Fall Ahead In Sales
How was your agency's Summer? Slow? If so, not to worry...because school is starting all over the country and the busy Fall selling season is about to begin.
I've said it before...if you're not busy in the Fall, you're not trying......
So, what should you be doing right now to prepare? Here's your checklist and Fall selling survival guide...
1. Renew and refresh your contacts. While not many people change jobs during the Summer....with all of the vacations, conferences, and general apathy toward salespeople, you might have missed that your favorite social worker, ED, or case manager is missing. Right now is the time to get in front of all of your key accounts and make sure of who is doing what job starting in September. Remember, you need a trinity in each account...the actual referral source, a person above them, and one below. If you want durable relationships, this is the way to do it.
2. Shop your competition. Your competitors probably spent the Summer inside their air conditioned office cooking up new programs, services, rates, etc. Now is the time to check out what they're doing either by making a few phone calls, inviting your sales peer out for coffee, or showing up at the next networking luncheon to hear all about it. (Don't worry....salespeople can't keep their mouth shut so just ask them what's new and they'll tell all....even if they're not supposed to).
3. Decide upon your Fall Focus. What are you going to be focusing on this Fall in order to gain market share? New accounts, new referral and revenue streams in existing accounts? New programs? Whatever your focus is, make sure you are ready with all of the knowledge, materials, and presentation skills required to ace your sales calls.
4. Keep Your Staffing Up. Yes....if you do all of these things correctly you ARE going to be busy this fall. If you suffer a clinician or caregiver shortage, NOW is the time to go heavy on recruiting to make sure the shelves are stocked when increased referrals begin to flow in. Don't way until you have to say "no" to an important referral source to start this process. It takes 2-3 weeks to onboard and orient a new caregiver so your time is running short!
5. Get the Skills You Need. That's right....if you or your sales team is lacking the professional territory management, behavioral selling, and closing skills...none of this means anything. You have 30 days to get all of this aligned. You can being our Power Coach One on One program tomorrow! You can begin training via our OnDemand Sales Training Programs today! You can attend one of our professional selling seminars. For the ultimate in sales training, you can have us come to you for a custom selling strategy session to boost your sales results right away. Get your polish on and be ready to sell when the opportunity strikes!
Hey, maybe Summer wasn't so great....but NOW is your time to make up for it.
On your mark, get set, SELL!!!
Good Selling!
Michael Giudicissi
