December Planning Breeds Intentional Success for 2012

Posted: November 28, 2011 | Categories: Management, Sales

December is a good time to employ the 5P formula.  “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance” Priormeans before, and I’ve got news for you:  This is the last month before the new year.  What we do now can help ensure a strong launch in January.  Let’s plan…step by step.

Before we begin, we need to remind ourselves that December is also an important month for sales activity.  When I was in sales, some of my most high-producing months were in December.  Sure, things can taper off after the 20^th.  That still leaves a lot of selling days!

Back to planning:  Two of the most notable competencies in a successful business are balance and focus.  Starting with balance, (Focus comes later) we can look at our P/PC ration.  This means, “Production over Production Capability” ratio.  In his classic book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Steven Covey talks about this ratio.  Most of our sales efforts should be directly impacting one of these two areas, and it is favorable to engineer a balance between these two categories.

Production:  Using a sports analogy, production activity is what we do on the “field of play”.  Champions know that ultimately, that is where the game is one.  Some examples of this type of activity:  Scheduling appointments, asking for referrals, attending meetings and events, giving workshops, cold calling, participating in leads groups, and attending trade shows.

Production Capability:  This area is involves anything that gives you the competency and capacity to deliver what you have promised on time and with consistent high quality.  This could involve working on a new software program, buying new equipment, training staff, getting special certifications both for ourselves and our company, website design, and hiring, to name just a few.

Action steps:

1. Block off time to take inventory of all the possible activities
2. Categorize them
3. Prioritize them (Which ones would be the most valuable in achieving your goals for 2012)

At this point, you might be asking, “Wait a minute…if I am planning for 2012, shouldn’t I start with my revenue goal?   Tomorrow’s posting will focus on that.

 

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