The Difference in 2021 Starts with You
In a few short weeks, we get to literally turn the page on 2020. Some of you are smiling as you read this, thinking how much better a fresh start will feel. In a normal year, January brings with it so much optimism. This coming year feels even more promising, especially with news of several viable COVID vaccine candidates. It’s easy to be lulled into the idea that once we get through the holiday season, everything will be back to normal.
If that’s you, I’ve got news for you…
Nothing will change substantially in your world just because you hang a new set of papers on your wall.
Despite all the hope that comes from the progress toward an end to this pandemic, our economy returning to something closer to what we’re familiar with, and our ability to gather in large groups again, it’s still going to take months to execute.
We have a lot to be optimistic about in the coming months, but you cannot afford to take your eye off the ball right now. You cannot afford to mail in the first two quarters of the year waiting for the time to be right to start selling again the way you used to.
Right now, you’ve got work to do.
Last week, I wrote about separating yourself from your competition by being willing to keep selling further into the fall than most will, by keeping your execution tight when others loosen up the reigns. I told you that if you could persist just a little bit longer, then you could make up a lot of ground, pick up some market share, and get a great start on 2021.
This week, I want to dig a little deeper into why.
It’s not just because hard work pays off. It doesn’t have anything to do with working more hours, making more calls, or sleeping with your phone next to you.
It’s got everything to do with you being different than your competitors. It’s about you zigging when they zag. It’s about you standing out when they blend in.
As I said in The Five Forgotten Fundamentals of Prospecting, “If you cannot differentiate, you cannot sell.”
So while your competitors and even some of your colleagues are going through the motions, just trying to hold things steady until they can resume doing things the way they did in 2019, you can continue to differentiate yourself.
Instead of just thanking your best customers during the holidays, have a meaningful conversation with them by asking about the biggest unexpected impacts you’ve made on their business this year. You’ll be surprised what you hear, and it will make you think differently about how you really help your clients.
When you think differently, you’ll prospect differently. You’ll ask different questions that come from different points of view. Prospects that didn’t resonate with your value proposition in the past will have new context and a new lens through which to view you.
Stand out in 2021
Take it a step further, and stand out by being creative with the way you prospect. Have fun by sending direct mail or using videos. If you’re having fun with your prospects, they’ll feel it, and they’ll know that it’ll be fun to work with you.
There are a lot of ways to stand out, and they go much further than the lists of features and benefits on your website. The more you understand how you can separate yourself from your competition, the more inspired you’ll be to do so, and an inspired prospector is a force to be reckoned with.
While it may take several months to see the changes in the world that we’re all so intently looking forward to, you can be the change in 2021 that your customers need to see.
What would that be worth to them? What could it be worth to you? Chime in with other sales professionals in the Rethink The Way You Sell Community.
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
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