A new year poses an ideal opportunity to implement new habits – including in your sales. Now is the time to lay out what you want to achieve in 2024. To start, take a look at the past few months: What’s gone well? What needs improvement?

Consider time management as a starting point. According to sales development firm SalesGig, the average rep only spends about 36% of his or her time actually selling. By building a daily routine – including nonnegotiable selling time – and incorporating new practices, reps can increase selling time (which leads to more orders) while meeting additional objectives.

Here are five areas to address when drawing up your roadmap for the new year.

1

Measure your performance.

Look at the data: How long is your typical sales cycle, and have you been hitting your key performance indicators (KPIs) like monthly sales growth, average profit margin, quote-to-close ratio and others? Analyzing your numbers tells you where you’re doing well and where you need to focus in 2024; set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) for Q1 based on your findings.

2

Focus on time management.

Build structure into each day, addressing your preset objectives for the week and month. For example, make cold-calling a nonnegotiable on your schedule, check email at certain set times so it’s less of a distraction, and try to focus on just one task at a time. Then track what you were able to achieve and make adjustments as needed.

3

Better understand prospects and customers.

Take your time with the conversations you have with prospects and clients – figure out what motivates them, what makes them tick and the goals they have in the new year. Doing so will help you turn more prospects into paying customers, and allows for more business and even referrals from existing customers.

36%
the percentage of time sales reps spend on actually selling.(SalesGig)

4

Look back at 2023 projects.

Take a look at campaigns you worked on this past year, both the successful ones and those with challenges. Analyze the wins and losses to determine why each project went a particular way. You can also reach out to the clients and ask for their honest feedback on the process. Doing so informs how you approach upcoming orders, building off success and learning from obstacles.

5

Become a thought-leader.

LinkedIn is an ideal platform for building your network and becoming a thought-leader. Instead of hard selling, use it as an opportunity to promote your expertise and know-how. Building relationships with industry peers, prospects and clients can lead to sales down the line.