s each year comes to a close, we look back at what we have accomplished as well as what we haven't. For the sales professional, it's an ideal time to review and evaluate how successful their selling strategies have been.

How did you fare this year? Whether you closed the deal or not, see if you hit these important points during your presentations:

• Did you talk less than a quarter of the time?
• Did you focus on results?
• Did you find out what your prospect wanted from you?
• Did you find out how your prospect could benefit from your services?
• Did you ask the most important question - did you ask for the sale?

While it may be difficult to ask these questions and relive the trauma of lost sales, it is invaluable in what it teaches you for the next pitch. Remember, no matter how many times this past year you heard "No," it pushed you toward that one "Yes" that made all the difference.

And what about those sales that got away this year? Don't discount them. As 2003 rolls around, check in with those merchants. Find out if they are happy. Ask them if they made the right decision. Congratulate them if they did. Offer them an alternative if they didn't.

Opportunity only dances with those already out on the floor. Make it your New Year's resolution to get out there ... and stay out there. As Irving Berlin once said, "The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success."