Five suggested steps to reaching your sales-related New Year's resolution

1. Create your Zebra profile (if you have not already done so)
2. Practice the discipline to only pursue Zebras in 2009 and beyond
3. Learn to penetrate at the Power (decision-making) level, and stay there
4. More than double your pipeline close ratio (by only pursuing Zebras and staying at Power)
5. Earn a bigger bonus for 2009 as the result of the above! (every sales persons' goal)

Wishing a very Merry Christmas from my Zebras to yours!

A little housecleaning...

Well, I was digging through my list of "to-do's," and I realized I had promised to link to the edition of The Sales Roundup Podcast that featured an interview with Zebra Jeff and I once it became available... well, it's available, and you can listen to it HERE! The interview was a lot of fun, and features a lot of great content, including but not limited to how to "sweep" the junk out of your sales pipeline for the new year!

Speaking of rounding up a cleanup, what to do about the US Automotive Industry? Here are a few points for sales people to create some leverage in this troubled industry:

1. You can't do business the same as yesterday and expect a different result.
2. Long-term is obviously critical, but also figure out how to survive now!
3. Get “lean” in the sales department. Stop wasting sales, customers service, presales, marketing, support engineering and all of executive resources pursuing prospects who 85% of the time are not going to buy
4. Competition is not going to come just from the usual sources.... Apathy – I.e. doing nothing will be the biggest competitor. You MUST demonstrate why the next dollar spent should be with you among all the other alternatives, not just your classic competitors.
5. There is still opportunity in chaos, but you have to change to capture it.

Obviously these ideas apply beyond just the automotive industry, especially in this tough economy. No topic is more relevant right now, and I'll "drive" you towards some other ideas to reinvent your wheel in this time of crisis next time... The old car will still run, it just needs a tune up in order to make sure your competition stays in your rearview mirror for miles to come.

It's not the hours we put in, but what we put into the hours...

In the August 25/September 1, 2008 Business Week, Jim Collins (Good to Great author) article Good to Great Expectations – Jim Collins on getting to the next level referring to CEOs states: “There are only 24 hours in a day, so what difference does it really make if you work 10 hours or 14, given that there are a thousand potential hours of work”.

Nothing could be more-true for sales people. Who has more potential work to do than a sales person?

Did you know that the most competitive companies only close about 15 PERCENT of the deals in their sales pipeline? That means that salespeople, (like you), spend time with prospects who, 85 percent of the time, AREN’T GOING TO BUY!

Unless I am throwing the ball for my chocolate Lab Winnie, I hate wasting time (actually I feel that this is anything but wasting time – but you get the idea).

There is a better way. Figure out what not to do. Put prospects that don’t belong on your forecast on you “Do not do list”. Figuring out what not to do is more important than figuring out what to do. From experience I personally know that following this approach will help you land 90 percent of the business you pursue.

Also, think about your answers to these questions:

1. Why are you successful?
2. How do you know when you are going to win?
3. Are you objectively analyzing your sales strategy to make sure your actions are as focused as possible??

Finally, here are links to two great blogs from Sales 2.0, one old and one new, that address the topic of this blog:

"Choose your Hot Prospects Carefully"

&

"Are You Losing Them at Hello?" by Jill Konrath