As we are approaching the end of another year, salespeople are starting to work on developing their business plans for 2016. For those of you that do not use business plans to monitor your results–congratulations if you are doing well, but you are also not performing at the level you are capable.
Annual business plans do take time to develop. It’s not as simple as writing down a few goals. It requires review, attention to detail, measureable goals that can be held accountable, and realistic tactics to execute that will map back to your overall objectives.
Even the most average salesperson creates a plan each year with good intentions, but at the end of the year, they end up achieving the same results. Change is not easy. For most, motivation of more money and success is not what truly triggers the need to change and improve one way of doing business. Motivation for most is driven by pain and the fear of failure.
Here is the top four ways for you to ensure that 2016 will be a success for your business!
1. Review and redeem. To create a 2016 plan, first schedule the meeting in your calendar and plan away from any distractions–– no cell phones or email allowed. Then dive in and get started by taking a look back at 2015 and ask the following:
- Did I meet my financial goals?
- Did I meet my marketing goals?
- Am I meeting my short and long-term objectives?
If you did not meet your goals, answering these three questions will require you to dig deeper and determine what areas can be improved upon so that you actually hit your goals in the New Year. Determine the things you had planned to do this year that didn’t work and pin point why.
2. Outline your business calendar. Another top reason people fail to achieve goals is due to not taking the time to look ahead and calendar activities for the year. Activities such as campaigns, company news announcements and milestones, events and award opportunity deadlines will all help you and your team continue to look ahead and plan ahead in the New Year. Staying on top of deadlines will continue to keep things moving. As all calendars, nothing will be set in stone and adjustments may be made throughout the year. However, it’s always best to outline the activities you already know about and can plan for in 2016.
3. You must execute. After you develop the plan and outline your calendar of activities, you must follow through and actually execute. Often times, the reason for failing to meet a goal is due to the lack of commitment to complete the execution. This would include not properly setting forth the necessary time and effort to achieve a particular goal or not adjusting your goal if efforts were not producing real results.
4. Schedule weekly reviews. Once the business plan is developed, calendar weekly reviews with your team to ensure that you are completing the objectives of the plan. If something is not working, make changes accordingly. Business plans should be constantly changing to take advantage of what is actually working for you. Things that are not working should be eliminated and be replaced with new goals that will produce the best results.
Business plans are promises to yourself and your business to complete tasks that all map back to achieving your overarching business goals. If you break promises to yourself, then failure will always be the result.
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