Ah! It’s October and fall is officially in the air. The leaves are changing, we’ve all experienced that first chilled morning, the kids are purchasing their Halloween costumes, and we’re stressfully indoors freaking out because … it’s budgeting season.

Yes, it’s that time of year. We’re planning for our future.

This year, instead of focusing on all the great apps, blogs, and new procedures for 2014, what if we focused on getting back to the basics. Bear with me, I’m not talking about ignoring your company policies or programs such as SalesForce. But I am suggesting that we cut out things such as Charts, Rankers, And Promos. (Hmm, I think I just created a new acronym).

The “basics” to me is the sales cycle. You know, prospecting, setting the appointment, preparing for the appointment, etc. I think too often we’re skipping valuable steps and going in for the package close. I mean, what if we took a step backward to discover the needs of our clients and THEN put together a plan. I know that sounds a little redundant to what we all went through in our rookie year, but wait, didn’t that process actually work?

Are you with me in my rampage? As you’re planning for 2014, make one of your objectives to return to the past. A solid plan to get back to the basics. Oh, and if you need help revisiting processes like the sales cycle, give us a call. We’d be happy to build you a solid training curriculum.

–Bryan