Goal Setting for Salespeople

A number of years ago, Imran Khan, the acclaimed captain of the Pakistan cricket team was being accused by a press reporter as being arrogant. He replied that he’d always imagined being in the Pakistan cricket team so the goal of being captain was never to high a goal to achieve.

Have you ever wondered why some people are just so dedicated, focussed and successful in what they do? The simple answer is that these people set goals. Channel energy to a single point and you can have immense power. Take a torch light and make the light as fine and precise as possible and you get a laser able to cut through metal.

You’re on your two week vacation tomorrow and you need to clear your desk and outstanding email and calls by the end of the day…and you miraculously do it. That’s the power of setting goals.

When countries go to war, they are able to muster huge resources to one aim. And the results are startling because they all have one objective in mind.

Likewise take a human being. Yes we can bumble along happily for years and I know many people that do this not getting anywhere particularly but are quite happy doing so. But if you want to achieve things in your life – reach your potential, have a happy retirement or whatever it is that you want…the simple truth is you need defined and written goals in all aspects of your life.

So if you’re saying to yourself, that you must do something about it or you think you need to do some more goals setting or change the way you set goals, then read on. To help you I’ve put together some top tips on how to go about defining and setting your goals.

Get a strategy to do your goals

And stick to it. One that works is based around this graphic:

Firstly you need a definition of what is ultimate success for you. This can be way off into the horizon and it doesn’t matter whether you just want to retire happily in a little cottage by the sea or retire a millionaire. Your ultimate aim in life is personal. You may not see your life that far ahead and again that doesn’t matter since it’s your life.
Now comes the clever part.

Next write down your long term goals which are your visions or strategy which can be 10 years plus. Next the medium term goals i.e. about 3 to 5 years which is the planning to get to the long term goals. Then your short term goals which should be yearly and again these should feed into the medium term goals. Short term goals can be “do dos”.

With your short term or annual goals, I would further break these down into quarters. Q1 (January, February and March), Q2 (April, May, June), Q3 and Q4. Then take the three month quarter to achieve them. If you don’t achieve any just carry it forward.
Here’s a tip if you find it tricky to break down your goals. Just ask yourself the question “What’s stopping me achieve this goal?” This question will throw up problems or barriers. Now ask yourself “what do I want instead of this problem?” And this will throw up a smaller goal that contributes to the bigger goal.

And another tip for you if you find a small goal is just not motivating you enough. Chunk it up. Ask yourself the question “If I achieved this goal, what would that do for me?” This will throw up a bigger more compelling goal, maybe. If not ask yourself the same question again until it does.

Pareto’s Law

Sounds like some new US Attorney drama on Channel 5. I’m sure we’ve all heard of Pareto, the Italian economist, who devised a law that rings truth everywhere you go. Pareto’s law when planning your goals says that we get 80% of our result from 20% of our goals. Prioritise them and don’t have too many.

Personal Development

This is just a good reason as any as a goal subject. We never stop learning and in this ever changing 21st Century world we must be able to adapt to survive. Someone said this to me the other day which was really thought provoking. The 19th Century was about being able to make something – construction and industry. The 20th Century was about learning something, some knowledge which you could use to make money. The 21st Century is about learning something, but then unlearning that same things and learning something completely different in a very short time frame. Otherwise we’ll get left behind.

Carry out a SWOT, at least annually. Then set learning goals to maximise your strengths, minimise your weaknesses, eliminate threats and optimise your opportunities. Look ahead and futurise what might happen. In my business in 15 years time we will have holograms of speakers and trainers teaching things to people as the cost of travel will be prohibitive but for only the most important journeys. Sending my hologram across the world will be cheap, instantaneous and virtually the same as me being there, after all I will be. Spooky stuff but it will happen and I need to be able to keep my own learning up to speed to deal with this before it happens and puts me out of business. Change. Knowledge and skills can help you do this.

Phrase your goal in a positive sense.

This is really important particularly if you are a “towards” person in achieving goals. The “towards” strategy has been proven to be more robust when setting goals. Aim towards something rather than away from something. For example rather than losing 12 lbs, think about gaining a better shape and being able to fit into these trousers.
When we write our goals in a negative sense such as “Don’t work on later than 5pm every day” a strange thing happens. Our brain will focus on the don’t and gets a little confused so it processes working on after 5pm before it can commute the word “don’t”. The net result. The brain will think it needs to work on beyond 5pm, before it can stop.

Stretch Yourself

Stretch yourself when writing your goals. Just enough to make it a challenge, but don’t stretch too far – that’s when we pull our backs. Seriously though you’d be amazed what humans are capable of when we set out minds to it.

For my 40th birthday my wife bought for me a three hour excursion with a Police Traffic Officer in his excessively fast Volvo. Was I excited? The first lesson was how to control a car whilst skidding, then he taught us how to drive really fast. The finale of the lesson was to take the wheel of his hideously fast Volvo and drive as fast as I could along a public motorway. I tell you I was scared.

A friend of mine came along to keep me company and this was great as we could make mistakes together and not feel so bad. But to make a mistake when driving at more than 100mph on a public highway could be dangerous. Very dangerous. “You take the wheel first” said the policeman “and take us as fast as you can, but don’t forget what I taught you”. Great advice especially the negative so my brain immediately forgot everything he taught me.

But I knew a little bit about setting goals so I said to myself that I would exceed 115mph. I knew my limits!

Off I went cruising at 70mph. “OK said the policeman, lets take it up”. And off I went 80…90…100mph…110….118mph. Was I thrilled. Safe, relieved I slowed down and let my friend David have a go.

Within a minute he was doing 136mph. I asked him afterwards how he managed it. David said than after I’d gone first and he could see himself going faster than me as it was now easier.

So stretch your goals – you’d be amazed as to what we are capable of. Back in 1996, David Beckham was the only real master free kick taker in the English Premiership. He was so good they named a film after him “Bend it like Beckham”. Nowadays every team has one or two specialist free-kick takers

After Roger Bannister had broken the 4 minute mile in May 1956, after years of training and dedication, within the same year, another 37 people had done so. And the following year a whopping 300 people achieved the 4 minute mile.

So stretch your goals just that little bit more. Instead on focussing around 115mph I should have targeted myself for 130. Just that little bit faster.

Measure your goal

We’re supposed to put measures on our goals. Many people talk about SMART goals where the M stands for measurable. But some big goals or long term goals are difficult to measure and quite frankly this doesn’t make them too exciting.

With a really big important goal, instead of a measure, privately create a vision of you achieving success with your goal. What will you see, hear and feel when you’ve been triumphant? Who’s around you, what’s the weather like, what noise is happening, what are you doing? Imagine the scene as vividly as you can. This way you’ll know when you’ve achieved it.

Sometimes it’s good to imagine this so clearly in the future. Put a date on it and place this vision on that date in the future. Do all this in your head. And sure enough you will find a way to achieve this goal.

I’ve done this twice over the last 10 years and it’s really worked for me. In 1997, as a busy corporate sales trainer for a large insurance company, I visualised and placed into the future my goal. If this goal was successful I would be sitting at my office at home, with my feet up on the table opening an envelope with a cheque inside from a client who was paying me for some training I had done. I had become self employed.

Everyday I could see this goal vividly in my head and the secret was to place the visual in the future. I didn’t put a date to it but this happened in August 2000, I remember the day and it was uncannily like the image I had imagined.

On a beach in France in August 2004 I put another visual into my future. I thought I’d give it another go as it worked before. There I was in my home office again but a different office, and I’m running an interactive webinar for a number of paying customers. In the meantime my website is selling my products – books, manuals, MP3s etc and I’m making more than half of my income by being in my home office. I’m enjoying more time with my family rather than travelling in my car everywhere and I have a big smile on my face.

And everything is beginning to shape up. The builders are making the new office, products are being sold, I’m running teleseminars. But I’m not there yet but I’m convinced that I will get there. This is not being arrogant – it’s a lot of hard work to achieve goals with many failures along the way and obstacles to get over. But having a single purpose really helps you get over them.

Paul is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK.

He specialises in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small.

Sign up to my weekly eZine of sales and coaching tips and get a free report on getting the best out of 2009 plus a free hypnotic relaxation MP3 to download. www.archertraining.co.uk

01452 730276

paul@paularcher.com

Blog – www.paularcher.com

Free Weekly Sales and Coaching Tips

Sign up now for your free Weekly Sales and Coaching Tips. These are shorter and more entertaining tips and ideas around selling and coaching sales people.

"Just while I have a moment I thought I’d drop you a line to thank you for your interesting Sales and Coaching Tips through the year. I have enjoyed reading them and even put one or two into practice. I’m impressed by your ability to produce something fresh and interesting every week!"

And if you sign up today you'll get two free gifts.

eBook - Expect More from 2009 - countless tips and ideas to make the most from 2008. It’s a collection of articles from experts around the globe, including me!
Plus a very special 30 minute MP3 "Breath Away Stress" from acclaimed hypnotist Steve Norton. Ideal for the pressured salesperson or coach.

Once you sign up you'll be directed to where you can download your free gifts

"Hi Paul, I don't know if you receive any feedback or not but I find your weekly coaching tips very helpful. They are simple yet effective. Short yet informative. Plain yet realistic. They are indeed practical tips that one could apply immediately. I certainly look forward to those weekly tips. Thanks and keep up the good work."

We value your privacy and make it really easy to unsubscribe at any time