17 Sales Tips to Finish Your Year Strong

The Q3 window is closing quickly, and with only 3 short months left to hit your 2017 goals it’s time to get serious and prioritize the sales tactics that actually have a chance at helping you finish the year strong.

Here are 17 tips I use religiously and coach our Winmo sales team on as well:

1. Review old prospects – has anything fallen through the cracks? It’s the perfect time to take a closer look at your CRM and ensure that everything tagged in your name has been followed up on appropriately– and not fallen through the cracks. If anything has slipped, pull them into a personalized email cadence to help get them re-engaged. In need of proven successful email templates? Check out 7 proven emails to reach your next prospect. 
2. Spend 10 minutes a day away from your computer thinking about strategy. It’s easy to get caught up in the grind, but don’t forget to work smart. Take 10 minutes each day to get away from the phone and your email to think about your prospecting strategy. Even better – pull some of your colleagues into it as well for an ultimate think tank.
3. Ask your clients for referrals.  In my opinion, this is the best way to get quick, qualified leads. Leverage your network and the clients you recently brought on board to refer other clients like themselves who likely have the same business needs. In these instances your clients are doing most of the selling for you through their advocacy. Another easy way to capitalize on advocacy is through client testimonials. 87% of your clients are willing to give you a testimonial- but only 10% of companies ever ask for one. 
4. Focus on doing one thing that’s outside of your comfort zone every week. Whether it’s going to a networking event or raising your hand to speak in front of the company, whatever it is put yourself in one situation where you feel uncomfortable, as that’s where growth occurs.
5. Exercise – you’re feel better and have more energy throughout the day. Survey after survey shows that those who wake up and start with at least 30 minutes of exercise have more energy throughout the day.
6. Spend more time on discovery calls, really understanding your prospects pain points. Don’t go right into a demo, pitch or slideshow.  Learn more about what your prospects issues are, what is the impact of not solving those issues, and ultimately how important solving these issues are.
7. Focus on quality, not quantity. There is a lot of noise for prospects right now. To help yourself stand out don’t focus on how many people you’re reaching out to but rather the quality of the message you’re delivering to key prospects. The extra effort you spend in knowing what their problem is and how you can uniquely solve it, the more success you’ll find.
8. Listen to industry and sales-specific podcasts daily. Credibility is key when building a relationship with your prospects, and knowing the intimate details of your industry is a great way to position yourself as an expert. Make a list of 2-3 podcasts relevant to your field and make it part of your daily or weekly routine to listen in. For example, check out Winmo’s Podcast on the B2B Sales Show.
9.  Get social – start putting out content on LinkedIn/Twitter to become recognized as a leader in your industry. You know the importance of social selling, so do it. Rather than being a pushy salesperson spamming LinkedIn’s InMail take the time to build your credibility through your social profiles. Create your own content or work with your marketing team to repurpose all the great work they’re likely already publishing!
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10. Send handwritten holiday cards to your clients and prospects. It’s the small things that stand out and who doesn’t love a handwritten note? It shows you care and you’re serious about building a relationship with your prospects to help solve their business needs.
11. Never end a conversation without a next step. Always try to end a conversation with a chat about next steps, with the ideal outcome of putting something on your prospects calendar.
12. Start doing more research pre-call, don’t just wing it. If you get someone on the hook, either on the phone or via email, you’ve got a short window to keep their attention. Do the legwork ahead of time to make your pitch stand out from the rest. Don’t assume your prospects aren’t going to pick up the phone and then get caught with your pants down when they do because you didn’t know what to say.
13. Be more authentic in your communication. Communicate in a way that your prospects know you’re being authentic. For example give them something of value without asking for something in return.
14. Focus on the lead measures, not just monthly/quarterly revenue targets Take a moment to really understand what your leading and lagging KPI’s are. Focus on the leading KPI’s that you know influence your pipeline and the revenue expected to close. An example could be how many demo’s you’re setting each week or opportunities being created.
15. Do more A/B testing with your emails. Get creative with your emails. Test different formats, content and CTA’s to see what resonates best with your target audience. If it doesn’t work, don’t keep it.
16. Get laser focused on a niche within your market to target. Niche is gold. Getting laser focused on a niche within your market will allow you to focus on specific pain points and specific results. The more personalized and specific you’re able to get, the more success you’ll find.
17. Listen to top reps, what are they doing that others are not. Imitation is the biggest form of flattery, right? Collaborate with your other salespeople within your department or company to brainstorm on what’s working and what’s not. We do this on a weekly basis with our team and it’s provided significant value.