Setting Sales Goals
[by Blake Discher]
In my negotiating seminars I always make a point of letting my audience know that in order to be successful, I think we must be salespersons first and photographers second.
My sales career began when I sold franchises for a quick-print franchise. One of the first things I learned was that all successful salespeople have clearly stated goals that they continuously work to achieve. We’ve all heard that saying: fail to plan and you’re planning to fail.
Each month, set one important goal: how many new potential clients you’ll initiate contact with to show your work, commonly known as a cold call. Don’t just set the goal, write it down. Better yet, print it out the number on a letter size sheet of paper (with a large enough font size to fill the height of the paper) and tape it to the wall in front of your desk.
Don’t think for a minute that cold calling will be unsuccessful in the summer because those potential clients will only be on vacation. In this difficult economy vacations are shorter and less frequent.
When you accomplish this month’s goal, make the next month’s goal more challenging. You’ll find you’re making more contact with potential clients that will inevitably end up with more requests for estimates.
Setting goals helps you in three ways: they help you remain critically focused, they help you to “stay on track”, and accomplishing them help give you the necessary confidence to accomplish the next, more challenging, goal.
Your “sales pitch” will get better and better the more you practice. You’ll get more comfortable selling yourself and develop your own style of selling. You’ve probably heard it already, emotion is the “secret weapon” used by successful salespeople. People buy emotionally and justify the purchase logically. Make your cold calls friendly and smile while your talking, the person will “hear” that smile on the other end. And most importantly, let them know why you’re a good fit for them. You need to always be selling!
Good luck!
Blake J. Discher is a photographer, SEO consultant, and educator. He speaks nationally on the topics of web marketing and negotiating. Visit his lifestream at www.blakedischer.com.
