Managing Yourself

As a salesperson you will be fully aware of the need to achieve your sales objectives. Achieving these objectives is fundamental to you and your organisation. If you do not achieve them you will not be generating sufficient sales revenue for your organisation and you will not be contributing satisfactorily to the future growth of your organisation. Your sales objectives are derived from your organisations sales plan, which are in turn derived from its overall corporate objectives. Together with your sales manger/trainer you will set out and clearly define your own personal sales objectives e.g. to increase your new accounts by 15% over the next six months. Simply stating your objectives is not however sufficient. In order to achieve these objectives you will need to:
1. Carry out research. 2. Make a number of decisions, 3. Implement those decisions. In other words you need to carry out planning. This can only occur if you manage yourself effectively. In this context, managing yourself refers to a number of key areas e.g. time management, managing yourself out in the field when you are selling, territory management, self appraisal and planning in general. Your principal objective in managing yourself is to achieve your sales objectives. This is where planning enters as a major factor and forms a key part of your workload. The role of planning is essential if you really wish to have any chance of achieving your sales objectives.