How can I set myself up for success in 2014?

How can I get more revenue from existing clients?

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Even though most of the businesses you have sold to in the past will already have spent almost all of their advertising budget by the end of the year, the month of December is a great opportunity for you to strengthen your relationships with your existing clients. You can also use this time to lay the groundwork for growing future business.  December is a great time to look back at the past year and set yourself up for success in the year ahead.

I would recommend having an "advertising review" meeting with each of your current clients. Remind your clients about the plan that you built together when you launched the first advertising campaign and confirm the metrics for success that you both had agreed to.  Then, review the numbers with them. As I have said in the past, "if it can be measured, it can be improved."

Did you hit the metrics that you previously discussed? Did you succeed with some efforts and fall short of the metrics with others?  Take a look at all of the data objectively. Don't be afraid if the results fell short of the goal. There's nothing wrong with bad numbers, as long as you have an honest discussion with the client as to why you fell short. If you didn't hit your goal, try to figure out what obstacles were in your way. Can those challenges be overcome in the future?

Before you end this meeting with your client, work together to create New Year's resolutions. In other words, talk with them about their goals for the next year. Is the advertising plan that you currently have in place for them in line with their goals for the future? Can you deliver the results that they want? Most importantly, reset your focus based on their current needs and wants. Leave this meeting with your commitment to return within one week with a plan that will help them hit their goals.

When you return for the next meeting, always bring them two suggestions – the first suggestion is a direct match to their expressed goals. You need to show your client how you can continue to give them exactly what they want. Your second suggestion should add your ideas for how they can leverage additional products and services that you offer. This will help you grow the business because your ability to deliver results and an exact match to what the client wants and needs will help you build trust.  They will then trust your recommendations for additional sales offerings.

Allan Barmak is a national speaker and author of "The Accidental Salesperson." He leads a sales consulting and training firm which leverages his 20 years of sales experience in digital media. Over the years, he has worked with a variety of different companies across a wide range of industries, helping each of them expand their sales operations by optimizing existing revenue streams as well as building new ones.

He is available to run customized training for your salespeople to help them sell online media and can also deliver an "Accidental Salesperson" column for your paper if you would like additional content.

He can be reached at allan@barmakgroup.com or (703) 597-1033.

Barmak, digital sales