"How many are experiencing a good economy at the moment?" Jeffrey Gitomer, author and speaker, asked the crowd. Half the room raised its hands at the recent Leadership+Talent Development Summit in San Diego.

"You’re going to have the greatest year of your life if you work your ass off."

Gitomer predicted 2018 to be the best year for our economy. His visual slide said, "This will be the best economic opportunity in the past 50 years or more." But he wanted to know what you are willing to do new and better to ensure this.

"Because your competitor is having a meeting across town right now about how to kick your ass," he exalted.

Gitomer said a new economy will cause reevaluations of everything in society. Your sales process will be no exception. You better be attractive online. How are you going to take advantage of the changes? How are you keeping up with the times? Most people aren’t.

"Prepare for the new year with old ideas," Gitomer advised. And then he gave a laundry list of tweet-​sized ways to do this. Here are a few to try in the coming months.

• Ask yourself how good you are at what you're doing. Don't say, "I know that already." Because salespeople know everything, right? Your customers want outcome. How do you deliver? Outcome is what happens after the customer buys. Perceived difference and value is OUTCOME. Transition from a salesperson to a resource! Resources are valuable.
• The first question I ask is: "Where did you grow up?" Gitomer said. It's emotional. It tells you how they think. Ask the right questions. "They don’t even care if you drop dead during your sales presentation." Learn to question more powerfully than your competitor. The key to selling is asking. The more you ask the more brilliant they'll think you are. Take notes. Find the link – find something you have in common.
• Give referrals and business leads to other people. It puts you on the highest level of professionalism and highest level of value. If you give a bunch of stuff for free when your customers call, they won’t know if you’re buying or selling. Find something personal and do something memorable.
• Sell on your home court as often as possible, or at the very least, in a neutral zone. Uber them to your office. "Send the black Uber. It's $8, you cheap bastards."
• Make a plan to network and prospect where your best customers go (in real life).
• Be a resource in the community. Become known as a businessperson of value – a trusted advisor.
• I recommend sending your slide deck 24 hours ahead. Tell 'em, "Here’s the boring part, but I'm gonna show up tomorrow and spend 30 minutes talking about YOU."
• What keeps your customer up at night is none of your business. A customer’s pain is none of your business. Don’t ask them about pain points. Focus on their pleasure. Find the thing that makes them happy.
• A new way to think about your close: If it doesn’t start right, it's not gonna end right. How friendly were you? Engaging? Emotionally connected? How valuable were you? How compelling was your presentation? How believable and how trustworthy were you perceived to be? No close needed. When you do those things, no close is needed.

And lastly, Gitomer instructed: "Dare to be yourself."