Weak economy? Slower sales? Worried about next year? Yes, the economy is much weaker than at this time last year. And, yes, sales are harder to come by now than they have been in a long time.

“Nevertheless, these conditions don't mean you have to fret or resign yourself to struggling through 2009,” says sales trainer Paul McCord. “Instead of fretting, resigning yourself to a poor year, or even giving up completely and finding another occupation, you can turn 2009 into your strongest year ever.”

Instead of worrying, feeling sorry for yourself, or getting depressed, take the month of December to give yourself the gift of a strong 2009 by taking control of your sales business by committing yourself to implement these strategies from McCord:

Commit Yourself to Using Your Time Wisely
Time is the only thing you have to sell, and when you're faced with a tough selling environment, how you use your time is of utmost importance. Now more than ever you must concentrate your time on doing only those things that are necessary for success: finding, selling, and serving clients. Everything else must be eliminated or minimized.

As salespeople, we only have two types of time at our disposal--money making time and busy work time. Money making time is the time we spend doing those things that make us an income: prospecting, selling, and serving our customers. Busy work time is the time we spend doing everything else--organizing, designing fliers, shooting the breeze with our associates, preparing to prepare to do something.

Studies indicate that the typical salesperson only works about 20 to 25% of the time (work being defined as being engaged in money making activities). That, of course, means we're spending 75 to 80% of our time in busy work activities.

If you want 2009 to be a great year, you must turn that equation around and spend 75 to 80%--or more--of your time making money rather than wasting your time doing things that really don't matter.

Commit Yourself to Improving Your Skills
Now more than ever it is imperative you sharpen your selling skills. Like any other activity, the more you develop your skills, the better the results of our efforts. Even after years of coaching and practicing, top professional athletes are constantly studying, improving, practicing.

To become a top salesperson you have to have a solid understanding of psychology, you have to be an accomplished communicator, know the right questions to ask to discover your prospect's underlying wants and needs, be able to control the conversation without manipulating your prospect, know where and how to find and connect with quality prospects, have a thorough understanding of your products and services and how they will satisfy your prospect's need, and dozens of other individual skills.

Top sales producers spend 10 to 15 times as much time, effort, and money in sharpening their skills as the average salesperson. Their production didn't come through luck or happenstance. For the vast majority, their success didn't come by chance--they earned their success through hard work, study and practice. They read the books, listened to the CD's, attended the seminars, hired the sales coach, and applied what they learned. They stumbled and fumbled and practiced until they became experts in each of the individual skills. And yet they still invest the hours and the dollars to be constantly improving.

Commit yourself, right now, to doing the same.

We’ll be back tomorrow with more advice from McCord on how you can create a foundation this month for a great 2009.

Paul McCord is president of McCord Training, an international sales training and consulting firm located in Texas. He is the author of the popular Sales and Sales Management Blog. He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com

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