By Steve Ashkin, The Ashkin Group

Allow me to begin by paraphrasing an old adage “if one has no specific destination in mind then any road will get you there.”

Thus among all the family events and Holiday shopping and end-of-year customer meetings it is also time to conduct an annual self-assessment to determine where you are, what you’ve accomplished during 2007, and finally develop a plan for 2008. And while all of this is very basic it saddens me to find sales people who don’t take these steps because it is the details that increase our chances of success.

One of the first steps that I would encourage is to do an annual update of your resume. Please know that this is not because I am encouraging you to find a new job. Rather, updating a resume is a terrific way to quickly and simply identify what you’ve accomplished in four key areas during the year.

I have intentionally underlined the word accomplished so that we measure what was important or big enough to stand out on a resume. Think about it --- many times we are just so busy with our jobs and handling customer issues that we don’t take the time to do anything that is remarkable, bodacious, earth-shaking, et cetera and it is these big things that not only will help us Green the industry, but will make that sizable impact in your income.

Make sure you consider for your updated resume what you accomplished such as increases in dollars or percentage of Green Cleaning sales; list major accounts you closed, et cetera.

But updating a resume and making real progress in our professional career requires us to improve in other areas as well, and interestingly these other areas often are included in a resume. These issues might include educational accomplishments, training programs attended, books you’ve read, and professional improvement you completed in 2007.

The resume also typically includes the names of those that you can add to your list of “business references”. And finally, I always like to leave room for something interesting, unique, or different to demonstrate that you are a real problem-solver and can work outside-the-box.

What I personally find good about updating my resume is that because it currently is full of lots of great accomplishments, educational programs and references I am “challenged” to prioritize those new accomplishments to replace the older ones. And as a result it fulfills the role of an assessment tool.

This effort (and because I do it actually twice per year so I know its coming) forces me to stretch and continually improve. It keeps me from getting into a “comfort zone” and I think it will do the same for you.

Now that the assessment of our 2007 accomplishments is complete, the next step is to begin planning 2008 in each of the four categories --- again they are sales accomplishments; education/professional improvement; business references; and something that personally gets you excited which relates to your business interests.

I recommend that you spend time seriously considering how you are going to grow your sales. If you are not working hard enough or not efficiently using your time then I would encourage you to discuss this with your sales manager. There are plenty of programs available that can help you with these issues. And please know that seeking this type of help does NOT make you a poor sales person or “bad” human being. As a matter of fact, most sales people could benefit by using time more efficiently.

But beyond basic time management, one of the things that I would like to encourage you to think about in 2008 is your involvement with “green” organizations.

I encourage you to think about this because it is easy to say “I want to grow by 15% in the commercial building and 12 % in the school sector”. But as you know, doing it is really hard without a more specific plan. If you want to grow your “green” sales I recommend that you focus your efforts by including a targeted effort to work with your local chapter of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) to help you succeed in the commercial building segment or with the Healthy Schools Campaign in the school segment. And while I have been “encouraging” people in the cleaning industry for years to do this --- there is still a huge opportunity because far too many sales people do the absolute bare minimum ---they simply pay their membership dues and maybe do a web search of the membership roster without actually getting involved.

For example, while I am heavily involved with organizations like the USGBC and the Healthy Schools Campaign, I am setting a goal for myself to get even more involved. My goal for 2008 will focus on the city and state levels to help get Green Building ordinances and legislation passed because I believe that this is what will help accelerate further growth of the Green Cleaning Movement --- and frankly, you might consider doing the same. And it is this type of effort that will really help make a difference.

I also want to encourage you to set a specific goal to continually improve your knowledge of Green Cleaning. Please know that I am not suggesting you’re your dumb because I am telling you to get better educated. Rather I believe that no one knows everything especially as this issue continually and rapidly grows and changes.

And this goal will help keep you out of the “comfort zone” and make you a more effective resource for your customers and prospects. So set goals like becoming more familiar with the requirements of LEED, or learn more about issues such as Climate Change, or learn about technical issues such as Life-Cycle concepts, or read Green Cleaning for Dummies or better yet, write your own book or at least publish a magazine article on the subject, or attend a seminar or better yet, give a presentation, and the list can go on.

The third area of your resume to work on is to update your list of business references. Making friends is hard and like all things you’ll have to make specific effort to do this. Please know that we are really not trying to manipulate or “use” people. Please be genuine in your relationships and follow the “Golden Rules”. I only mention this issue because I have found that too many relationships suffer due to time constrains and it is important to make “new” relationships a priority and prioritize your efforts thoughtfully.

Finally, I hope in your new plans you think about doing something new and that you’ll find really stimulating --- and which can bridge both your personal and business interests. Doing this can help you prevent “burn out” because you will find more personal fulfillment, enjoyment and fun from your work.

For example, one of my personal goals for 2008 is to work on a “faith-based” initiative. As a religious person I want to really consider how my personal faith can better align with the Green Cleaning movement. Thus, I have identified some people that I met through the National Association of Evangelicals who work on the issue of “creation care” who I would like to know better. I have identified some books that I want to read on environmentalism including the faith-based case for environmentalism. And I am thinking how to do a Green Cleaning project not just for my church, but to see if we can organize such a program for all of the churches in my community. Perhaps you can do the same.

As I said at the beginning of this article, it is important to do a self-assessment, develop a plan and ultimately a roadmap that will focus us on continually improvement and ultimate success. 2007 has been truly a remarkable year and it is important that you become even more successful because without your growing success in 2008, nothing changes.

Best wishes to you, your family and friends for a healthy, happy, prosperous and green Holiday Season and New Year.

Steve

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About the Author:

A 25+ year veteran of the cleaning industry, Stephen Ashkin is the author of Green Cleaning for Dummies and a tireless advocate for environmentally preferable cleaning products. Often referred to as the “father of green cleaning,” Ashkin has played a pivotal role in setting industry standards, promoting environmentally preferable products, and advocating for socially responsible practices.

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