Goal Setting – 95%+ People Do Not Write Their Goals

Image by Rosy – The world is worth thousands of pictures from Pixabay

3 Things need to be completed for 2023.

It is reported that 95+% of people going into a new year do not have written measurable goals.

We all have heard this bit of wisdom, yet we still do not have written goals.

Begin now to look toward goals for 2023.

Do these three things during December, and you will be part of the 5% of people who have written goals.

1. Set an appointment time with yourself, 30–60 minutes. Get a blank paper or a blank computer screen and begin writing your thoughts and ideas for accomplishment next year. This first attempt at goal setting doesn’t have to be neat — take time to think about and write your ideas, thoughts, and expectations for 2023. The first attempts are pretty messy and unorganized. Then put this information away for a few days (Be sure to put it in a place to easily find it).

2. Set another time with yourself for 30–60 minutes and get your first list and notes out. You will be surprised at the progress you will have already made toward thinking about and planning for next year. Review your first session, subtract, add, and modify your original list and notes.

3. Set a 3rd time with yourself near the end of December. Many people tell me they like doing this during the holiday season when not working and can really spend time thinking about wants and goals for next year. Make this list as neat and useable as you want. Put your list in place to retrieve it often. Do not be afraid to change, delete, or add goals; this is a work in progress, and it may never be complete.

Doing this every year and setting up a tracking system, and measuring progress ensures that you will see goals completed.

You will do and accomplish more.

Try for yourself and get into the 5% group of people who write and strive to achieve their goals.

Let me know if you would like a template and sample goal review. [email protected]

Thank you for reading this article.

To read and access my other posts and to have access to thousands of other posts, consider becoming a Medium member using this link.

Selling is a 230-day walk in the park.

The Selling year

1 Year                                                 365 days

weekends                                         -104 days

Holidays                                             -10 days

vacation                                             -10 days

Misc./Personal/Absence                 -11 days

Standard working days                  230 days

As a salesperson and then owner of a growing business I read and thought a lot about how to optimize selling time. Most sales trainers teach and talk about maximizing selling time and get as much time in selling during the eight-hour day as possible. 

I have observed that many sales programs do not really teach or show a daily plan for a real sales day. It is talked about, taught, and assumed the salesperson will develop and execute a daily plan.

I believe in building a daily process a daily “grind” that if performed repeatedly for 230 days will produce a year of great sales results.

During my selling career and for the salespeople I eventually hired for my company I built a system of daily behaviors based on points per behavior performed. The system is simple and set to develop salespeople over a three-year time frame depending on their sales proficiency. 

Continuous sales training, on how to sell, is a must. Continuous use and monitoring of the daily behaviors, the point system really does produce great results. 

However, I can attest to the fact that using and measuring a daily behavior program can be daunting and difficult to do for many wanna-be salespeople.

I owned an Aerospace Manufacturing business. Orders ranged from several hundred to a hundred thousand with most order sizes $5,000 to $15,000. Each salesperson was required to do $750,000 in the first year, $1,500,000 a second year, and get to $3,000,000+ in the third year. Continuous training, coaching, and measurement of daily behaviors was a highly successful formula for the salespeople that could grasp, understand, and do the process. We grew the company nicely year over year.

In another segment, I will discuss the simplicity and the reasons it is so hard for many salespeople to grasp.

Let me know if you are interested in further information.

Easy to do! Easy not to do!

Habits/Goals/ Behaviors seem hard to start and in too many cases hard to stop.

________________________________________________________________

The following quote is from Jim Rohn (American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker) –

“We’ve all heard the expression, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’  Well, I’ve got a good question for you:  What if it’s true?  Wouldn’t that be easy to do—to eat an apple a day?  Here’s the problem:  It’s also easy not to do.”

________________________________________________________________

I have a belief, that we all can start a new habit/goal/behavior, and we can all set the process as easy as possible for achievement.  However, as Jim Rohn pointed out eating an apple a day is easy to do, easy to measure and easy to accomplish, but it’s also easy not to do. 

Over the past years, I have posted thoughts about setting goals.  I try to help set a foundation for others to get in the goal setting habit.  Easy to do! Easy not to do!  Less than 5% of people actually set and write goals down. 

As a longtime member of Toastmasters, I remember a speech given about goals.  I can’t recall the speaker’s name, but it did stick with me. 

The speaker said, start your habit/goal/behavior journey small.  Pick one item to accomplish over a period of time — make it a 12 month period.  Track your progress daily.  If you miss a day or two don’t worry just keep going.  I thought this was pretty simple basic — but, why not give it a try and get going.

At the time, I wanted to increase my daily reading habit.  I thought reading 10 pages per day was doable — hoping to read about 10 books that year.  It worked!  Today I have a sustained reading goal of 15 pages per day, I’ve read a lot of books over the years.  

________________________________________________________________

“But as Jim Rohn would say, “What’s simple to do is also simple not to do.” The magic is not in the complexity of the task; the magic is in the doing of simple things repeatedly and long enough to ignite the miracle of the Compound Effect.”

________________________________________________________________

Begin now and have great satisfaction of accomplishment for 2020!

Good Selling or Bad Selling?

Many years ago, I had one of the best Receptionist/Gatekeeper in business, she understood and could stop non-essential salespeople from getting through.  One day she brought me a package.  It had been hand delivered.

In the package was a T Shirt from my alma mater — Indiana Institute of Technology. There was a note from the salesman requesting an appointment, and comment that he hoped I appreciated his effort to get my school T shirt.  He said he would call in a few days.

I graduated from IIT in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. The idea that this salesman had gone to the trouble to get me the shirt was unique and I liked his style. 

I instructed our receptionist/gatekeeper that I was impressed by this salesperson and that when he calls I will take the call.  After a little research on his company, I was pretty sure I would not need his services.  However, I would listen to him and then if possible direct him to a referral.

He never called!

How many times have you had seemingly good salespeople just not follow through?

Good selling or bad selling?

According to Jim Rohn, philosopher, Life is a collection of …..!

Life is a collection of experiences, people met, and books read – according to – Jim Rohn. Have you heard of and followed a great life and business philosopher – Jim Rohn? 

I have read his books, articles, listened to tapes and attended his seminars. 

One article captured my attention and prompted a change in my behavior many years ago.  Jim Rohn talked about the habit of keeping a daily journal.  However, he didn’t portray it a standard sit down once a day and write in your journal. He described his previous habit of writing things down continuously all day long, so he wouldn’t forget the thought of the moment. He wrote on scraps of paper, napkins, post notes anything he could find. Then he had a drawer or desk top of papers he couldn’t or didn’t get organized.

We all want to remember and save ideas of the moment. Get a great idea in your head and decide to write it down later. Many of us either forget all together or don’t feel it important later on, or like Jim Rohn we have a great collection of paper scraps with notes.  That was me.

Jim Rohn thought it best to journal, in a sense, all day long. I didn’t ever see an explanation or example of his journal style, but I did see another person that kept a notebook at his side all the time to just jot down notes of the moment.

Many years ago, I decided this was something worthwhile and started carrying a spiral notebook with a daily date for the two open pages and began writing whatever thoughts I had that seemed important to keep. Some days hardly anything some days filled both pages. 

My books are messy and not organized. I do manage to get on paper thoughts that I don’t want to lose. Then periodically I review the books to see if there is still something I want to pursue.

I sometimes listen to people who want to start journaling but don’t really know how. 

Let me say that because of Jim Rohn I now have books of my life experiences and I attest to – Life according to Jim Rohn is the sum of experiences you have, people you meet, and books you read.

Start keeping a running daily book of life and you will be astonished at how you and your life can be changed and influenced.

Make 2019 your best year yet!

A sales tracking system completed daily = Sales Success!

Do you have a sales process and daily system for generating business?  I do!  I have developed and use a sales process involving daily point accumulation.  Diligently follow a selling process and create sales.

Daily point accumulation allows for measurement and tracking of the sales process.  Daily work on this process coupled with good sales training creates a dynamite selling opportunity — almost guaranteed (Some sales people just don’t get it!)

Do you have a process and training to keep your sales group on Track?

Make 2019 your best year yet!

Momentum! Still there for reaching your GOALS?

I have a goal that I really want to accomplish.  I can’t do it in a day or month or probably a year.  It may take 2 to 3 years.  I found myself not working this goal with the same momentum as goals more achievable on shorter terms.  That is probably the human nature side of accomplishment. 

Well — I reaffirmed my three year goal as being very important to me when accomplished.  I have reaffirmed and dedicated daily time 15 – 30 minutes to stay on task. I haven’t missed a day this year.  

 My reaffirmation of this goal was easy.  The hard part was not having a very easy to use measurement tool to follow progress.  As much as I hate to admit this, I have a really good tracking system for my goals and accomplishments in life but not a really good tracking system for something new.  I was half heartedly tracking progress but nothing really jumped out to me saying — Hey, you are not on track here.  Now I have a spread sheet that shows Green when on track and Red when off track.

Do you have a measurement system for your important Goals?

I found some old calendars from years ago.  When I wanted to start and follow a goal (Weight, Exercise, Playing the Banjo, Etc.).  I kept the Calendar in a drawer in the bathroom.  I opened that drawer everyday (My hair dryer was in it), and I plotted my daily goal progress. 

Looking back on those calendars I see that I accomplished many life goals.  Do you have a tracking method daily to follow your progress?

Make 2019 your best year yet!

Do you have a solid process for tracking and following sales?

As a CEO/President for many years I can attest to the following:

According to the National Sales Executive Association,

  • 12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
  • Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts
  • 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
  • 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12th or more contacts

Sales people need a process, a culture of sales/selling success and on-going training.  I work a daily process for myself. 

We as managers need solid information to see the sales process.  Too many times it is treated as “Magic that just happens”.  I help set up and refine the daily grind of sales measurement.  If interested – Let’s talk!

Make 2019 your best year yet!

4 Characteristics of Sales Reps who meet and exceed their goals:

  1. They set activity-based goals –

Setting results-based goals can be dangerous.  You can’t directly control the outcome of your work.  If you want 6 face-to-face meetings per week you may not make it.  People may be out of office or too busy and you miss your goal.  Instead, look at your historical data and decide how many calls you need make to book 6 meetings.  If it usually takes 35 emails and 20 telephone calls to make 6 appointments try increasing or doubling that.  Keep doing activities that work.

  • They share their goals with others –

Reps who make their goals, share their goals.  By telling and sharing with others there is an accountability factor created.  Your peers will know what your plans are and will be curious if you pulled through.  Also, writing goals and posting them for yourself and others to see helps drive vision and completion.

  • They choose small, specific, short term goals –

The larger the goal, which may seem insurmountable, the more likely reps will fall off and not achieve.  Pick goals that are small, specific and short term.  You feel energized as you meet and complete goals.  Then start setting harder ones.

  • They walk away from dead deals early –

Walking away from dead deals early is hard and requires discipline.  I have found that few reps have the strength to do it.  However, by walking away you have more time and a better chance of working on deals more likely to close.  Many times we make an emotional connection with a deal and that can become dangerous, and not allow the rep to walk away.  The longer a bad deal is worked, the harder it is to walk away.

Good selling!

Make 2019 your best year yet!

Good Selling / Bad Selling?

Great Books, Goal Setting, Continuous Learning, Public Speaking

Some years ago, I had possibly the best Receptionist/Gatekeeper in business, she understood and could stop none essential sales people from getting through.  One day our Receptionist/Gatekeeper brought me a package.  It had been hand delivered.

In the package was a T Shirt from my alma mater — Indiana Institute of Technology, and a note from the salesman requesting an appointment, and comment that he hoped I appreciated his effort to get my school T shirt.  He said he would call in a few days.

I graduated from IIT in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, the idea that this salesman had gone to the trouble to get me the shirt was unique and I liked his style. 

At that time I instructed our receptionist/gatekeeper that I was impressed by this salesperson and that when he calls I will take the call.  After a little research on his company, I was pretty sure I would not need his services.  However, I would listen to him and then if possible direct him to a referral.

He never called!

How many times have you had seemingly good salespeople just not follow through?

Good selling or bad selling?

Make 2019 your best year yet!