Confidence is a Full Pipeline

I run into overwhelmed Sales Professionals all the time. Their job is not as glamorous and easy as many would have you think. Pulling all of the activities and strategies of a successful Sales Professional can be difficult. You are constantly managing multiple opportunities at different stages of the sales process with different industries, stakeholders and standards that make it a non-stop challenge. That being said, some Sales Professionals have mastered it. Ultimately the key to success as a Sales Professional comes down to two things:

1. Focus
2. Consistency

Focus

What is the best way for you to succeed as a sales professional? Having a full pipeline of opportunities, but they have to be the right opportunities. The way you create a pipeline of the right opportunities is to proactively pursue new business based on:

1. Your Target Client Criteria
2. Your defined Buyers
3. Qualifying criteria

By staying focused on the right types of opportunities, you will have a higher degree of success in your sales activities with less effort.

Consistency

I’m going to hit you with the “A” word: Activity. I can’t tell you how many Sales professionals say that “activity” is not what it is all about. Let me be clear:

Activity IS what it is all about!

They tell me it is the quality of the activity and relationships that matter. I could not agree more with the second part, the quality of the activity and relationships are key to success. What is often lost in this interpretation of Sales strategy is a high level of activity. Sales Professionals mistakenly think this then limits them to the amount of activity they need to do. It is the opposite, if you know who to go after, get out there and find as many potential clients that fit your ideal profile as you can! Get your activity up with the right prospects on a consistent basis. Don’t be hot and cold, stay consistent, and create a schedule so you can get into a good cadence that produces results.

Confidence

What does that breed for you? It breeds confidence. Why? Because you will have pipeline full of the right opportunities. This enables you to let go of the ones that don’t fit. If you let go of the ones that don’t fit, you will be spending your time on the right prospects and the right industries, and creating the right type of business for your organization. When you are doing this, you are confident not desperate. If your pipeline is overflowing with the right opportunities, with the right types of clients, you will be the most confident person in your company!