Why a First-Month Gut Check Matters

On this first Monday of the second month of the year, it’s time for a gut check. First, we need to check where we are against our new year goals. Next, we need to take stock of our first month’s sales performance and make adjustments.

We’re just a little more than 30 days away from our New Year’s intentions, resolutions, and goals. A month ago, we set out into the new year with hope and ambition that this year would be our best ever and that we’d make positive lasting changes in our lives.

It’s Easy to Slip Off the Track

You’ll remember that discipline is sacrificing what you want now for what you want most. But as time goes by and sticking with new habits gets more challenging, it’s easy to forget what motivated us to make the changes in the first place. It’s easy to let down our guard and go back to our comfort zone.

The farther away we get from our intentions, the more likely it is that we allow our discipline to slip and get off track. It’s just human nature.

Small Slips in Discipline Can Add Up Quickly

Let’s say you kicked off the new year determined to have your best sales year ever, and you knew that meant filling your pipeline daily by getting Fanatical about Prospecting. But upon reflection, you realize that days have passed since you picked up the phone, knocked on a door, or talked with customers.

You’ve been making excuses to avoid the very activities that move you closer to your goals.

I’ll admit that it happened to me just this past week. This month has been non-stop travel — 12 flights, 10 cities, 8 keynotes, 5 full days delivering training to sales teams. Toward the end of the week, I got tired, made excuses, and let my exercise and nutrition routine slide.

This was something I promised myself I wouldn’t do when the year started. I know that if I don’t stop right now and recommit to my goals, then there is a good chance that I’ll continue down this negative path — because it’s easy.

Revisit Your Goals and Resolutions

This is exactly why NOW is a good time for a gut check and a look in the mirror. Pause and carve out time today to revisit your goals, resolutions, and intentions.

Sit down and think about what you decided to achieve back in early January. Visualize what it was that motivated you. Picture what you want most and where you want to be at the end of this year.

Go back and re-listen to the Money Monday episodes on building a personal business plan, reflection vs. regret, and why personal goals are essential for sales discipline.

Then recommit to your goals. Remember the feelings you had when you set them, and make an intentional decision to get back on track.

Evaluate Your First Month’s Performance Against Your Sales Goals

Next, step back and evaluate your first month’s sales performance. As you do, you’ll likely find one of three scenarios:

1. You Crushed It – You had a killer month and blew your goals out of the water.
2. You Were Average – You hit quota or did “okay,” but you know you’re capable of much higher performance.
3. You Bombed – You missed your number and ended the month worse than you hoped.

Great Sales Month

If You Crushed it, and you’re at the top of the ranking report, fantastic, congratulations!

But be very careful not to let off the gas. It’s likely you worked very hard last month to achieve these results. There will be the temptation to take a breather.

Trust me, if you do, this complacency will come back to bite you.

Now is the time to recommit to doing the activity that fueled your success last month so you don’t end up with a lackluster February and a disastrous March.

In other words, you’ve set the foundation for a huge year, take advantage of what you have accomplished, and keep the pedal to the metal!

Average Sales Month

If you had an average or just OK month — maybe you hit quota, maybe you came close, but you know you’ve got more in the tank — then it’s time for some honest self-reflection.

Ask yourself:

• What held you back from greatness?
• What could you have done differently that would have resulted in higher sales productivity?

Maybe you needed to prospect harder. Perhaps you could have pushed a little harder to close some of your pipeline opportunities. It could have been that your pipeline wasn’t big enough from the start, and you ended up scrambling to make your numbers, but otherwise, you did everything right.

It’s okay, you haven’t hurt yourself. You are still in a good position to have a great year. But you’ll need to identify your performance gaps and plan to overcome them in February.

This is a good time to sit down with your coach or mentor, break down your performance, and get guidance on where you can make tweaks and get better.

If you don’t have a coach and you want to talk with someone, go to https://salesgravy.com/coach to get help.

Bad Sales Month

If you bombed, if your month was downright awful, then you’re going to need to move fast to make adjustments.

Getting behind the eight ball at the beginning of the year is no fun. You don’t want to chase your tail for the rest of the year.

The key is taking positive action now. Rather than dwelling on the negatives — which is super easy to do — pull your head up and start breaking down what happened.

Empty Pipe

Did you have an empty pipeline, so you had nothing to close? That happens to a lot of salespeople in the first month of the year. Go back and listen to the How to Fix an Empty Pipeline Now Money Monday episode from a few weeks ago. Use that lesson to help you fix the problem.

Closeable Opportunities that Pushed

Were there closeable pipeline opportunities that simply pushed into this month? Make sure you’re on top of them so they don’t vanish for good. But also make sure you have the pipe to cover this month, so you’re not solely depending on last month’s leftovers.

Shortcutting the Sales Process

Is it possible that you might have been skipping steps in the sales process? This will often happen when you are in a desperate and stressed emotional state. This is a big clue that it is time to get back to the basics and fundamentals of selling— and get disciplined about following a proven sales process.

This may be a very good time to take some courses on Sales Gravy University and read (or listen) to books like Sales EQ that can help you dial in your sales process.

Recommit to Your Sales Goals

We all slip. We all make mistakes. Discipline can waver, especially once the initial excitement of a new year fades. But you have the power to step back into your resolutions and do the daily work required to achieve your goals.

Whether you crushed it, coasted, or crashed, the key to getting February off to a strong start is to recommit.

Make the decision — say it out loud: “I’m going to be better in February than I was in January.”

Need help setting winning Sales Goals? Check out our FREE Goal Planning Guide