I know it’s hard to believe, but 2016 is right around the corner!
There are definitely some things you should be doing now to ensure your 2016 gets off to a great start.
Below are the 10 that I definitely think you should not overlook:
1. Learn the 2016 company objectives for each of your major customers. You will be better equipped if you know what your customers are gearing up to accomplish.
2. Schedule meetings now for early January for you to take your senior management in to meet with your key customers. Objective is to have a high level discussion that will open up new strategic opportunities you can help the customer with.
3. Determine for each of your major accounts what your biggest obstacles are going to be for next year. You need to build out a plan to tackle them in the 1st quarter or — worst case — 1st half of 2016.
4. Spend time in December personally thanking each person with whom you interact at each of your major accounts.
5. Ask your buyers what their objectives are for 2016 and engage with them in a discussion designed to give you insights as to how best you can personally help them.
6. Engage in discussions with departments and people within your own company regarding opportunities where you know you will need their assistance in 2016. This is just one proactive way to genuinely take good care of the relationships you have with other departments.
7. Plan exactly how you intend to finish 2015 to ensure you don’t by accident set yourself up for a bad start to 2016.
8. Set personal development goals for 2016. You need personal goals that will put you in a better position to achieve your business goals.
9. Build out your sales plan for 2016 by month, product line or however you do business. Provide for slack in your plan to cover any issues that should arise that might negatively impact part of your business.
10. Build your calendar for 2016. Ask your key buyers for their sense as to when they might be on vacation, etc. in 2016. Add any dates you know you will need to block for meetings, etc.
This list is ideally built for account managers and other salespeople who spend their time selling to a defined list of accounts.
Regardless of what you sell, though, I believe you can glean nuggets of wisdom from the above tips.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
