Will Your Sales Plan Deliver Results This Year?

Seth Godin gave some timely and prudent advice for real estate agents in a recent post. His hard-hitting advice is actually quite relevant to every salesperson and entrepreneur who would listen. He pulled no punches and as usual, had a great deal of wisdom to offer. Listen up salespeople... you cannot afford to miss this lesson.

While addressing a large group of real estate professionals, Godin advised them that due to current economic conditions, it is now time to quit! As expected, he effectively got their attention. Many took his advice, actually having been searching for some time for someone to give them permission to indeed quit, and left the room at that point. The remaining agents then heard the rest of his speech, the message that was meant for the true professionals and committed members of their profession.

"Now, if you’re still with me, you’ll be glad to know that the competition for attention just got smaller. The agents who built their business on low interest rates, easy money and speculation (the order takers) have left the building. The ones that are left, that’s you, can consider Plan B. If you’re not going to be able to make a living by taking orders, by selling houses the way everyone else does, by using the never-ending rise in real estate prices to make sales, then what are you going to do? Whining is not an option. In fact, I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for you." announced Godin.

Seth proceeded to share a success philosophy with them, one that I have been professing for a lifetime; that success follows the Pareto Principle in that 80% of your efforts must come from personal development and 20% from specific techniques. Godin then fed his hungry and attentive audience a two-course meal, teaching that there are two things they needed to do immediately:

1. Become the expert in what you do. Micro-specialize in a segment of your market. Become the authority, the go-to person in that field.

2. Interact with your clients and prospects, both past and present. Open a dialog with them. Communicate regularly.

Simple advice? Yes; advice appropriate for the times. An investment in yourself is always going to pay dividends! Learn everything you can in your chosen field. Study the markets that interest you. Sharpen your saw, ie... spend time improving your interpersonal skills, speaking skills, communication skills. Make time for self-investment. You are not as busy now as you were last year at this time, so instead of catching up on re-runs of Grey's Anatomy, invest that time wisely, in you. Become an expert in your niche. Learn all you can. Improve your productivity. Specialize.

We live in an age of communication, where multiple media formats allow us to extend our reach to almost everyone, everywhere, easier and faster than ever before! Do you have a mailing list? A blog? A newsletter? a web site? A video interview on YouTube? A podcast available on niche web sites? Do you speak at local functions? Write local newspaper articles? Why not? As Seth says "you’re either the best in the world (where ‘world’ can be a tiny slice of the environment) or you’re invisible." Learn to communicate effectively with your niche.

In our ever-evolving, currently slowing economy, you cannot expect to be successful doing the same things in the same manner that you always have. It's time for change. It's time to reinvent both ourselves and our approach. You need a new plan of action. You must get started now! Why are you still sitting there watching TV? If you are, you may be like one of Seth's "order takers." Will that work for you in 2008?

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Daniel Sitter
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Comments

[Paul Brown]

Sales Managers have a wide variety of responsibilities in today's competitive landscape that they are faced with. This certainly makes finding the time for sales management and sales planning a challenge. In sales management we know the importance of executing sales with a sales plan. To ensure the passing of this skill to sales reps, we need to teach them to create a successful sales plan and execution strategy. Since time is limited, using sales templates and tools will help to maximize the interaction with Sales Reps to get the most measurable performance gains for the time spent.