By Greta Schulz
Well, I did it. I did the “It’s the first of the year and I have put weight loss on my resolution list” thing. I don’t actually make resolutions, but I did set a goal to get healthy. I have committed to eating properly, exercising and stop using the excuse of my travel schedule.
On a recommendation of a friend, I tried Weight Watchers. It hadn’t been very long, but I already see a difference—a small difference, but a difference. Would it be nice to have dropped lots of pounds? Yes, but just like in business and in sales, little steps at a time is smarter and has a much better chance for success.
I’ve heard from many of you, telling me that you have set New Year’s resolutions such as achieving higher sales goals in 2018. A resolution and a goal are two different things. Let’s talk about how you should set goals for you and your team.
Begin with your revenue goals. Not necessarily your company’s goal right away, but your own first. What do you need to get what you want? When do you want to be able to retire? How much will you need? If you don’t know these answers, you need to meet with a financial consultant and figure it out. Once you understand what you need to reach, add at least 5 percent because we often underestimate.
Next you will have to move to your daily and weekly activities. Begin detailing what you need to do every day, week and month to reach these revenue goals. I know you are now asking yourself how to determine what to put down because you probably haven’t tracked your previous activity enough to know what that is. Therefore, you need to estimate what your daily, weekly and monthly activity should be.
After you have guessed these numbers, you will need to track them every day. You need to do this for at least 90 days to begin to have a true idea of what it will really take to meet your goals. These exercises are excellent this time of year to help you prepare for the year ahead. After you have done this yourself, do this same exercise with your team.
Coaching your team members is much easier when you have an understanding of what they have committed to. If they’ve reached their goals, their activities are the right ones. If they haven’t reached their goals, then you can assess what the issue is. They don’t have the right number of activities, they don’t have the right activities, or they aren’t approaching these activities properly. Now you can help coach them, because you have data to help analyze the issue.
As long as you and your team members meet daily and weekly goals, you will be successful day by day. That’s important. Most people look at the whole revenue goal and don’t break it down into small pieces. It feels overwhelming unless you break it down into small hurdles that can be jumped. If you can find ways to pat your team (and yourself) on the back every day, then week, then month, you will not only meet your goals, but you won’t give up after looking at entire overwhelming number.
With that in mind, I am not losing 20 pounds. Instead, I am eating 23 points a day … and that, I can handle.♦
Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business, a sales consulting and training firm. She is the best-selling author of “To Sell is NOT to Sell” and works with Fortune 1000 companies and entrepreneurs. For more information or free sales tips, go to schulzbusiness.com and sign up for “GretaNomics,” a weekly video tip series, or email sales questions to greta@schulzbusiness.com.
