WHAT??? It’s almost Q2???

The other day, in front of a group of sellers, I was asked, “What can we do to make sure Q2 is even better than Q1?” You may not love hearing the answer I gave: “It’s probably too late.”

They people there, I’m sure, were hoping for tips, tools, strategies, and techniques to help them close more business. The challenge is, unless you’ve got a fairly short sales cycle, the success of Q2 will be determined by the efforts you made in Q1, which is a few days from ending.

Want to have a better Q2? You should have been prospecting your ass off in Q1. When you prospect it typically doesn’t result in appointments the next day. The calls you made, the emails you sent, whatever prospecting you were doing in Q1 resulted in appointments over the next few weeks from when you actually did the activity. And once you had an appointment, I’m betting most of your deals didn’t close at the first meeting. You most likely had several meetings before the deals you closed actually became deals, and they didn’t happen overnight. They took time.

Want to have a better Q2? A better question right now would be, “How do I have a terrific Q3?” Can you still close business in Q2 with people you haven’t set an appointment with yet? There’s a chance, but more than likely the prospecting and selling efforts you do now will result in business end of Q2 or (more likely) in Q3.

This reinforces the need to prospect, consistently and effectively. Because you’re always working into the future. The seeds you plant today will grow into appointments and sales in the tomorrow. But not actually tomorrow…in the future. Create your successful future today.