Goals and Objectives Sales Growth Strategies By Brian Tracy Introduction Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive. (Robert Schuller) Before you do something, you have to do something else first. Before you begin setting clear goals and objectives for your sales activities, you have to conduct a thorough analysis of yourself and your business. Your ability to set clear, written, measurable, business and personal goals can have more of an impact on your success than any other skill you can develop. It is estimated that only 3% of adults have written goals, and everyone else works for them. The top 3% of money earners in the United States earn more than the other 90% put together. In every case, the most successful people are working from clear goals every single day, and so can you. In this lesson you will learn how to: How to apply the GOSPA Model to your personal life The importance of future orientation in goal setting The importance of financial goals in personal organization How to apply the Wedge Theory to achieve financial independence 1
Goals and Objectives Your ability to set goals and to make plans for their accomplishment is the Master Skill of success. Fortunately, like all other skills, it is learnable through practice and repetition. 1 Complete and rigorous analysis precedes good goal setting and personal strategic planning. a) You require absolute clarity about your vision and values to set the right goals for you. b) You need a complete understanding of your company, and the world you work and live in before you set goals. c) You must have a good idea of your strengths, weaknesses and limitations before you can set achievable goals. 2 You can use the GOSPA Model of strategic planning as a framework within which to think with greater clarity and accuracy. a) GOAls these are the specific, measurable results that you want to achieve at the end of the process. For example, a specific level of sales or personal income is a goal. b) Objectives these are the specific steps on the staircase, or rungs on the ladder, that you must take in order to achieve your goal. c) StrateGIes these are the different approaches that you can take to accomplish your objectives. For example, you could prospect via telemarketing or direct mail. You could sell via telephone or personal calls. You could communicate directly or by Internet. d) Plans these are the specific action steps that you take to implement your strategies, to achieve your objectives, to reach your goals. 2
e) ActIOns these are the specific activities that you engage in each day to complete your plan and fulfill your strategies. 3 All business and sales planning goals are financial in nature. a) They are measurable in financial terms. b) They are clear, objective and written down. c) It is clear to everyone whether they have been attained or not. 4 The starting point of goal setting is for you to decide exactly where you want to be sometime in the future. a) Begin by determining exactly how much you want to earn in each of the next five years. b) Determine how much you want to save, invest or accumulate from your earnings over that period. c) Determine exactly how much you want to be worth at the end of each of the next five years. 5 Perhaps the most important part of goal attainment is your reasons and motivations. You must decide why you want the goal in the first place. a) Reasons are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. b) You can have tangible reasons, to buy a house, a car, a boat or a motor home. c) You can have intangible reasons, to buy things for your family, improve your lifestyle, take vacations, engage in other activities. As Nietzsche said, A man can bear any what if he has a big enough why. 3
6 Break your annual goals down into bite-sized pieces so that they are easier to attain. a) Determine how much you want to earn each month and write it down. b) Determine how much you want to earn each week, and write it down. c) Determine how much you want to earn each day. d) Determine how much you want to earn each hour, and use this hourly rate to guide and direct your sales activities. 7 Company compensation plans are designed to motivate salespeople to sell the most profitable products. a) Your first job is to understand your company compensation plan, and what your company is attempting to achieve with the combination of base and commission. b) Your personal job is then to determine how you can maximize your income and make the most money by taking advantage of the company compensation plan. c) This turns into a win-win for both you and your company. 8 Once you have determined how much you want to earn in a specific time period, you then determine the level of sales volume you will have to attain in order to earn that amount of money. a) Based on your company s compensation plan, how much will you have to sell in a year to earn your annual financial goal? b) How much will you have to sell each month, week and day? 4
c) How many calls do you have to make to make a sale? d) What is the average size of each sale that you make? e) How many calls will you have to make each day, to make how many sales each week and month, to make your annual income goal? f) By controlling the number of contacts you make, you ultimately control your level of sales and income for the year. 9 Practice Back from the future thinking in all areas of goal setting. a) Start with the end in mind project forward to the end of the year and then come back to the present. b) What will you have to do, starting today, to achieve your long-term goals? c) What is the first step that you will need to take, right now, to achieve your long-term goals? 10 Your overall financial goal from your work is to ultimately achieve financial independence. a) The sooner you begin planning toward financial independence, the faster you will achieve it. b) Determine the amount that you will have to have saved and invested before you feel financially independent. c) Write down your financial independence goal on paper, set a date, make a plan and work on it throughout your career. 5
11 The key to financial independence is simple: violate Parkinson s Law throughout your career. a) Parkinson s Law says that, Expenses always rise to meet income. This means that, no matter how much you make, if you are not determined enough, you will spend it all and a little bit more besides. b) Practice the Wedge Theory of financial independence. Drive a wedge between your rising income over your career and your rising expenses. c) From this day forward, resolve to save 50% of every increase that you earn from your work. You can spend the other 50% on improving your lifestyle. d) If you can discipline yourself to save 50% of your increase, and invest this money carefully, you will eventually achieve financial independence. 12 The rule for financial independence has always been the same: Pay yourself first. a) A part of all you earn is yours to keep. b) Save a part of your income off the top, put it away, and never spend it except for growth and investment. c) By saving 10% of your income throughout your working lifetime, you will become wealthy. d) If you save $100 per month, from age 20 to age 65, and invest that money at 10% interest, it will be worth $1,116,000 when you retire. Albert Einstein: Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. 6
13 If you are currently in debt and cannot save 10% of your income, set a goal, make a plan and begin saving 1% of your income each month. a) Save 1% and live on the other 99% until you become comfortable with this balance. b) Then save 2% and live comfortably on the other 98%. c) Within a couple of years, as your income increases, you will be comfortable living on 80% of your income while you save the other 20%. d) By saving 20% of your income, year in and year out, you will eventually become financially independent, if not rich. 14 Many thousands of self-made millionaires, people who started with nothing and became wealth in one lifetime have been studied and interviewed. a) Self-made millionaires practice frugality in all their financial affairs until they become wealthy. b) Self-made eschew status; they do not spend money on expensive cars, clothes, watches or vacations. They save it instead. c) Make financial independence the cornerstone of all your financial planning, and do something every single month to improve your financial situation. People with goals accomplish ten times as much as people without goals. When you have clear, written, specific goals for the amount of money you want to earn, the amount of money you want to accumulate, and the level of sales you will have to achieve to earn that money, you will run circles around people without these same written goals. 7
Action Exercises 1. If your life was perfect, what three goals would you achieve over the next 10-20 years? 1. 2. 3. 2. What specific activities would you have to engage in to accomplish your most important goals over the years ahead? 1. 2. 3. 3. How much would you like to earn and accumulate over the next three years? 1. Year One? 2. Year Two? 3. Year Three? 8
4. What are the three most important reasons you could give for wanting to achieve your long-term financial goals? 1. 2. 3. 5. How much will you have to sell next year, and each month, week and day to achieve your sales and personal income goals? 1. Annual? 2. Monthly? 3. Weekly? 4. Daily? 6. Exactly how many sales, and what activities will be necessary, for you to achieve your sales goals? 1. Prospecting calls? 2. Customer appointments? 3. Number of sales? 9
7. List three things that you could start doing immediately to move toward financial independence. 1. 2. 3. What one action are you going to take immediately as the result of your answers to the questions above? 10