Work Smarter not Harder the Experts Say- but How?

2 Words come to mind, and they are: Teamwork and Planning
How often do you or your manager look at the forward sales figures for the coming month, only to groan, that they are not what you expect them to be.  But, what have you done to achieve a better result, particularly if this period of your year is “traditionally” quieter than others.
In discussions with many businesses this very question is top of the “Hit List”, how to turn things around?  The answer is both simple and complex – the simple answer is that those “traditionally” quiet or trough periods of your year happen year after year. Why? Because they always have is one answer – the other is because you need to slot in specific additional activity into your Sales Action Plan far enough ahead of these periods to create sufficient momentum to effect change.
The complex answer is,  ACTIVITY, but, what sort of activity- once decided on the type of activity- you then need to PLAN how you are going to make this happen.  The obvious steps are to look at all of the components of the proposed activity, the resources, the cost, the time to implement it, the collateral or brochures both hard copy and electronic to respond to prospective client enquiries and a central point of authority to keep it on track, on time and on budget- particularly in regard to following up leads and measuring results.
All the above are critical, but I have found that THE RESOURCE that you have which is the most powerful  is your staff- whenever I have been charged with promoting a new product to the marketplace I have always taken it to our internal marketplace (our team-mates) first- for many reasons, such as:
• they are your front line troops, in constant contact with your marketplace – who better to have as a sounding board- ask their imput and respect their feedback
• they need to know and understand how the product works, all the features and benefits applicable for this particular campaign
• they need to know how it stacks up against competitors and why it is such a great offer
• they should be given feedback during the period of the promotion, all positive and constructive as to results from any particular efforts or opportunities that they may have uncovered
• they need to celebrate success and be a part of it
This creates a positively charged environment, stimulating for everyone involved because everyone is!