In an interview before Game 1 of the 1999 World Series, New York Yankees Manager Joe Torre referenced one regular season game that he believed turned his team around. The game was in Toronto, and the Yankees came back from a 6 – 1 deficit to beat the Blue Jays. Even though they had over a month of spring training, 162 regular season games, and two rounds of playoffs leading to their arrival at the World Series, he picked only one game as the turning point. As predicted, the Yankees went on the beat the Braves in the World Series that year.
Think about an achievement in your life. Maybe you trained for and successfully ran a half marathon, went back to school and earned your degree, or raised a ton of money for a charity. In most journeys, one can point at a brief period and say: “That’s what turned it around. I don’t know if I would’ve made it if not for those three weeks in March.” Most destinations are reached because of a small section of the ride. Maybe it’s not as minute as a few innings out of 162 baseball games, but it’s usually a pretty small, but impactful, part of the trip.
Today is the beginning of a small, but impactful, time of the sales professional’s year.
Regardless of your performance so far, the next 11 weeks could make your year. Even if your fiscal year isn’t calendar, the 54 business days between Labor Day, and the Friday before Thanksgiving, represent the busiest and most productive time of the year for sales people. Customers and prospects are back from a lazy summer, the kids are in school, and they need to get things done before the holidays. They know that; you know that; so, lets it done. What can you do take advantage of this time?
