I gave a workshop last week to a small group of entrepreneurs in Scottsdale. We were discussing small business growth rates of 3,000% or more per year. Because we were looking at the most recent Inc. 500 list of winners. Which to me means one thing. If we’re not growing it’s our own fault.

We don’t need to be listed in the Inc. 500 every year to have a successful, profitable and growing small business. But not everyone gets it, clearly. Meaning way too many small business owners are lacking serious discipline snd systems to follow up with new customers and ongoing services.

During my presentation some of the people in the room were simply fighting to get back to where they were a few years ago. Others were growing at a healthy rate and adding new employees. So makes the winners different and how can you apply what they’re doing to your small business for 2012 and beyond?

Here are three critical disciplines for small business selling success in 2012 and beyond…

1. Get the lead generation dialed in for your small business. Your website is the single most powerful marketing weapon in your arsenal. But it’s also one of the weakest points for small business owners. Develop and test new lead magnets for your website. Model the success of other powerful sites that convert. Get a consistent stream of new and high-quality leads coming to your business every week. SEO, pay per click, and other marketing tactics can net you a healthy ROI.

2. Commit to a sales-focused mindset, top down. If you’re not committed to sales results how can you expect anyone on your team to be? This means you need to show up every day and put your best foot forward. How does your 2012 plan of action map this out for you and your team? Do you have specific sales and activity goals? Do you use a system to manage your list of people and activities? Are you focused and showing your team that you are personally committed to developing new business every week? Do you have a solid opportunities and pipeline forecasting system in place? If not, get committed now.

3. Automate all your marketing and follow up. If you’re not committed to the discipline of sales and marketing automation you are leaving thousands or hundreds of thousands in lost sales opportunities on the table. Here’s why. If your lead generation, lead follow up and sales follow up isn’t automated and documented in a single, simple-to-use system, you’re missing new business and sales opportunities. Solution? Automate your marketing follow up. Get email to be a high ROI activity for you. Let the CRM system that’s right for you dial in your sales growth for 2012 and beyond.

There are the top three small business selling disciplines as I see it.

Look. The bottom line is we all want to grow our small businesses. And the simple truth is that we each have competitors with higher growth rates and more market share than we do. Which means there’s a ton of opportunity waiting for you if you choose to go after it and do the hard work!

Incorporate these three sales disciplines into your business and see what happens.

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