One of my clients has me join their monthly sales team conference call the first Monday of each month. This morning besides the usual reviews of open opportunities, we discussed how to start out the New Year. The leader asked, 'What calls are going on this week?" Very good question, but more importantly, "What open ended questions are you going to ask?" and What stories should you be able to tell?" The cohesive point to these two questions - Be prepared! In my experience the first of the year is a good time for emailing or delivering via voice mail fresh five or six sentence success stories with personal notes offering to discuss them further. These success stories should detail individuals with similar backgrounds as your prospect and issues or challenges that will make them squirm. By squirm, I mean, have a visceral response because they are facing similar situations. Another good idea for the first of the year is to circle back to your losses, especially "no decisions." "How has that worked out?" "Are the issues or challenges you were facing still present?" "How are you going to overcome them? With the same process? Isn't that the definition of insanity?" Have a good week and Good Selling!