Kicking Off The New Year

To ensure you hit the finish line in 12 months, you need to make sure your top sellers are off to a great start. One of my favorite bosses, Kirk MacDonald, told me you always ride your big horses in the beginning of the year. Riding your big horses harder goes further than trying to get the others to catch up. Here is how you ensure your top sellers are prepared for the new year.

1. Are they dialing for dollars, or wasting time? Push them as hard on Jan 2 as on December 29th. As the manager, if you look like your taking your foot off the gas, your reps are putting it in park. You need to bring the energy into the office to ensure they are working and feeling motivated to jump into a new year.

2. Do they have a plan of attack? Sit down with your reps to review their goals and create a plan of attack. The project can be as detailed as outlining the metrics for each day for the next 300, or as simple as asking who are the top 3 accounts they need to close this quarter to hit.

3. Have you addressed their concerns, issues or obstacles they may face in the next few months that could impact their goal? When talking with the rep, include questions around supporting cast. Help your sellers engage in sales vs. dealing with internal issues. Remember, every minute a rep spends handling internal issues is a minute they are not selling to external people.

4. What additional incentive do they have to hit the year hard? We fall victim to running contests when it is slow, or when we needed a boost in revenue, but a contest to ensure the year starts right may be money better spent. A simple $100 bogie for every new sale or an extra percent on deals over a certain amount help move the needle. Bonus tip, always hand out cash, it’s not the same getting it in their check.

5. Have you set the tone? Not having a kickoff meeting, in person, via phone, etc, is a mistake. If you do not make the time, it shows your reps you are too busy to deal with them and possibly allows them to slip under the radar. We all love salespeople, but you must manage them. They want money for nothing and love for free.