Kelly’s Korner: Setting Goals
Question: Why should we set goals? Professional Sales representatives should do the best they can with every customer.
Best regards:
New Year in the Northwest
Answer: Dear New Year,
It is necessary for every productive person to set goals. In order to grow and achieve our full potential we must stay focused on the target. Every target shooter will agree that their success depends upon preparation, utalizing their sights, and follow through after they pull the trigger.
The same is true in sales. We must have a goal, a target. Otherwise, we make excuses to justify our performance and we settle for what ever life gives us. Goals, keep the competitive edge alive within us. Our competition is not another person, our competitor is our past performance. We must continually reflect on our past production and to and to ask ourselves to stretch a little more. To make the extra effort, our monthly pay check is not the result of one deal. Our month reflects all our efforts with every deal.
We need to make our goals SMART.
Specific: How much income do we want to make? What is the percentage of penetration of finance deals or service agreements, credit life policies, etc. What is the profit per retail unit that you wish to achieve?
Measurable: You can measure percentages, averages, and of course income. Make sure you can identify how you can monitor your progress. Break down your monthly goals into weekly and then daily tasks.
Attainable: Set realistic goals. Remember we all crawl before we walk, and we walk before we run. With each level of success, you will gain confidence.
Relevant: When setting goals remember your area of responsibility. What are you responsible for? What department are you responsible for? The Serenity prayer comes to mind; God grant me the strength to change the things which I can, The grace to accept the things which I can not change, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Track: The next step is to track your progress daily. Every sales professional track their own productivity. They know exactly where they are in relationship to where they want to be. They make daily progress to ward the end result.
This being January and the beginning of the New Year. This is a perfect time to set your goals. We have goals cards for sales managers, sales representatives, in addition to sales business managers. Call our office and we will be glad to send you a sample of these cards. They are a handy tool to keep you on the road to success.