Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/303813
MAY 2014 22 THE JOURNAL What Are Your Goals? BY SCOTT STROUD MARKETING CONSULTANT It was 1988, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I had a new home sales center near Louisville, KY. I was a good salesperson with a good product, but I working 70 hours a week and, frankly, not making any money. It was- n't the market; it wasn't my product. It was me. I had polished my sales and marketing skills and the business was slowly growing, but I had not sat down and set real, tangible, definable goals as to what I wanted to accomplish and what the next steps should be in my business or career. I thought I could just 'work hard and see what happens.' Then, my father gave me a set of cas- sette tapes, The Psy- chology of Achievement by Brian Tracy, on defining, setting and achieving goals. Those tapes changed everything. By following the simple principles of goal set- ting, I was able to spend less time working and still make more money. But, more impor- tantly, I knew where I was going, why I was in business and what I wanted to happen next. I had a plan; a map, and it worked. Time Goals Ever heard the expression 'Time is money?' Well, exactly how much money is your time worth? Goals expert Gary Ryan Blair makes the point that there are 535,600 minutes in a year. "Divide your annual income by 535,600, and you'll figure out what your time is worth per minute. Then, if you really want to give your- self a raise, you have to merge that with a very simple principle, which is 'the highest and best use.' Ask yourself consistently, 'Am I focusing on activities that drive the greatest amount of revenue and value?'" Blair uses this real estate term as an analogy to time. 'Highest and best use' applies to how one would maximize the value of a building or property. As he puts it, "You don't put a pig farm in the middle of Manhattan – that would- n't be the highest and best use of that prop- erty." We can apply the same principle to how we use our time. "We have to realize that time is a finite proposition. So, we want to make sure, especially earlier in our lives, that we're focusing on the highest and best use of our time so that we can maximize our value, and so that we can enjoy the latter part of our lives," says Blair. That is the essence of long-term goal setting. How Goals Work Goals need be specific, reasonable, measur- able, and positive. Your mind can't process a negative goal, such as, "I won't eat junk food." It can only work on a positive object: "I eat only healthy food." And goals need to have a time frame in order to be effective. Be Specific When we want to call someone on the phone, we type in the exact same digits in the proper sequence to effectuate the same, consis- tent result. Well, goals need to be set in the same way; they need to be absolutely precise. Your mind is a precision guided missile. You need to program it accordingly. So, "I want to generate 18% in additional income in the next 90 days" is more effective that just saying "I want to make more money this year." You need to set an exact target. Be Measurable In last month's column I wrote about key measurements that I help clients track. In- cludes should be the number of leads you gen- erate each month, your closing ratios, and the average transaction value. Measuring those is great; setting specific, measurable goals for im- provement is even better. Be Time-Oriented. You need to set a deadline for everything you want to accomplish. Salespeople particularly need to be deadline-driven every single day. They need to have planned out exactly what they need to accomplish that day, and they need to follow that to the 'T' Why We Don't Do It. Most of us know intellectually that setting goals is a good thing. You've probably had goal setting drilled into you your entire life. Yet, Confucius said, "To know and not do is not to know.'" Knowing what goals to set isn't the problem. Any good sales manager can tell you what you should be working on every day (i.e., their goals for you!) But it takes discipline and focus to follow through, and that is a measure of our personal integrity. Goal expert, Gary Ryan Blair, suggests this Integrity Pledge: If you make a commitment to yourself or an- other human being, you honor it. If you make a promise to yourself, you keep it. If you set a goal, you achieve it. Unless you commit to your own personal integrity and follow through on what needs to be done, you'll be disappointed with By following the sim- ple principles of goal setting, I was able to spend less time working and still make more money. But, more im- portantly, I knew where I was going, why I was in business and what I wanted to happen next. I had a plan; a map, and it worked. \ 23