IT Solutions Providers Sales Reps: What's Your Plan, Stan?

By Gil Cargill, Sales Acceleration Coach

I’m paraphrasing a line from Paul Simon’s 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, which I’m sure most of you readers are too young to remember. But, it is that time of year when salespeople need to start developing a plan for the next year. Unfortunately, and I probably should say tragically, this is the time of year when salespeople realize they either won’t make their goal for this year and/or can’t make their goal for this year.

However, New Year’s resolutions will kick in; and many salespeople will say things like, “This year, I need to sell smarter” or “This year, I need to sell harder.” In either case, the salesperson making that commitment is damaging their opportunity for success in 2016. More often than not, these sorts of New Year’s resolutions evaporate more rapidly than the traditional ones that focus on getting on a diet for the next year.

So, let’s change the game. Let’s apply the rules of The New Math of Sales Excellence. You can’t have a plan without metrics. New Year’s resolutions are wishes; they aren’t plans. So, I’m going to walk you through an exercise in the next few paragraphs that I refer to as backwards planning.  Let’s start with the year-end goal for 2016 in mind.

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