Eat. Drink.
It’s the beginning of November. Like most businesses, you are in the home stretch. Hopefully you are having a fruitful and rewarding year of sales. You probably are enjoying a few quiet weeks before holiday party insanity happens from the end of the month thru New Year’s Eve.
But as sales leaders and business owners, something else may be gnawing at you. It’s not production timelines or finding enough servers for Saturday night’s event. It’s the horrible anxiety of… Are you going to hit your year-end goal? Unfortunately for most caterers, it seems like we roll into November wondering, how did we get ourselves in this situation again? Are we going to survive another year by the skin of our teeth? How and where do we pick up last-minute business?
This is a stressful and painful approach to the last two months of the year. We should be celebrating our success rather than stretching an already exhausted team to the max in order to make the annual goal happen.
Approaching sales in a strategic and methodical way now is the key to kicking off next year right. When meeting with my consulting clients, I teach strategic sales processes such as the following:
Each sales consultant should have a customized, written sales plan buttoned up and ready to go by the end of this month so they can hit the streets after January 6th
Next year’s individual numeric sales goal should be set by now and your sales consultant should have been tracking bookings since this past September
Sales consultants should end January with 50% of the year already booked definite
Proactive rebooking of clients should take place in early January (if not already) so you can see how next year is shaping from the start
My clients have already seen revenue and outbound activity increase because sales consultants are being held accountable through targeted actions such as above. I also see how this helps the Director of Sales more effectively manage, lead and inspire their team through this organized and timely approach.
Inspire.
I am a business owner now. For 25 years, I was always the employee. A business-minded, owner-acting employee mind you, but still an employee. Which means I had no risk nor pressure about paying the bills.
It’s different when you are the owner. You think about every expense. You think about every sales opportunity as well. Should I spend money on this in order to support my business? Did I make the right decision regarding price? How often should I touch base with that potential client who hasn’t responded to my proposal? Have I followed up too many times?
I have been in business now for 2 1/2 years. I approach my own business development strategies as the only sales “generator” the same way I did as a large catering company’s Vice President of Sales managing over thirty individuals. I set annual numeric goals and develop my own expense budget through reviewing my relatively “new” history and determining what is realistic for next year. I think about client patterns, catering seasonality, industry trends and who may need me while investing time and financial resources for my marketing and networking efforts.
I never want to approach my own business hoping I am going to make it by the end of the year. I will always stay on top of my game and be proactive throughout the year with my sales efforts. This allows me to enjoy these last two months, take a look back at the great year I had, reflect on years prior and look forward to the great year ahead.