Whether you are relatively new, or simply want more new business, the following ideas will help you do it quickly and effectively. While some of these are more subtle than others, all are important factors when growing your business.

Finer Points of Increasing Sales

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Spend three to four hours a day prospecting — Your most important activity when building a business is filling your funnel with lots of prospects who are ready, willing and able to invest in your product. While items such as closing, a solid presentation, and good follow-up are important, having lots of good, qualified leads is by far the most critical aspect of building a business and one that will make up for a lot of mistakes in other areas.

Salespeople who don’t have an abundance of good prospects tend to keep unqualified prospects in their funnel, they also tend to harass and over-contact the qualified leads because they have no one else to call. The answer is to spend a large portion of the working day finding prospects. You need to have several different prospecting methods in place, from getting solid referrals to cold calling. The objective is to have more prospects than you can handle, that way you won’t hang on to the unqualified ones and you won’t over-contact and irritate the good ones because there is no one else to call.

Zig when others zag — These days it’s more important than ever to stand out from the competition. Generally speaking, unless you’re getting chased by lions, it’s never been a good idea to run with the herd. This is true in many areas of business, for example, if everyone is calling three months before the renewal date, call six months before the renewal date. Also, when you do call, it’s important that you don’t sound exactly like the competition. You need to have three key differentiators, three important items that are unique and set you and your company apart from the competition. Your overall objective here is to sound, look, and act differently, in a good way, from the competition.

Speak a different language — It’s said that the most important conversation you have is the one you have with yourself. When agents talk to themselves about self-discipline, prospecting, and other challenging aspects of the business, I find that their self-talk tends to ensure that they constantly fight an uphill battle in these areas. Many refer to these aspects as hard, difficult, and in some cases even impossible. Remember, our subconscious brain is extremely powerful and it does not want to make a liar out of us. When we tell ourselves a task is difficult, the brain immediately goes to work to make us right. As a result, something as simple as picking up a phone receiver, dialing 10 digits, and having a conversation with the person who picks up, becomes an onerous task in which the phone seems to weigh 100 pounds and we mentally struggle to get the task done.

Try changing your perspective and your language around these seemingly difficult tasks. Realize that there are literally tens of thousands of people easily and successfully doing what you think is hard. Also realize that the only difference between them and you is that they never told themselves these activities are difficult or hard, they understood that it simply comes down to learning how to do them effectively and then doing them to the point where they become simple and routine.

You need to be a self-starter — If you need someone standing over you to make sure you are doing what you have to do, you will never be successful at the highest levels possible. While having someone that you’re accountable to is important, you need to have enough drive and personal motivation to push yourself harder than anyone else can possibly push you. If you need some help in this area, start by looking at your purpose behind what you do during the day. Why do you get out of bed in the morning, go to work and do what you do? What do you want for yourself and the people in your life? Why is it important that you not only survive but thrive at the highest levels possible? If you have enough powerful reasons in these areas, you will push yourself to do what you need to do in order to achieve a high level of success. If you are motivated and driven enough, you simply will find a way.

Read a book a week — It’s extremely important to constantly be growing both personally and professionally. One of the best and most effective ways of doing that is to read a book a week. The most successful people in every profession are continually getting better and learning more. The saying “when you’re green you grow and when you’re ripe you rot” applies here. Keep in mind also that personal and professional development are your responsibility, not that of your employer. No one is going to threaten or otherwise force you to develop yourself and become better at who you are and what you do. Strive to learn something new, stretch your brain, and grow a little every day.