Make Your (Activity) List and Check it Twice!

It’s that time of year again. I love the Christmas season. I love the shopping, the presents, the food and the music (we actually had carolers come to the door this year).

As sales and business professionals we are given a wonderful gift this week and next. We’re given the gift of time. Much of our competition is hibernating. These are the people who have checked out and are using the holiday as an excuse. I’ve already heard it several times this week. They say “after Tuesday, nobody’s really working for the rest of the week”. Or they say, “nothing happens between Christmas and New Years." And my favorite, “nobody is making hiring or buying decisions this week. They’re waiting until after the holidays”.

I’m here to tell you it’s simply not true. On more than one occasion, the biggest deals of the year for me closed on Christmas Eve. Jeb Blount from The Sales Guy blog sums it up best:

In sales, like it or not, activity is everything. If you are not prospecting, questioning, presenting and closing you will fail – no matter what time of year it is. The problem many of us face during the holidays is that we slack off and let our self-discipline slip. We also have a tendency to allow the holidays to move us out of our normal daily routine. The result is reduced activity.

To keep this from happening to you, it is critical that you sit down with your daily planner right now and ensure that you have your calendar blocked properly for daily prospecting and lead generation, as well as information gathering, presentations, demos and closing meetings. Take into account all of your holiday activities and build them into your planner. You may have to do some work around, but the key here is to get everything planned out in advance. To stay on track set daily activity targets and commit to reviewing those targets each morning and afternoon. You will be amazed at how powerful this forward planning process is for keeping you on track and focused during the holidays and have plenty of time to enjoy the holidays with the ones you care about the most.

Take advantage this week by:

•    Don’t stop selling, average sales people stop selling this week;
•    Continue setting activity targets;
•    Plan your day (Include your Christmas shopping and family time into your plan);
•    This is a great time to move forward, to catch up and to prepare for next year;
•    I don’t doubt for a minute workforce production drops dramatically this week. Don’t let it be your              excuse!

What’s the greatest business success you’ve had during the week of Christmas and New Year’s Eve?