3 Steps to Meet Your Goals
Selling Skills – By Patrick Veroneau
You only get stronger when you actually do the push-ups, not simply by reading about how to do push-ups.
As a new year approaches, most will be actively involved in two separate exercises. One will involve evaluating if they will have met their previous year’s goals and one will involve exploring where they need to go in the coming year. There are three steps you can focus on today that will greatly increase the chances of exceeding your goals. The steps involve planning, practice and perseverance.
Planning
An easy model to follow is called, SET, requiring goals to be “Specific, Emotional and Time Sensitive.” A specific sales goal might state “I’m going to attain 110 percent of my quota.” The emotional component for a goal is the “why.” This is often the most important part of the SET model because it provides a strong emotional push for attaining the goal.
As an example, when you ask yourself why you want to reach 110 percent of your plan, the answer may be because that is what is needed to get promoted. That answer will strengthen your resolve for exceeding quota.
Lastly, make sure that your goals are time sensitive. If you have committed to a certain number, be specific when you will hit the number. If it is changing a behavior, you may want to list how many days you will plan to do it each week.
Make sure that your goals are written down. Research suggests that we increase the likelihood of reaching our goal by 40 percent when goals are in writing.
Practice
Once a goal is set, the focus shifts to practicing the behaviors and consistently completing the tasks needed to reach your specific goal. For a deeper dive, I highly recommend a book written by Dan Coyle called The Talent Code. This book convincingly lays out research supporting the positive impact of deliberate practice in allowing us to develop new habits that are durable.
As obvious and simple as it sounds, you only get stronger when you actually do the push-ups, not simply by reading about how to do push-ups. To reach 110 percent of quota might require making an additional 10 calls per week or improving some aspect of your clinical selling skills.
Perseverance
While planning and practice are the building blocks for successful goal attainment, perseverance is the mortar. Angela Duckworth, in her book GRIT, does an excellent job unpacking the concept and power of grit as a vital ingredient for goal achievement. The evidence is overwhelmingly convincing that one’s ability to succeed is often more the result of grit than one’s innate talent.
As an example, restricted access to an office or unfavorable formulary status are not enough to deter the person with grit from reaching their goal; it only drives their resourcefulness.
Conclusion
Successfully meeting and exceeding your goals requires a solid plan. Following the three-step model outlined here, you will greatly increase the likelihood of reaching whatever personal or professional goal you desire.
Patrick Veroneau is the founder of Emery Leadership and Sales Group. Email Patrick at patrick@emeryleadershipgroup.com.
