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My children know this thought by heart, “it is not what you know, but rather what you do that makes a difference.”  Selling isn’t rocket science; the principles and skills necessary to do well can be mastered by most anyone.  It is not easy and definitely requires hard work, personal commitment and consistency.  However, in selling as well as most every other profession, there seems to be a lot more knowing than doing.  The Nike Company understands the importance of doing as stated in their slogan, “Just Do It.”  Could any thought or statement be more simple?  Just do it!  This year needs to be the year of doing, a year where you will be committed to doing the things you know and doing them consistently.  Here is my list of things that all salespeople should be doing consistently:

1. Get up early.  We have all heard the phrase, “the early bird gets the worm.”  Guess what?  The early bird really does get the worm and they also get the sale, the best territory, the higher income, drive the best cars, live in the nicest homes, go on fabulous vacations and every other comparison to distinguish them from the “late bird.”  As well as you may be performing currently; you will perform better by starting your day earlier.
2. Establish meaningful goals for all of your personal as well as your sales activities.  Progress does not just happen, it happens as the result of striving for and achieving worthwhile goals.  The principle of goal setting is synonymous with doing.  Doing is the core of goal setting.  Everyone knows that they should set goals and very few actually do it.  Do what you know.  There are no shortcuts to success.
3. Make a game plan for your goals.  Setting goals is easy, but achieving goals is difficult.  The number one reason salespeople don’t achieve their goals is due to the absence of a game plan for achieving the goals.  Create a “road map” that will provide all the necessary direction for achieving your goals. 
4. Get out of the rut of spending the majority of your sales time with existing customers.  Take the time you need to find additional sales opportunities with your existing customers but no more.  You can become so comfortable being around people you know that you will neglect finding new customers.  Step out of your comfort zone and make new contacts.  They may prove to become your very best customers.  Focus on finding new customers.  “Just do it”.
5. Make a list of all the important aspects of selling that you dislike doing and then make a personal commitment to do those things.  Plan to do them, schedule time to do them and then just do them.  Create the habit of doing the things you don’t like and you will see your success increase.  Doing unpleasant and difficult activities is often the difference between average performance and achieving superior results.  Take the Nike slogan to heart this year and “Just Do It”.