2016 is here and the cycle of salespeople begins again. The holidays and the busy season for selling may be over, but now it’s time to look forward and get better in the New Year.

How do we do that?

It’s really not that hard; it just takes time to reflect, look forward and set goals.

It starts with the reflection on the past year, what worked and what could be better. Breakdown your presentation and keep building on those things that worked and led to sales. For example, if the win-win close seemed to work every time then keep using it. If, on the other hand, you struggled getting from a non-business conversation to a business conversation, then spend some to examine as to why that’s the case and work to improve on it.

After you’ve looked back and evaluated what worked and what didn’t, then it’s time to take that information and determine how it can help you in 2016. If you can improve you transitions from a non-business conversation to a business conversation, for example, then your sales are likely to increase. How do you improve?

Ask the salespeople who do that well, find out what they do and how they do it. Other than that, it is just about practice and making a concentrated effort to get better in that specific area.

The key to getting better in the new year is being honest with yourself, it’s not going to do any salesperson any good if they are not willing to be self-critical. The best salespeople don’t live in the past but they use the past to get better in the future.

In addition to looking back to look forward, this is also a good time to remind every salesperson to take some time for themselves. The holidays are the busiest time of the year for most salespeople and making sure you take care of yourself is just as important as getting ready for a new year.

A big part of the new year is examining the goals you set last year and setting new goals for 2016. Some of you may have already done that, but a few reminders never hurt. We’ll review some basics of goal setting next time.

Until then, Happy New Year and may 2016 be your best year yet!

FINAO - Brad Huisken