Increase Sphere of Influence
Resolve to capture your existing sphere on a database. If your database is 300 people, go through a thorough analysis to bring this number up to 3,000. Your sphere should include everyone with whom you have something in common as well as your current and previous relationships. And don’t stop there. Put a plan in place to increase that sphere everyday. For example, if you are not a “joiner,” become not only a “joiner,” but a leader of organizations. Everyone must leave by opening their eyes with regard to how extensive their sphere needs to be.

Deliver Value
It is not enough to finally identify your sphere. You must set a marketing plan in place that focuses upon the delivery of value to your sphere. This value must be tailored to the segments of your sphere — prospects, previous customers, those you have worked with, etc. Any resources you spend marketing outside of your sphere will result in severely wasting your precious resources.

Develop a Marketing Plan
You must do more than identify your sphere and value. You must implement certain activities designed to deliver that value on a regular basis. A marketing plan should identify actions that will deliver value to specific targets from within your sphere. These activities must be limited so that you can execute them regularly. The key to marketing is consistency and that is achieved by not undertaking too many activities. Go deeper, not wider.

A big key to the plan should be the identification of one or two synergy marketing partners. From my book, Maximum Synergy Marketing, it is imperative that you are not marketing alone but are part of a team. When you market by yourself, you are wasting synergy. Imagine next year having a business person, or better yet a company, marketing on your behalf.

Use a Mirror
There are plenty of ways each of us needs to improve. But we can’t do that unless we specifically identify the needs. So it is time to use a mirror so that you can see where you will need help to achieve your goals. If you need to work harder, make adjustments to do that. If you need to be able to change, then do it. If you need help reading the mirror — ask your customers, spouse, boss or your peers. They know what you need.

Become a Student.
You cannot improve without a plan. You must make the necessary investment of time, money and energy in your career. Read books. Attend classes. Benchmark with others. It is time for you to go back to school and learn what you need to learn in order to achieve your goals.

When was the last time you read a book solely designed to help you develop your business or hone a particular skill? When was the last time you spent a day in a class learning something that would help you succeed, rather than obtaining continuing education credits mandated by your state government?

The point is that you can identify all your monetary and production goals, but the exercise will not have any meaning. It is the actions you take to achieve these goals that is of primary importance. Next year is a new year. Time is not a renewable resource. Every year you waste, you will not get back. It is time you start changing the foundation if you want to change the results. The time to start planning is now…