Pause for a moment and consider your sales last year. While you may have committed to landing more clients and closing more sales, were you successful? Top reps often increase their sales each year, but the vast majority of salespeople remain stagnant or even see their sales drop. The good news is that with a few simple tweaks, you can learn how to master closing the sale and experience your best year ever in 2019.

In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, sales trainer, speaker and bestselling author Marc Wayshak shares 13 tips to transform your sales this year.

1. Commit to learning one new sales idea each week. Rather than learning 50 new ideas in a week, learn one new idea each week for the rest of the year. As you start to implement the new strategies you learn, you'll be closing sales like a pro.

2. Don't worry about hearing "no." Salespeople don't like hearing the word "no." Rather than dreading a hard "no," embrace it. This response allows you to walk away and focus on prospects that are a better fit for your offerings.

3. Take more risks with prospects. Salespeople often walk on eggshells when talking with prospects. In the year head, commit to taking more risks. If you sense prospects are disengaged, ask them if it's not a good fit. It could be that the prospect is distracted, and this will help get him or her back on track.

4. Be your prospect's peer. It doesn't matter if you're the lowest salesperson in your organization and you're talking to a Fortune 500 CEO. Look your prospect in the eye and talk to him or her like a peer. This shows the prospect that you're not intimidated, which can help you master more sales.

5. Sell higher up the ladder. Instead of aiming low, target people higher up in an organization. By focusing higher up, you'll close more and bigger sales.

6. Get more face-to-face time with clients. The best relationships happen face to face. When you commit to visiting with clients in person, you'll nurture more relationships and ultimately end up closing more sales. In 2019, don't just pick up the phone or shoot an e-mail; make a point to visit your clients in person.

7. Ask for one introduction each week. Carve out 15 minutes each week to ask for one introduction. If you're selling smaller items or services, aim to ask for introductions every day.

8. Get a grasp on your clients' business goals. To close more sales, you must understand your clients' big-picture goals. Find out what they want to accomplish this year in terms of revenue, profitability and KPIs, and find out how you fit into those goals.

9. Know the upside. Find the upside of solving a prospect's problems by getting the prospect to put a dollar figure on what the value of solving those challenges would be.

10. Understand your prospect's decision-making process. This is one of the easiest ways to make sure a sale doesn't fall apart. Ask smart questions to be clear on what needs to happen in order to close the sale.

11. Make clear and scheduled next steps. Make sure every prospect conversation ends with a clear next step by putting it in the calendar immediately. Consider sending a calendar invite as well.

12. Use feedback loops. To engage prospects in conversation, use feedback loops, which are essentially small questions that are irresistible to answer. Ask "Does that make sense?" and "Does that work for you?"

13. Take constant action. You might love these ideas, but you must act on them if you want to see a surge in sales. Commit to constant action this year.

Closing the sale doesn't have to be difficult. Use the proven strategies above to become a master at closing sales in 2019.

Source: Marc Wayshak is a sales strategist, sales motivational speaker and sales trainer located in Boston. He's also the bestselling author of Game Plan Selling and Breaking All Barriers.