2016 To Don't List

There will be a lot of To Do lists written and well meaning resolutions made for 2016 and I wish everyone well with theirs. Like me, however,  you might have a less than stellar track record on delivering them or even remembering them past February 1st. So how about taking a different approach and starting a "To Don't" list - here are few suggestions:

1. 

   Don't get distracted!

    We live in an ever distracted world where sensory overload is now the norm and multi-tasking almost a religion. The reality, however, is that success always comes from focus. It is through prioritization and shutting out of any ancillary noise that a path to your goal becomes clear. This is especially true in sales - focus on your target buyer, focus on the deals you have a better than average chance of closing, focus on ruthlessly qualifying deals and above all, focus on your buyer's needs and then watch clarity boost your win rates!

2. Don't look for shortcuts or silver bullets!  The reality is and always has been, that if the majority of salespeople focused on a few fundamental selling skills such as good questioning skills, listening skills and pre-call planning then we would have a lot more good salespeople. I am not saying that they can't learn more than this and become exceptional salespeople, of course they can but let's crawl, walk, run in that order. So let's get back to basics and make sure everyone has the basics.

3. 

   Don't believe the hype!

   There is still no substitute for hard work. Work smarter for sure, work differently, yeah why not but at the end of the day, nothing worthwhile ever comes easily - so while I welcome all the productivity tools you can throw at me and all the new ways of doing things, I will still expect to be exhausted at the end of every work day. It has always been my experience that the hardest working salespeople more often than not also happen to be the most successful.
4. Don't stop believin' - Be excited about what you are selling - believe in it or find something to sell that you do believe in. I for one, completely and unreservedly believe that Pipeliner CRM is the world's best and most effective CRM and everyone should use it. When I was at Huthwaite and Omega Performance, I believed (and still believe) that they had the best sales training and credit training solutions respectively. At the end of the day if we can't get genuinely (and I mean genuinely) excited about what we are selling why should we expect our prospect to?
5. 

   Don't lose perspective

   - Our connected lives have given us the ability to reach across the globe and feel part of events, causes, communities that once were out of reach due to distance. This has many benefits and positive impacts for sure but we should never lose sight of the fact that the greatest impact we can have is on those closest to us by being a good parent, partner, neighbor, member of the community etc. The same goes for sales, it is great to watch the numbers grow and our books of business to expand but it is the success of each individual customer, their individual experience and how the solution delivered specific results to them that really counts. So never lose sight of customers as individuals rather than just an umbrella group.

Have a great Holiday Season and I hope 2015 was as successful for you as it was for us at Pipeliner CRM.