2012 New Year’s Resolutions

It's the time of year for reflection and goal making for the next year. Here are some resolutions, some for business and some more personal. Maybe it will help in developing your own list.

  1. Use a more targeted social media strategy to pad the pipeline. “Adapt or die” is what they say. You can't get anywhere without taking a step.
  2. Getting more business without involvement of booze or golf. – See number one as a way to possibly do that.
  3. Manage Stress More Effectively – Play more basketball and do more yoga.
  4. Qualify (and disqualify) prospects more quickly; we have 2 new customers for 2012, but could have weeded the suspects out sooner.
  5. Give back more to the community.
  6. Visit Mongolia – one more place off my bucket list.
  7. What is on your Resolutions list ?
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Maintaining Momentum In Quarter Four

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This time of year brings thoughts of Thanksgiving, Christmas and 2024.  For some sales organizations it brings a number of worried thoughts and concerns as well.  Will we hit quota, is the pipeline as strong as it needs to be, and do we have the right players in place?  Are our buyers as committed to us as the information reflected in our recent correspondence? Or have they slowed the communication down?

For some, the pressure is mounting to close the year out in a strong capacity and it seems like requests are coming from every direction – senior management, buyers and the sales team.  Don’t panic.  There is time to assess the situation and make some course corrections.  Here are some solid steps you can take to bring in the 4th Quarter business:

  1. Grade your Pipeline. Do it early in the quarter (aka NOW) and often if the opportunities don’t seem as solid as desired.  Lower probability opportunities should be re-qualified and moved to 2024 if a Q4 close doesn’t seem to be realistic.
  2. Manage your Buyers. Some buyers will let the clock tick to the end of the year for concessions.    If a buyer senses that a seller is too desperate, too needy or tips his hand that he is behind budget, prepare to have your margin eroded.  Seek to establish milestones early in the quarter so buyers don’t feel like they are being pressured at Quarter’s end.  Negotiate from a position of strength.  If a seller reviews milestones with a buyer and offers Quarter 1 target dates, the buyer will believe that you have a full pipeline and may communicate a commitment to close earlier.  The seller must be strategic about allocation of time and resources.  If a buyer is not ready to move, adding them to the 2024 pipeline may be the smartest move.
  3. Maintain Business Development Activities. Start to identify opportunities for 2024.  Too often sales teams have moved from crisis to crisis and fail to understand that insufficient business development activities are the cause of the reoccurring nightmare.  Don’t buy the argument that sales staff can only step up their game under pressure.  Every major league coach knows that games are won on the practice fields and that good behaviors and performance are exhibited on game day only after detailed preparation.  Early business development activities insure that sufficient time is available for the lead to be nurtured.
  4. Assess your bench. Do you have the right people on the team?  What resources do you need to deploy to close the deals you need to hit quota?  Are additional skills and practice needed to increase your close rate?  What approaches are going to be the most effective with your buyers?  Is there an opportunity to improve the skill set of the sales team?  Can you role play the critical opportunities to maximize the potential for a successful outcome?  Is there a development plan for 2024 that you should be budgeting for now based on the assessments and opportunities for improved performance?
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Focus on Coaching: Assessing Selling Skills

 

After workshops many of my clients often come to me with a specific skill that needs to be addressed like:

  • We are working on an enormous opportunity and could use an outside look.
  • Our people seem to be wasting their time with unqualified opportunities.
  • We need a reminder of how and what to prepare for sales calls.
  • My people give away too much in the end.  We should focus on their negotiating skills.

The one day refresher workshop is a great option to sharpen these skills and other skills that you and your sales team identify.  This will be a customized, one day workshop around your needs.  The workshop format will be lecture, group discussion, skill practice and other participatory exercises.

This workshop could easily be added on to an already existing sales meeting.   If you have a small group or large give me a call, let’s get started today.

Contact info:
John E. Flannery
858-518-7039

john@drive-revenue.com

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UNLOCKING REVENUE IN 2011

On Thursday, March 17, join John Flannery for an executive briefing that will explore how to turn the cost cutting of 2010 to revenue building in 2011.

Over the past few years buying behavior has changed.  This has had an impact on many companies’ ability to generate revenue.   He will share insights into key revenue drivers and techniques for jump-starting your sales process.  Successful strategies used by top performing companies will be shared.

Topics to be addressed:

  • How do I focus our company’s sales resources to get the maximum ROI?
  • How can marketing and sales work together more effectively?
  • How do I improve the performance of the bottom half of my sales organization?
  • How do I improve accuracy of my sales forecast?

Seating is limited.  Please email mindy@drive-revenue.com or call (858) 350-6223 to reserve your seat.

March 17, 2011 from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m.  A light breakfast will be served.

AMN Healthcare Boardroom
12400 High Bluff Drive
San Diego, CA 92130

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