50 days left

We are about to enter the second half of November, and that means there are about 50 days left in the year.

A few thoughts:

I assume you know what you are doing each of the next 50 days. Crunch time in the wine business is before us, and on both the wholesale and retail level it can be quite chaotic. Map out your days not only in terms of work but also personal time. When are you going shopping? When are you having dinner with the family? When are you selling? When are you helping? Hint: If you map out your full schedule, you have every right to refuse last second requests to pour at in store tastings or various other extra events people might ask you to do. “Sorry, my schedule is full.”

50 days is not long enough to make big changes in an account. Don’t think long presentations will work. This is the moment for the special deals, the moment to have a manager in your car with you. This is when scaling your business is the key, not necessarily growing it.

Use 50 days to your advantage. Countdown the days with your customers, along with stating a goal. “This year to date you’ve sold ten cases of Chateau Awesome. My goal is to finish the year at 15 cases and here’s how we can do it.”

Lastly, remember that you as a sales rep need to put your customers first and that means your goal is NOT to load in as much inventory as possible before December 31st. Trust me, you don’t want to go into January with that weight. Sell the right things, sell them with great velocity, and make sure your customers know you’re not overloading them. The irony: the buyers that are told this are the ones that will start ordering more and more from you.