This week thought I’d take a bit of a lighthearted approach to the sales profession. The roughly 12 week quarter is similar to most university schedules. See if any of this resonates with you.
In college at the start of the semester, typically people break into one of two mindsets, celebrate first, I’ll make it through the semester. The other is buckle down at the start and celebrate later. Just like the timing with midterms and final exams, so goes the nature of sales. Lets dig in a bit more and have some fun:
1) Beginning of the semester – Are you creating a plan and working that plan? Just like in college getting your semester projects lined up and planned are very similar in sales. Are you creating a “success plan” and tracking your progress? Do you have enough funnel and pipeline created to hit your goals or are you overconfident based off past success and figure no matter what, you will achieve your sales plan? I have seen both types be successful, and both run into challenges. I would refer to the 80/20 rule. Most of the time an organized sales professional will outperform ones winging it, and generally by a large amount.
2) Midterms – The harsh reality starts to set in, will you make the grade or drop the class? In business, how are you tracking via normal year over year comparisons and linearity? This is where reality sets in and either one gets discouraged and washes out or realizes there may be just enough time to go back to step 1 and salvage the quarter! I’ve seen way too may people give up at this stage vs looking for positive ways to recover. Positive attitude along with back to basics can help salvage the quarter.
3) Final Exam – Now it’s a sprint to the finish. No amount of extra credit will get you to pass a class at this point if you haven’t closed the grades gap. In most business, so much of the business closes in the last two week of a quarter, it is often referred to as “end of quarter magic”. We all wish magic was real, but the truth is, only in very rare cases a bluebird will come in and save the day. In most cases it has been the hard work all quarter and maybe some “extra credit” work completed early on that leads to positive results.
Think through
Hopefully the parallels made sense, gave you insights, and maybe a laugh. Like a semester, hopefully you can make it through the quarter to start the process all over again! Sales can be one of the most rewarding professions but needs focus and energy every day, week, month, and quarter.
Would love to hear your thoughts on being a sales professional or leading a team. Anything resonate? I always welcome feedback. Feel free to post comments or email them to me. Small Business, Big Lessons ® How will you make it through the semester?
Small Business
About the Author:
Gregory Woloszczuk is an entrepreneur and experienced tech executive that helps small business owners grow their top and bottom line. Gregory believes in straight talk and helping others see things they need to see but may not want to with a focus on taking responsibly for one’s own business. He and his wife, Maureen, started GMW Carolina in 2006.
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