Results, Results, & More Results!
Ok, a good way to think on a rainy Tuesday morning as I head out to a day of meetings in Boston in a wicked busy week.
Finished my intro business planning class at MIT yesterday and while I'm thinking about my second class at Tufts tomorrow which is all about market research, today's focus is 100% on sales, and where I need to be by the end of December...only about 100 workdays away.
Think ROA
Results. I realized some time ago, that in all of my talking about getting to "results", I was sending the wrong message to my sales team. Sure, results are the numbers on the scoreboard at the end of the game, but that's the end point, and while important, it's not where any of us as salespeople or as managers should be focused at this time in the four months from now through December.
Objectives. Of course, all of us from CEOs to BDRs have a long list of objectives and probably a longer list of KPIs between now and December, and, of course, objectives are important. But, for today and the rest of September, I'd like you to forget about those objectives with the exception of thinking of them as guideposts. At this time of year as you're looking out over the next 100 days, think of objectives as guide rails on the highway used to provide metrics to make sure you're not straying too far off the line.
Actions. Success in the next 100 days is all about your detailed action planning on a week-by-week basis for the next 13 weeks. As salespeople, all we can control is our actions and our ability to plan those actions out in a methodical and efficient way. By the end of this weekend, you should be able to calendar out:
- week-by-week travel schedules even if you have not identified specifics
- written major account plans for new logos
- same for large existing accounts for upsells
- your requirements from Marketing in terms of tools
I would also add to this level of weekly action planning what detailed sales training tactics you or your team need to refresh on and make sure that you are totally armed for the next 100 days. Let me know what you're looking for, I will give you some specific ideas...most of which will begin with Hubspot videos.
HAVE A GREAT DAY SELLING TODAY
Just a quick note on the best of best in selling today!
2023 SALES PLANNING
Check out our updated sales productivity site page. Just page down to get our new edition of Writing the Winning Sales Plan for 2023.
Or you can just email me, and I'll send you a free copy. Connect with me at any time for some quick ideas and feedback. There's never a cost for a call or two, plus I love listening and talking about Sales & Marketing.
www.derbymanagement.com
Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts.
