The mantra in sales is usually, Go big or go home.
But when it comes to improving your sales skills, bigger isn’t always better.
Take New Year’s resolutions for example. Q1 is fast approaching and I’m sure lots of sales pros are making plans for how they’re going to hit more targets in 2020.
On January 1st (okay, probably more realistically, January 2nd) they’ll wake up, all ready to roll on their ambitious strategy for self-improvement. And then, like most resolutions, they’ll be abandoned before Q2 hits.
Making huge changes, like resolutions tend to call for, is rarely sustainable long-term.
There are both business and psychological reasons for not jumping into work-related changes with both feet. And especially not just because the calendar is about to flip over to a new year.
In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear talks about improving in bite-sized chunks and one-percent intervals. His formula:
Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery.
So why not begin your habits- and practice-filled path towards mastery right now with an anti-resolution?
An anti-resolution is like a regular resolution, in that you resolve to do something, but it’s a smaller, more manageable change. It’s not a one-time improvement; it’s a thoughtful practice that results in better habits and eventually mastery. An atomic resolution, if you will.
And making an anti-resolution means you and your sales team can start anytime with your one-percent improvements. By kicking it off now you’ll already be miles ahead of the competition by the time everyone’s back from the holiday break.
Get started with your anti-resolution
In the spirit of the anti-resolution, instead of putting together a 100-page “ultimate” guide and introducing a million new things for you to try and improve, I rounded up 21 of our most useful posts into an easy-to-use outline that you can share with your entire sales organization.
These include how-tos, templates, questions to ask, quizzes, and real-life examples from the Proposify team that will help you establish a deeper practice around some of the most important aspects of a modern sales process.
Just scan through, pick a target and a topic, and start forming a great habit that will serve you well in 2020 and beyond.
Your guide to better sales habits...
For the Sales Team
Can’t make good headway with prospects? How to personalize your prospecting and write compelling cold emails that can’t be ignored.
Not getting enough info or the right info on disco calls? How to up your interviewing skills, according to the pros.
Getting ghosted too often? 9 signs your prospects are going to no-show your meeting and how to fix your follow-up to avoid it.
Lower lead quality than you’d like? How we do lead qualification at Proposify, plus why it pays to disqualify more.
Always crunched for time? How to increase your productivity by knowing when to stop chasing dead leads.
For the Sales Leaders
Is your sales coaching as effective as you think it is? Find out if you’re making these common coaching mistakes.
Getting too comfortable with the status quo? How to calculate and increase your sales velocity and multiply your sales momentum.
Are your sales forecasts more a vague guess than a precise prediction? How to get back on track with data-driven forecasting.
Spending too much time on your C-suite sales reports? Up your reporting mojo with our free template that focuses on the 8 metrics that matter.
Feeling the pressure? How to control your sales management controllables.
For the Sales Ops and Enablement Pros
No sales enablement position on your team yet? Why you should make enablement a priority in 2020 and how to find a great sales enablement pro.
Sales enablement content feeling blah? How to give it a boost via storytelling.
Too much manual work bogging down your processes? How to automate your sales document workflow and find out where and why your proposal process is breaking down.
Keep coming up against sales ops roadblocks? How to figure out and blast through anything that’s limiting your success.
Want more alignment in your sales organization? How to create a sales mission statement, with tips from a surprising source.
Will 2020 be the year you finally nail down your sales process for good? This template gives you the 8 essentials you need.
What else are you doing to improve in Q1? Let me know in the comments.
