Are You Reaching Your Goals?

It’s the middle of March and the first quarter is nearing an end. Are you on track with your goals this year? If you want to succeed, you need to set goals. Without goals you lack focus and direction. Goal setting not only allows you to take control of your life's direction; it also provides you a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding. Here are some ideas for achieving your sales goals.

• Know your numbers. It’s impossible to set tangible sales goals without knowing numbers. Identify your past and current sales numbers so you know what targets you can set that are both reasonable and achievable. 

• Develop your attitude. Your attitude is controllable. Conquer your fears. Change the beliefs that limit your success. Your thought habits control your commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, resilience, happiness, and confidence. Be aware of them, decide which ones are unproductive, and then make a commitment to change. With time and effort, you can become the person you want to be.

• Review your sales goals first thing in the morning every day. Say your big picture goal out loud and review goals and actions for the day. At the end of each day, review how the day went, and set goals and actions for the next day.

• Invest time prospecting for NEW business every week. Most salespeople rely on existing clients to generate their sales. Allot a specific amount of time to look for new business opportunities whether it’s within a current account or a completely new company. How much time are you prepared to commit to prospecting for new business?

• Ask for referrals. Referrals are one of the top ways to grow your business.  You can exponentially increase the number of referrals you get, dramatically increasing your client base, by doing one simple thing - asking for referrals.  Most people, especially happy customers, are truly glad to help with referrals when asked.

• Improve your selling skills. Attend sales training programs, read books, newsletters, magazines and blogs. Listen to audio programs. Talk to the top performers in your company. Work with a sales coach.

• Show customers why they should keep doing business with you. Just because someone has bought from you in the past does not mean they will continue to do so in the future. In today’s business climate you need to constantly prove to your existing customers why it makes sense to continue buying your product/service. What can you do to reinforce this to your customers?

• Maximize your time. Focus on your goals. Test every activity for its importance and urgency. Create an ideal schedule, and test your actual time use against it daily. Remember, just one hour a day used more productively adds up to more than six extra weeks of productive time a year.

“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.” ~ J.C. Penney