Okay it's late on Friday night on the 26th day of February and I just finished updating our site for some press releases and leads for copiers in various states.
My last blog was Tuesday evening and that day marked the end of the sales month for me for February. I've done very well the last two months and even managed to get an order booked during the last hour of the month.
Just as I suspected the last three days hasn't produced any orders and March is a short selling month with only 20 selling days. I don't have the final numbers for the first two months however I think the revenue is about $230K. My goal for this month is $80K and the reason it's $80K is because I want to hit the $300K mark for the first quarter. If I do that it would be my highest revenue quarter ever in this business.
All throughout my years I'm a firm believer that you need set goals but goals that are attainable. My goal at the start of the year was to reach my revenue quote for the first quarter. For me that means $150K in business revenue included in the $150K is $30K for net new.
Since I've reached my first goal is when I changed the new goal to $300K for the quarter. I've realized over the years that if I don't set additional goals (like raising to 300K) that I increase my chances rolling a stinker (very bad month). I'm no different from everyone else and I too can get caught up in the thought that I'm so far ahead that I can coast for the next 30 days. I've also learned that coasting for the next 30 days will not only cost me a months worth of revenue but it could cost me an entire quarter of revenue down the road.
Moving into March I've also attained my net new business goal for the quarter. However I'm going to set a new goal and raise that to $60K of net new business. Will it be easy? Nothing is ever easy and I like to say if you want easy then you need to get out of sales.
About three weeks ago I turned 64 years of age. I've been doing this same gig for 41 years in the same state, and the same territory. I guess there's something to be said for longevity and piling up the years of expertise. It also reminds me of the game of baseball, meaning if you get the play the game long enough you can rack up some pretty impressive stats. Even though you were not the best for all of those years the stats you acquired over those years will get you into the Hall of Fame.
For those of you that are new in this business I doubt that there will be copy machines in use forty years from now. But consider this industry a starting point for what can be an exciting career selling technology. I can also tell you that in the forty one years that I've been performing I've never been laid off nor fired. One you get the basics down and all you need to do is to continue to have the dedication, desire and determination to succeed.
-=Good Selling=-
