Ten Ways To Grow Your Sales, Starting Now

By: Jon Dwoskin

Throughout my career and now as a business coach, I’ve found there are 10 things that have helped me and the many people I coach grow our sales. So, the sooner you incorporate these steps into your daily sales rituals, the sooner you can grow your business and sales.

1. Prospect every day.

One of the biggest obstacles salespeople face is when they stop doing business development when their pipeline looks “good.” We never want to be comfortable with our pipeline because we must always remember that so many things can (and do) happen.

Deals die, change dramatically or get pushed to the next year — and we don’t see the income we expected. When we focus on business development every day, we will always have a growing, flush pipeline.

2. Lower the bar.

When setting prospecting goals, always create targets that you can do consistently every day. Things happen: Deals blow up, and clients need us. But remember that everything compounds. What you do every day will compound to great things. That also means what you don’t do will negatively compound to what you don’t want.

Don’t put yourself in a situation where your pipeline goes backward and you have to start back at square one. We all know that can mentally set you back, and it can take months just to get back on track. Know the number of calls, meetings and proposals you need to shoot for every day, and then do it. If a day gets away from you, be sure to course-correct and accomplish your goal by the end of the week.

3. Keep your centers of influence in the loop.

We all know people who know people. The key is consistently reaching out to these centers of influence (COIs) who are not only resources, but can refer business to you. There is nothing more powerful than someone who is well respected vouching for you and your talents.

Always have a list of your top five to 10 COIs, and make sure you are talking and/or meeting with them on a regular basis — monthly at a minimum. These people can be the fastest way to grow your business, but out of sight, out of mind.

4. Have an accountability partner.

Most everything is harder when you do it on your own. Have an accountability partner with whom you check in on a daily or weekly basis. Share your objectives, and set your top three specific and measurable goals. Email each other every day, or set up a Google Doc to track your activity. This will keep you both on track, and may even be fun, too.

5. Ask for the business.

Most people get so close, but never simply ask for the business. If you want to double your business, determine how to double your asks. There are so many elements we need to ask in the sales cycle, but we don’t because we feel too “salesy.” Drop that mindset!

If you are in sales, you need to find the right timing and window to ask. Ask for the meeting. Ask for the next meeting. Make the follow-up call, and ask for the business. Grow your ask muscle, and you will grow your pipeline.

6. Prepare and plan.

As the old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Own the habit of planning your day every morning and preparing every night for the next day. On Sunday, prep for the coming week.

When you just “wing” the days, you can waste up to hundreds of hours each year. Add up all the time you waste, and you’ll be surprised at the quantitative number it’s costing you. Invest the time to plan and prepare so you are not your own expense.

7. Block your time.

I’ve found that most people say they will do something, but far fewer actually do it. Want to be in the latter group? Put it on your calendar. You absolutely must time block. Don’t think of your calendar in one-hour chunks; make appointments with yourself in segments of five, 10, 20 and even 30 minutes. It’s much easier to accomplish what you need this way. If you need to move the time blocks around, go for it, but don’t delete them until you have achieved them all.

8. Never stop networking.

If you are in sales, you should be in a minimum of two networking groups, such as chambers of commerce or industry-specific organizations, where people are thinking about business and how they can send you clients. Being on a business or charitable board is not always a networking experience because you are not typically talking about business. They are great to do, and I serve on many, but the transition to asking for business is much harder.

9. Study your craft.

I believe a book a month and an article and podcast a day should be mandatory requirements in addition to studying what is going on in the world, economy, your industry and your market. You must be relevant and able to articulate to all prospects and clients what is going on in the world and what it means to them. Be the advisor they need, not just the “salesperson.”

10. Remember to have the right mindset.

In sales, we must be tenacious, assertive, consistent, bullish and confident. It all starts with the right mindset, believing in yourself and knowing you have the worth and value to help others. If you think you are annoying, you are. If you don’t, you aren’t. Remember, no salesperson has ever grown their pipeline with excuses. Have a “no excuse” policy for yourself and practice the above, and watch your sales, pipeline, pocketbook and confidence soar. Think Big!