It's a new year and I hope 2011 will not be as tough as 2010 was. My message to you is simple, now is a great time to give your business a real kick start for 2011. There are a number of ways you could do this and over the next few weeks I am going to be talking about them in these bulletins.

Today my key message is you need to build some sales consistency, starting off with great intentions day one is fine but not if by day ten you've lost momentum and reverted back to the old ways.

Successful selling is all about activity, the right activity and being consistent. I am often asked if there is some secret to success in selling. It's not a secret, it's just something not enough attention is paid to. All you have to know you've probably already been told, there are three elements needed to create consistent sales success. Assuming you have the product knowledge and you can talk with confidence, then all you need is:

Organisation & discipline – A great way of being organised in your back office duties is to work on the basis that 'one touch' is best. Understand the task in hand; estimate the time it will take to complete; add 20%, as things never go to plan; segment it if you have to and don't pick it up unless you intend to finish the entire task or the segment. Always work to a priority list. I like to give my work alpha numeric codes, from 'A' through to 'E'. So 'A' is top priority; 'B' is next; 'C' is usually non essential and can wait; 'D' can be done by someone else, although I still have responsibility for making sure it gets done, so 'D' is for delegate. Finally I might find a few 'E' tasks along the way, these tasks are not actually going to help me in my core objectives and so 'E' stands for erase.

Good old fashioned hard work – Yes, I'm afraid there is no substitute for good, old-fashioned hard work. The secret is plan out for each day. When planning your sales day remember the 80/20 rule, believe me it works. The rule states that 20% of your efforts will produce 80% of the results. The remaining 80% of your efforts will produce the other 20% of results. So, it stands to reason, you should focus on the activities which will bring in the greatest returns for you.

Concentrate on the right activities at the right time – Do you know your key performance indicators (KPI)? If not, make the effort to find out. These are the key to making sure each week you're putting in the right level of activity in the right places to get the level of sales you need. If you consistently hit the KPI levels each week you'll become a consistent performer. Make sure you put in the effort. Always have a good busy Monday and always finish the week on a high, you'll find you enjoy your weekends so much more as a result. Here's an example, I know to get each sale I need to make two appointments, to get two appointments I need to be having a serious chat with ten people, to talk to ten I need to make about thirty calls. So, as long as I do my homework and identify my thirty calls I know, on average, I will get the week on week sales I am looking for. If I miss any of the targets my performance will cease to be consistent.