Generate more sales in 2015 by following these revenue-building resolutions.

Resolve To…

   
• Get More Strategic: Establish clear year-long goals and then divide those into monthly, weekly and daily objectives you’ll need to enhance the probability of hitting your overall targets. Part of this organizing overhaul can include developing a sales calendar and creating a sales revenue plan that matches your monetary goals with the pipeline you’ll need each quarter to meet them. Keep track of your progress with a sales dashboard.
        Next, identify internal constraints at your company that hinder your progress and talk with a manager about changing them. If you’re the boss, make the roadblock-clearing alterations. The better oiled your machine, the easier it is to prosper.
   
• Delve Into a New Niche: Finding a hot market in which you can connect with quality clients has multiple benefits. Beyond providing reps with fresh revenue streams in 2015, diversifying into other niches will help keep your sales from dropping precipitously should economic conditions adversely impact important clients in markets you currently serve. One way to find your next niche is to identify industries that are thriving in your area, but with which you are not working. Another way is to reflect on your own interests and aptitudes and pursue a niche related to those. Also consider that IBISWorld, a leading market research organization, identifies solar power, craft brewing and 3-D printing as industries that are expanding rapidly and fueling economic growth.
   
• Invest in Professional Development: Baseballs best home run hitters still work with a hitting coach. Which makes it evident: Even the most accomplished pros can benefit from coaching. This year, set aside a little time and money to attend sales seminars, trade show education sessions and/or other relevant business education forums. Plus, schedule time for reading articles, watching videos and viewing webinars that cover topics that will help you perform better professionally.
        To get the most out of your development investment, identify aspects of your sales arsenal that, if improved, would have the most business-accelerating impact for you. Then, partake in education opportunities that address those specific issues. Talking to clients about how you can serve them better should yield a few insights into areas in which you could most benefit from education, as should asking advice from colleagues, family and friends.
   
• Maximize Opportunities With Current Clients: Highly successful reps make the most of their existing business relationships. Do the same. If you’re providing branded apparel and uniforms to a company, talk to the buyer about hard-good promotional product solutions that are good for her business. And vice versa – the idea being that you want buyers to come to you for all their branded merchandise needs. This not only improves sales, it enhances the client’s loyalty to you and provides a more robust bulwark against competitors.
        Consider, too, that many organizations have multiple potential buyers. Network your way to those prospects with the help of referrals from buyers you’re already working with at these entities. Do you work with a school’s athletic director to provide team apparel? See if he can introduce you to the PTA director. In this way, you weave your way through an organization, connecting with warm leads and beefing up your bottom line.
   
• Make the Most of LinkedIn: Get this: 77% of B2B marketers have acquired a customer through this social media platform. You can too. And if you have already, you likely can connect with more new clients by leveraging LinkedIn to better effect. To do so, use LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator to identify prospects that fall into your ideal client demographic. Join groups that clients and prospects participate in; start groups that could attract clientele. Don’t forget: It’s social media, so interact with people some before launching into a pitch.
 

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