What Sales Preparations Can You Do To Get Ready For 2011?

What sales preparations can you do to get ready for 2011? What can you do to give yourself a running headstart against your competition? What can you action to get ahead of the game?

If you’re like many people, the last week before Christmas is an odd week. The kids are off school, it’s speckled with Christmas parties, many of your colleagues have already knocked-off and “done one” and, to add to the mix this year, snow is (if not falling) all around. Many clients and prospects have seemingly vanished and many of those who are around are unobtainable, busy, drunk (!) or doing their last minute Christmas shopping!

This isn’t an excuse for not calling anyone or setting up meetings because many people are working and many people may well be (seasonally) open to sales approaches. So there are serious questions to be asked…

Are you going to take advantage of the situation you find yourself in at this time of year or let it take advantage of you? Are you going to get the sales jump on your competition or let them get the jump on you?

Here’s what Seb Coe had to say about training at Christmas when interviewed in The Telegraph in 2009…

It was a harsh winter (harsh enough to bring down a government) but I ran 12 miles on Christmas morning. It was a hard session and I got home, showered and felt pretty happy with what I had done.

Later that afternoon, sitting back after Christmas lunch, I began to feel uneasy but was not quite sure why. Suddenly it dawned on me. I thought: “I bet [Steve] Ovett’s out there doing his second training session of the day.” I put the kit back on, faced the snow and ice and did a second training session. I ran several miles, including some hill work.

Not long ago, over supper in Melbourne, I told him the story. He laughed. ‘Did you only go out twice that day?’ he asked.

Now don’t get me wrong here… I am not suggesting that you don’t attend Christmas parties, I am not suggesting that you rush in at 5am in the morning all of this week and I am most definitely not saying that you should be prospecting on Christmas Day morning…. but rather, think about how you can spend this week more efficiently, more effectively and give yourself a big, jumpstart on 2011!