Good morning and Happy New Year!
I hope you are feeling something different today. The talk has been almost universal: Let’s get 2020 behind us! Better times lay ahead in the new year. In truth, not much has changed other than that last digit. What has changed, is how we choose to look at things. But if that’s the only difference, that’s okay. Choose to be optimistic. Choose to be positive. There is no downside.
Let me start out by thanking you for allowing me to inconvenience you. As I’ve been promising, content will be delivered differently moving forward and you had to jump through a couple of hoops to get to this tip. Thank you. Allison and I have put in hundreds and hundreds of hours preparing The Sales Vault. Whether you are a free member or an Insider, good things are coming your way. As a thank you, please enjoy the free video course, “10 Sales Tips in Ten Minutes.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is my desire to provide you with valuable and instantly-applicable sales assistance, starting with these weekly sales tips.
Starting this Friday, January 8, and continuing every Friday @12pm EST I will hold a live event we are calling Chill with Bill. Vault Insiders will enjoy receiving some sales education, ideas for helping you to manage your time better, focus on sales challenges, and the occasional interview. On that subject, this first Chill with Bill will feature an interview with Stephanie Irwin, a sales rep who had a record 2020. She’ll tell us how she did it and give us some insight into success in 2021. Again, you will need to be a Vault Insider. Afterward, I will post the video for replay and also release the audio recording as a podcast. To join in on the podcast, please upgrade to an Insider membership and RSVP to Friday’s event using the link on the event page. As an Insider you’ll have access to not only this material but also the other benefits you can find on the Vault Member Dashboard.
I would talk more about this subject as well, but I wanted to say something about new year’s resolutions. Both in our personal life and as sales reps, we take stock in ourselves and promise to improve. I’m sure there are statistics somewhere, but can we all just agree that the majority of us don’t make it past the middle of the month before realizing we haven’t really made that much progress keeping the promises we made to ourselves. I was going to make this a Printing Impressions column, but I came up with the thought too late and submitted something else instead.
Let me suggest a different strategy…
My experience, both personally and as a sales coach, is that resolutions fail because they are too open-ended. To say, “I vow to make 10 sales calls a day in 2021” is bound for failure just like saying, “I’m going to go to the gym three times a week this year” has little chance of happening. Is it because we are not committed? No. We absolutely mean what we say, in the moment anyway. We might hit the mark for a day or two, but making excuses and justifying a day off ends our streak and though we might try again, that effort, too, falls short.
Here’s my suggestion: Focus your resolution time frame on just seven days. That’s all. Just one week. Make a commitment with that end date in mind, and you have a far greater chance to succeed. In fact, that goal is likely to be higher than a “regular” resolution. For example, Allison and I committed to a 30-minute walk and a 10-minute core workout using Apple Fitness+. Despite the fact it has been a small challenge each day to make it happen, we did it! As I write these words and record the video, we are now looking at the next seven days and setting up new goals.
2021 will be, in my opinion, the most difficult sales year ever (certainly in my four decades of work). You will need a disciplined focus on the fundamentals, extra ordinary time management skills, support, someone holding you accountable, and an attitude that starts with, “This year is different!”
