How to Pull Off a Sales Boost

Every now and then a boost in sales is called for. At times, you’re “feeling it”, and setting a new personal record might be up for grabs. Maybe you’re behind on sales and something needs to turn around. The normal pace of selling won’t get you where you want to be. These are times when a sales boost is called for. I have a formula that’s worked for me time and time again and I want to share it with you.

In this blog, I’ll be sharing a personal example of when I used a sales boost while selling a product with a short sales cycle/process. I’ve also used a boost to increase my contacts and referrals in a given month for my current business. The longer your sales cycle the more difficult it is to impact sales today. A sales boost in a longer sales cycle will be delayed as you’re actually boosting your sales pipeline or prospects. Based on your sales cycle time frame you’ll need to focus your boost efforts and results on different areas.

It’s good to remember a boost is something that can’t be used all the time as it can cause burn out resulting in worse results. You can try and boost yourself every month of the year, but it will catch up with you. If you perform a good boost and can sustain it, you might earn yourself a break.

In order for a boost to work, you need to have your selling fundamentals in order. I’m assuming you’ve been adding opportunities, making presentations, asking for referrals, and know your product well. If you have consistent sales results, for the most part, the boost will work even better. Think of a race car. If the car is in great shape it can handle the stress of a boost to move into first place.

Let’s go.

Focus: The first thing you need is a focus. You can’t just say, “I’m boosting” and expect the world to get in line. You need to set a goal that requires a boost. Way back in the day when cold calling still worked and a young 20 year old had no fear, a challenge was presented to me. A normal week of sales was 40-50 units of product. I had a great Monday of 20 sales and someone told me the company record for a week was 103. At that moment I set my focus for 104 and never looked back. Set your goal and go get it.

Commit to others: That night after I set my focus I stood among a group of 50 people in a workshop called “Power and Success” and proclaimed I was going to break a sales record. I not only had a focus, I was open to let 50 people ask me in one week, “How did you do?” I was all in when I committed to others. A boost is not something to mess with. If you are going to press that button, strap on your seatbelt because sales are going to get hot.

Work with buyers, not shoppers: We should always be qualifying and spending our best time with people that have the means and need to buy now. I’m not saying don’t get back to nurturing your shoppers later, but during a boost, there’s only time for buyers. Put your drip marketing campaign on auto-pilot so all your conversations are with buyers.

Get outside of your safe boxes: When you get all in to create a boost, you can’t be limited with your safe ways of doing business. You need to break out of your normal selling routines. You might ask more people for referrals. You might walk into more doors, make more calls than you have or challenge existing clients in ways you were scared to before. A boost can put you in a place of feeling out of control because you are running faster than you have before. It’s not a time to play it safe, you will need to ride the wave of unease to find joy.

The boost has to be your priority: When you boost you will gain momentum and you can’t slow down for other priorities. Let your family and friends know you are boosting and you have one thing on your mind during this period and that is to hit your goal. Gain the support from your network so they can stay out of your way while you boost.

Be relentless: Quitting and losing is not an option. While boosting you never give in. Your belief in achievement is unwavering and your thinking is only on finding someone else to talk to, helping current buyers get what they need to make a decision, and taking care of every detail you control to help people buy. You spend all the possible time you can devote to selling during your boost, nothing else matters as much. You only stop when you hit your goal or run out of time.

Celebrate: The following Monday, after I proclaimed to my workshop group I was going to break the record, I was back in front of them. As people started sharing around the room, it seemed like all eyes began to look over to me. They wanted to know if I did it because they were pulling for me. I have to admit I was pretty darn happy that night. I had made my last sales sometime Sunday evening to break the record. Writing this blog brings back the joy and satisfaction of pulling off that boost. One hundred and four sales, a new record was mine. That night in front of 50 other friends I had a celebration. It was very cool.

As I mentioned at the beginning, a boost has a start and end. After the record-breaking week, I went back to my consistent 45-60 sales a week. You can’t boost all the time because we do have family and friends that make our life. We do need sleep and room for other things to think about. But now and then, because we love to win and reach new heights, it’s AWESOME to pull off a boost.

If you want to use me as someone to commit to, feel free to share your goal with me. I will be your greatest fan.