woeTwo days left in April – and for some this is a ‘woeful’ time.  They have about 24 hours to ‘make numbers’.

I spoke with two different sales managers this morning – both scheduled meetings – that needed to reschedule because they are in ‘make the number’ mode. Really? Today is when they are worried? What about on April 15th or even April 1st?

It’s so timely to think about this after the last post of Cause and Effect. If you are really scrambling now, the cause might have been what did – or didn’t – do weeks or months ago!  It’s time to diagnose the cause of the state you are in.

  1. What was your plan for the month? Did you have a clear plan with actionable items?
  2. How diligent did you carry out the actions necessary?
  3. What market changes happened? How did you adjust for them?
  4. What resources did you use effectively during this time?
  5. What barriers did you personally create?
  6. What worked well for you this month?  What actions and contacts paid off?  How can you duplicate those?
  7. What did you do to strengthen your knowledge, skill or belief in what you sell?
  8. What successes did your customers realize as they used your product/service? How can you use that for next month?
  9. On a scale of 1-4 (no middle ground here – you were above or below average) – how well did you carry out the activities needed for success?

Your answers to these questions will help you make sure next month end is a ‘wow’ instead of a ‘woe’.

Good luck!