I'm a bit of a neat freak—ok, maybe more than a bit. So I love Spring cleaning—inside the house and out.
While I was doing some spring cleaning in the yard recently, I started thinking about the parallels to selling (because it's hard for me not to connect most everything to sales). I found myself doing three primary things in the yard. First, I was getting rid of some things—like dead shrubs, overgrown trees, and stumps that needed removing. Second, I was freshening up some things, like touch-up paint around the exterior of my house, a new gas tank for the gas grill and more. Finally, I was bringing in some new things—like fresh mulch and stones for a path leading to my front door.
My challenge to salespeople everywhere is to do some Spring cleaning of your own.
You may think of a variety of ways to do this, but I suggest you start with these:
- Get rid of some dead-end prospects and time-wasting customers. Give them to someone else on the team or just drop them. Find at least one account that fits in each category—you can do it.
- Freshen up your approach with at least one current customer. Set a meeting today to update your needs analysis. Find a new opportunity and present a new solution.
- Set one week sometime in the next few weeks to do more than your usual amount of prospecting, and then select the two most ideal new prospects and give your full attention to them until you develop them into customers.
Step up to the Spring cleaning challenge—where it's out with the old and in with the new!
Download our Target Account Progress Tracker to help with your Spring cleaning!
John Henley is the Chief Operating Officer at The Center for Sales Strategy
