Blog

Systems

Actions for achieving your goals

Completing ACTIONS is the only way to produce results. Period.

Your actions need to align with your strategy and your goal. Similar to your goals and strategies, you want your actions to be specific, clear, measurable. When writing actions, begin with a verb. For example:” ASK the BADAS Questions with 90% of your opportunities.”

Consider quantity (how many) and quality (when and how well) as you write these actions. You want to calendar them to DO at the time of day that will allow you to …

Read more…

HOW do I reach my goals?

Now that your goals are written, we move to creating a strategy for achievement.

This is kind of fun because you can focus on HOW you will achieve this. During your evaluation and assessment of the year, you might have noticed that you like doing some strategies more than others, or you were better at some than others, or some strategies were more effective than others.  You may have found that the market or buying habits of your customers/clients has changed and you need to adjust your appro…

Read more…

What exactly are goals?

Consider WHAT you WANT to create and achieve next year. What matters to you so much that you are going to “make it happen,” as my father used to say by setting a strategy. Those are your goals.

Goals should always be written as RESULTS. Articulation is important. I like the S-M-A-R-T process because it’s clear and simple.

               Specific                             Clear, not ambiguous or vague.
               Measurable                    It can be counted. Numbers or percentages…

Read more…

Goals Again

Yes. Goals again!

In most showrooms, December is rather quiet, with customers, clients and designers preparing for and celebrating the holidays. Prior to setting goals for the new year, December is a good month for evaluation and analysis if you didn’t do so in November. If not, see my November blogs for assistance.

Are you noticing any resistance to writing goals for next year? Do you have any sense that you don’t really need to do write goals? Perhaps you feel that you have figured out a p…

Read more…

Differently

Differently? What?

We have looked at what to do more of, less of…and now differently.

Doing things differently is just that. If you have been ‘white-knuckle attached’ to using a paper
calendar and absolutely resisting using technology…it might finally be time to do things
differently.

Or you don’t want to make appointments with prospects you haven’t closed, preferring to follow
up in 2 days, because you think appointments are too pushy. Look at what it cost you in time and effectiveness.

C…

Read more…

Take the Actions That Create Appointments

Actions are the only things that produce results. When appointments are the target, there are specific actions to take, in a sequence, that will get them on the calendar, get them accepted via invitation, and get the result intended – namely, the sale.  Here they are in chronological order:

  • Organize your calendar to schedule 8-10 appointments per week – at times YOU set.
  • Enter EACH customer interaction INTENDING to accomplish a sale or an appointment. 
  • Recognize when an appointment WILL be …

Read more…

What is Your Relationship to Organization?

As a natural list maker, it still surprises me when I work with someone who relies solely on a daily to-do list and doesn’t use a calendar. Is that you?

A daily to-do list is an insufficient structure for organizing actions in time. They are good vehicles for prioritizing results per day…but using them exclusively fosters high stress and a narrow perspective…which is why I encourage using a calendar with at least a weekly view. It encourages a wider vision of the time allowed and the best tim…

Read more…

Sell it or Schedule it: Train it and Coach it.

Now that you know the elements of Sell it or Schedule it, what are the skills to develop to train it or to coach your sales associates?

If you need to increase the team close ratio, what are the actions in the sales process that will accomplish that? Which steps in Sell it or Schedule it will raise their success rate? How are you going to do that?

And once you train a selling skill, how are going to coach it - formally and Informally?
How will you structure your observations on the floor to wa…

Read more…

Sell it or Schedule it: Know it and Demonstrate it.

We all nod in agreement when someone says, “You need to lead by example.”And yet, when put to the test to demonstrate the process that the salespeople are expected to execute, many sales managers would fail. So I ask you, how would you do with that?

Are you able to demonstrate 'Sell it or Schedule it' by taking a sales opportunity in the showroom and executing the process from start to finish…including getting a sale or getting an appointment?

Being able to demonstrate selling actions that pro…

Read more…

Sell it or Schedule it…or “You Do You.”

If you manage a sales team, your role is to have each of them make their goals and improve their performance… and if they do, then you make YOUR goal, which is the SHOWROOM goal.

(Yes, the showroom goal is YOUR goal.)

And to do that, you need structures and actions and a methodology to teach from, or you will be managing your team from your own behavioral preferences and your own selling autobiography.

That doesn’t mean that what you did when you were a salesperson was wrong or deficient, esp…

Read more…

Categories