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Last year is gone and the New Year has just begun and there is no reason that this year can’t be your best sales year ever.  For many salespeople, last year was their best year ever and they are determined to do even better this year.  For some salespeople, they just want to put last year behind them and begin anew.  Nothing will be different this year from last if YOU find yourself doing what you have done in the past.  Regardless of your results last year, in order to make this year your very best sales year ever, you will need to execute the principles and skills of sales at your very highest level of performance.

Becoming a top performer requires knowledge, skills, desire and consistency.  Make this year a year of learning.  There are thousands are very good sources of sales knowledge.  Find your favorite sources and then commit yourself to a program of study.  I can promise you that there are principles and skills that you don’t know that could make a profound improvement in your sales if you only knew and applied them.  I don’t know of any means to teach desire, it must come from within and if you don’t want it, you will never get it.  Consistency is a derivative of desire combined with the knowledge that doing the correct things repeatedly will bring repeated success.

Here are a few thoughts for making this year your best ever.

1)   Forget that we are in a recession.  Get up early, work hard every day doing the right things and you will find the sales success that has always been there, waiting for those that believe in hard work.

2)   Plan time every day to prospect.  Prospect means to find new opportunities.  There are more sales opportunities for your products and services than you can imagine.  They may not be as easy to find as they were before the recession, but there are enough out there to make this your best year ever.

3)   Do something you don’t like to do every day.  There are many aspects of selling that you may not find enjoyable, but that is not an excuse not to do them.  If you do those activities that are necessary for success, you will have success.

4)   Don’t be lazy.  Lazy salespeople will never be successful.  Put in a full eight hours each day doing the essential activities of selling.  If you don’t remember the essentials, here they are: Prospecting, Assessing, Presenting and Closing.

5)   Make this statement your motto for the new year: “The secret of success of every man who has ever been successful, lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing those things that failures don't like to do.”

One final thought – No one is perfect.  The objective is to strive for improvement consistently.  Remember, success is not achieved by never falling, but rather by rising every time you fall.