Where do you focus?
In traffic, you really must maintain focus in three key areas.
- Look ahead – to make course corrections and see obstacles that are looming.
- Look behind – to briefly check where you have been and to see if anyone is gaining ground on you.
- Look sideways – to see if there are other vehicles that are on a collision course with you.
To be successful in sales – it is pretty much the same thing.
Look Ahead: Based on your personal goals, set targets for the basic sales activities of prospecting, presenting, and selling. Then prioritize your time so that these activities are given sufficient hours so that you can achieve your goals. Track your time in those three key areas. How many minutes or hours per week do you spend?
If you increase the time you spend prospecting, presenting and selling by 25% – how do you see that affecting your income?
Look Behind: Quarterly and annual goal reviews should be a regular part of your business model. That is a time to reflect on a larger time period to compare your results. Compete with yourself. Raise your standards every quarter. Also, take a look at your competitors. What are they doing right now to catch you? Keeping yourself aware of potential competitive threats is much wiser than keeping your head buried in the sand.
Look Sideways: What are the issues that may affect your industry over the next 3-5 years? What are the issues that may impact your clients? What resources can you develop that will help you to stay apprised of these potential challenges? What can you do that will bring value to your clients and prospects that would help them to become of those issues?
Spend a little bit of time looking behind and sideways. But spend the greatest part of your time looking forward, performing the basics of sales better than anyone else at your company – especially your personal performance in the previous reporting period.
QUESTION: Where is your natural focus – ahead, behind or to the side?
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