monthly tracking.

When you know what you need to do, monitor and measure it daily.  There is a science to selling and your numbers will reveal all.

Keep track of every dial, every contact, every scheduled appointment and every kept appointment. Then keep track of the number of your fact-finding appointments, how many you closed, and how many agreed to buy your product or service.  Tally this information on a form similar to the example template below.  However, this is not just another form to fill out. This information is vital to improve your sales process.

You might also color code your calendar activities to ensure you are spending time doing the things that pay off.  To get a good start, focus solely for 90 days on the “key result areas” — things that will make you money.  Focusing on these key result areas might mean sacrificing some things that are already planned, but it is the only way to get control of your schedule. Otherwise your schedule will control you.

Next Time:  Look forward to our information on The Sales Process and what you must accomplish before moving to the next step.

** These sales messages are excerpted from the book,  The Sales Messenger by Mary Anne Davis.  The Sales Messenger is a back-to-the-basics guide on how to sell any idea, product or service.

The “obviously you” technique is a key tool for sales professionals and customer service representatives. If requires 2-steps:

1. Listen for emotional words like always and never from the customer

2. Respond with “obviously you have a reason for saying that.  Do you mind if I ask what it is?”

Do you wonder how you can take or make that next call?

Do you wish you had the energy to do that “one thing?”

Whether you are in sales, a job transition, or just trying to get through the day, this post is designed to deliver ten concrete tips to give you the guidance and push you need.

Along with often being asked where I get my energy, I regularly get asked how I stay mentally up even when things are down.  The answer can be found in two key similar but yet slightly different concepts:   attitude and enthusiasm.

I truly believe attitude is something you wear — something you put on in the morning — just like a piece of clothing.  My clients and audience both expect me to have a good attitude.  Employers expect their employees to maintain a good attitude — along with a professional demeanor — throughout each day.  Simply stated, you have to leave the personal baggage at the door.  Positive attitude is demonstrated by a smile, treating co-workers and customers with respect.  Conversely, poor attitude can be experienced by others as someone who is easily irritable and cranky.  No one likes to be around others who are continually whining or complaining.  Those with positive auras and personalities attract and those perceived with negative or moody dispositions repel.

Enthusiasm on the other hand cannot be an act or instantaneously “put on.”  The definition for enthusiasm comes from the Greek word entheous which translates to “God within.”  In other words, whatever beliefs you have within drive your outward energy and appearance.  Unlike attitude, enthusiasm cannot be “put on” as a self-generated façade.  Enthusiasm is not “faking it until you make it.”  It comes from authentically looking in the mirror and liking the reflection you see.  It comes from loving your work and using your God-given talents and abilities the best you can, wherever you can.

Following, I will share how to take action in order to maintain a positive attitude no matter whether you have a case of the occasional blues or life circumstances create adversity beyond your control.

Ten Tips for Maintaining a Winning Attitude

1. Seize the day: Be an early riser and take control of the day before your day controls you. Set alarms, set your coffee to auto brew, or ask someone for a wake up call.
2. Feed your mind like you would your body:  Your brain needs nourishment. If you are down, avoid the news and the papers. Important information will find its way to you.  Fill your mind with motivational / inspirational messages.  You can also listen to uplifting music.  When I am down, my theme songs are “Get on Your Feet” by Gloria Estefan and “You’ve Got to Get up Every Morning”, by Carole King. And, to my husband’s chagrin, I play them over and over and sing aloud too.
3. Feed your body: Let it work for you, even when you are not working. Stress and depression can take a toll on our physical well being. Eat healthy and take those daily vitamins.  I am big Juice Plus+ fan.
4. Energize through exercise: Engage in physical fitness… even if it is only 15 minutes a day and do not forget those few deep breaths.
5. Avoid whining and complaining:  Share your plight and gain some empathy, but know when it is time to let it go and move forward.
6. Put on your Sunday best: When you are down, there is no better energizer than a good compliment. Look your absolute best, even when casual.  It is nice to hear that “you look nice,” even when you do not feel good.
7. Put on your smile:  It can be heard.  Recently I was fighting a challenging situation, and I told myself to just keep smiling.  I checked into the same hotel for the third time in 3-months and the front desk manager said, “Welcome, here you are again… with your smile.”  The outside showed something different than the inside, but her compliment disarmed what was brewing inside me.
8. Cry after 5:  Just do it. Make your plan and work your plan.  Cry after 5 means put your best foot forward throughout your working hours and give yourself permission to grieve, mope or whatever else you might be feeling, but do it after5:00 PM.
9. Dial a “perk me up.” Call someone who lifts you up just to hear their voicemail. You will find it might give you a lift and a little smile.
10. Leave with your flags flying:  If you are thinking of quitting anything in life, make it your best effort to quit when you are on top. Give yourself permission to quit only when you know in your heart that you gave it 110%.

We all have to jumpstart our attitude at times by acting as if it were so.  Look for my next piece on how to truly create an enthusiastic life where you are energized, empowered and excited to do the things you love to do.

• Be honest
• Use humor
• Ask a technical question
• Say “he/she is expecting my call”
• Use email return receipt

Note:  the first tip video shared was on prospect follow-up in October.  Click tag cloud “video” at bottom of page to find it.

“No one is hiring during the holidays.”

“Clients do not want to meet during the holidays.”

“There is no reason to prospect during the holidays; people are too busy.”

“People do not quit their jobs until after the holidays, so there is no point in looking now.”

We often hear these comments as we approach the holiday season and these statements are far from true. Yes, some of your work weeks maybe shorter, but businesses must still do business and why not have that competitive edge and let them do business with you? 

1. Manage your own self talk during the holidays.  If you start getting glum with the above statements rattling in your mind, then replace them with affirmations that are just the opposite.  I once learned a technique to place a rubber band on the wrist and when a negative thought comes into the brain.  Then you zap yourself with the rubber band to remind yourself to replace the negative thought with a good one.  Surround yourself with positive people and if you can not find any, then tune into the motivational speakers using books and audios.  Need recommendations, check out tremendouslifebooks.com.
2. Dig deeper for job prospects and sales prospects:  Heck, if other seekers and sales representatives have toned down their marketing efforts, then step up yours. You will have less competition and a better chance at success.  Double your activity and that includes research, networking and client-prospect contacts.  End of year sales reps who have to meet a December quota tend to do a great deal of business when the pressure is on and have their best selling months during the holiday season.  Do not stop there, instead keep up your energy and your efforts during that first week of the year.
3. Become a marketer versus a visitor:  A sales call without a purpose is a visit; a sales call with meal, entertainment or a gift is a vendor.  Find a unique way to connect with your customers during the holiday season, such as:  invite a prospect or client to a business event that they might find of value; send a book basket versus a fruit basket; stop-in with donuts and/or kolaches and a jug of Starbucks coffee and be sure not to linger.            These are just a simple ways to stay in front of your market and have them see you differently than all the rest.  

We would like to hear from you:  What do you do to keep productive and maintain a positive attitude during the holidays?

Customer Gift Books

Do you know the problems and challenges your clients face? Try sending them a book to help meet the challenge.  You could also give them an inspirational book, a Leadership Classic, or simply one that looks good on a coffee table. This lets the customer know you listen to all their business issues and not just the sales areas your product or service fits.  In the last paragraph of this post are links to book gift ideas for you to consider.

Employee Gift Books

To motivate your sales staff, I suggest my newly released book The Sales Messenger  (now also available in e-book).  You can find review links of book on my website. 

If you would like to build a gift basket of books on this topic, you might also want to check out the Top 10 Books About Sales List released in October by Small Business Trends.  Or if you want to build an educational library at various sales offices, consider many of the books written by respected sales authors who I have featured on this blog by checking out video posts starting in August.  Here are a few more classic sales and motivation books I recommend that are not on any of the other lists mentioned here: 

• 22 Life Changing Classics
• Passionate Performance
• Leading an Inspired Life
• The Nature of Excellence
• Who Moved My Cheese

 If you want to motivate other company employees or if you do not know a particular customer problem area, consider the books and tapes listed in my guest post for Tremendous Life Books or their list of Tremendous Motivational Books.  Below are lists of leadership and management books or other business gift ideas that you may find helpful in various business areas you wish to consider for customers or employees: 

• Finding Business Gifts Should Be Easy from To Be Productive
• Business Week 2011 Reading List 
• 25 Best Business Books Ever from Business Pundit
• Inc. 2011 Business Book Bestsellers Best Leadership Books of All Time
• 10 Books Every Entrepreneur Must Read from Under 30 CEO
• Small Business Trends 2010 Reader’s Choice Small Business Book Awards

• Take time to prepare their presentations
• Stop the call backs.  They don’t want to tell you they are not interested, so stop calling them to “check in”.
• Learn their business – everything about it including the competition

 Two more things, I wish every salesperson understood about prospecting:

• Know how to answer the most common objections without ever using the words but or however.
• Learn to sell value over price; customers take classes on negotiation, sales people need to sell the value of their ideas, products and services, which are the foundation of capitalism in this greatUnited States.