Summertime and the Sellin' is Easy

We’re deep into summer, the fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high. Like the great Gershwin lyrics, there’s an easing of sorts in life and business during the summer months. The kids are on summer break, vacations are in swing, and sometimes salespeople take their foot off the pedal. Don’t do it.

This is the final quarter or annual close out month for some companies. It’s the second half kickoff for many. The hazy, lazy, crazy days of summer not withstanding, the best salespeople reset their gears and get off to great starts or fast finishes. This is the best and easiest time to put heads down and run at it hard and without regrets.

Fast Start
Whether it’s the beginning of the second half or the start of a new fiscal year, it’s a new game and the winners at end of the calendar year will be those who got it together in the summertime.

Here are 3 keys to avoid the summer sales doldrums and stay sharp:

1. Reset on Your Number – that is, refocus on the quarterly target that’s before you. You’ve got to hit it. Even if you “don’t have a chance” or “it’s typically a down quarter” don’t buy into that thinking. Chase it down as if your life depends on it. At least your commission bonuses and perhaps your job do.

2. Recalibrate your Territory Plan – see this as a new beginning to review and reprioritize your territory plan. Even without any management push, you should develop your own quarterly plan that drives macro and micro thinking and strategy for your territory. Tactical strategy often forces big picture adjustments.

3. Review you Activities – time to get honest again about your own personal sales activity metrics (Rule #15 in the book).Take the next 30 days and truly track your calls, meetings, live conversations, demos, proposals, etc. to get clear visibility of your own habits and patterns which do change and stray from optimal levels if we don’twatch it. Successful people study themselves.

Are you using your summer to recommit?