I’m challenging you to have your BEST year ever. So far, I’ve given you 16 elements of how to do just that:

1. Define yourself.

2. Develop a sales mission statement.

3. Have a deep belief in the three critical areas of selling.

4. Develop greater pride in accomplishment.

5. You are what you eat.

6. Get rid of one time-waster.

7. Read a book every two months.

8. Get your (sales) pipeline full.

9. Get your monthly sales quota met by the second week of the month.

10. Start branding yourself.

11. Get up earlier.

12. Begin capturing your thoughts and ideas in writing.

13. Give one speech.

14. Write one article your customers will read.

15. Make sales at breakfast.

16. Keep your present customers loyal to you and your company.

Here are the last of the 20.5 elements:

17. Double your testimonials. Testimonials make sales when salespeople (you included) cannot. Your customers can sell for you way better than you can. If you’re not employing video testimonials in every aspect of your sales process, you will not have your best year ever. And worse, you’ll continue to fight the silly “price wars” against your dirtball competitors.

18. Double your referrals. Most people ask for referrals. Big mistake. The better way to get a referral is to earn a referral. The best way to get a referral is to give a referral. If you want to have your best year ever, try to give every major customer one referral a month. When you ask for a referral and don’t get one, that’s a report card. Your best sources for referrals are people who were willing to give you a testimonial. Referrals are the easiest sale to make. One quick rule: NEVER call a referral on your own. Always ask the person who gave you the referral to call beforehand so that your call won’t be a surprise.

19. Record your sales presentation. If you want to hear the funniest thing you’ve ever heard in your life, record yourself making a sales presentation. This will give you a combination of hindsight and insight. The hindsight will tell you how you just screwed up the last sale. The insight will tell you what skills you need to improve in order to make the next sale. If you want to have your best year ever, you must record your sales presentation once a week and listen to it the minute you get back in the car or hang up the phone. Not only will it be revealing; it will be painful. Once you get into the habit of doing this, you will also be in the habit of improving. Think of it this way: Every recorded talk will put you on the path to a higher percentage of completed sales.

20. Start every morning with attitude. Wake up tomorrow morning and grab an attitude book off your bookshelf. Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, Dale Carnegie. Any past master who can give you continued insight into the way you dedicate yourself to the way you think. The late, great Earl Nightingale said, “You become what you think about all day long.” The best way for you to have your best year ever is to begin to think and believe that you’re going to have your best year ever.

And finally,

20.5. You’re not alone. Create a mastermind. All salespeople are in the same boat. Unlimited income potential, rough (often uncharted) waters. The good news is: You’re not alone. Create a mastermind of non-competing salespeople and leaders to talk about problems-in-common. If you live or die by the numbers, why not have a support team to give you a transfusion once in a while?

Having your best year ever is not a matter of doing one thing right or making one thing better — it’s a matter or making everything better, so that you can get to BEST.

Now you have all of the 20.5 elements. This ENTIRE six-part series will be on my Web site. If you missed any of the parts, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you are a first-time user, and enter the words BEST YEAR EVER in the GitBit box. Print them out and post them so that you continually remind yourself of what it takes.

I hope you have your best year ever.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.