Sales Techniques: Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail

You've heard it before, but you don't understand the impact and implications. You can't get the results you want if you either don't know how, or won't take the time to plan to get them. Your natural instinct is to just go-go-go rather than plan, so you know when and where to go to get the best results.

Here’s the way you approach sales success. You think you have to be running to an appointment or running to get an appointment at full tilt. You rush into the appointment or you dial the phone without even thinking about what you’re going to do or say once you’re talking the other person. You use this approach so often that you may even be pretty good at thinking on your feet.

Your approach is “do” first and figure out an approach from there. And I applaud you for taking action because no one can succeed at anything without taking action. But if you’d slow down just a little bit just long enough to do a little planning you could take more right actions than you do now, and you’d getter better results than you are now.

Here’s the top producer’s approach to sales success. First, they figure out exactly where they are now. That means determining what’s working, and what’s not working, and what needs to change. In other words, they take stock of the way things are now.

Then they set clear targets for what they want. These targets are broken down into measureable goals so they can track and measure their progress on a daily basis. These goals are very specific, in fact, they can name the new accounts they intend to get and the exact revenue those accounts will generate.

Now we get to the action part that you already love. Once you know where you are, and where you want to go you can figure out the exact actions you’ll need to take to get you there. Top producers can literally check off each action, as those actions take them closer to what they want. And there’s never any doubt about the actions that will get you what you want, and the actions that are just busy work.

Top producers aren’t afraid to get the resources and help they need to get what they want. A big reason they aren’t afraid to get the help they need to get what they want is because they have an abundance mentality whereas you have a scarcity mentality. You’re afraid to spend the money you need to spend for personal development like sales coaching because you don’t know when your next sale will be.

Top producers have confidence in their next sale because they have a plan. And they know that all they have to do is work their plan, and they’ll get what they want. Even when a plan doesn’t quite work the way they thought it would a top producer will quickly adapt their plan and implement it so they stay on track.