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WARNING! Your Goals May Be Sabotaging You. Become More Process Driven

Feb 2, 2011 accountability, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, How to Manage Your Team, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Sales Management

WARNING! Goals May Be Hazardous To Your Success. Are They Sabotaging Your Selling Efforts?

Are you still struggling with your goals? Are you hitting your numbers? How many follow-up calls did you make today? How much good volume did you book this month? How many leads did you run this week?

These questions are relentlessly driven into our heads and for good reason. Like many sales professionals, there’s often pressure to reach quota or a certain level of acceptable performance. While having a monthly sales goal keeps your eye on the prize and your focus on the end result, it may actually do more harm than good.

I often hear salespeople say, “Results aren’t showing up fast enough.” At the end of each selling month, frustration and stress/overwhelm run rampant as salespeople scramble to do their best to close sales and meet their numbers.

If selling is transference of feeling, imagine the feeling that you’re transferring to your prospects? The stress of having to close more sales and the anxiety you’re feeling inadvertently puts undue pressure on every prospect you speak with, fostering an unhealthy relationship from the start.

The irony is, this constant push to reach sales numbers keeps you hooked on the goal, diverting your efforts away from refining the selling process needed to generate more business. The quandary then becomes, “I’m too busy to work on my process. I have numbers to meet!”

Consider this paradox; the result is the process. In other words, what if you shifted most of your attention away from your goal or the end result and onto the process?

After all, what’s the point of eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream; to get to the end or to savor every bite? How about the goal of a self-care or an exercise regimen? Unless you’re in it to compete professionally, it’s to maintain a level of health, vitality and personal satisfaction.

The same holds true for measuring productivity, maintaining your peace of mind and experiencing a sense of achievement at the end of each day.

After all, you don’t do the result; you execute the process, which produces the result as a natural byproduct of your efforts. That’s the paradox. By honoring the process, you can enjoy the benefit of knowing that you will attain your goals, since it’s the process that will get you what you want. (Imagine building a house without a blueprint!)

To generate better results, you’re either changing what you do or changing how you think. To continually exceed your sales goals and better manage your mindset, change your thinking to become process driven rather than result driven.

Ask yourself, “Do I have a (sales, prospecting, follow up, time management, customer service) process in place that I can trust?” When you look at your daily schedule, does it outline the specific and measurable tasks and activities you need to engage in that will move you towards your goal?

Chances are, salespeople who are solely focused on the end result don’t have a process they have faith in. As such, they concentrate more on trying to control the outcome; pushing for what they want rather than managing their process. After all, you can’t trust and manage the process if you don’t have a process in place to do so!

Trying to achieve more without a process to guide you would be equivalent to driving from New York to California without a roadmap while wearing a blindfold. Not only can it be stressful but you’re bound to wind up somewhere else other than your intended destination.

Schedule a time with yourself to develop your process for attaining each goal or task that needs completing so that you can see the path you will be traveling on. Look back on the successful sales you’ve made as a starting point for developing your process.

For example, if you’re looking to generate a certain number of sales each month, what activities do you need to engage in on a daily basis to do so? What skills or tools need further development? (Ex: Introductory cover letter/ email + prospecting and voice mail approach/template + frequency of calls/follow up = process driven.)

Once you have outlined a path and a success formula to follow (X # of calls produces X # of prospects which produces X # of sales), allow the doing or the process to be the reward and where the pleasure resides, not just the end result. This way, you can be responsible for your future goals without having to worry about them. If you continue your quest with your eyes focused on the finish line, you’ll miss out on the journey. Therefore, be careful not to hook yourself onto the future so that you can enjoy the process of reaching your goals today.

Knowing when enough is enough each day and the specific activities you need to engage in provides you with the freedom to trust the process you’ve put in place. After all, there’s always more to do. There’s always more that can be done at the office, at your home or in your life; another call that can be made or another email that can be read.

Exceeding your monthly sales quota will be the result of the cumulative efforts you make and the activities you engage in every day. When you’re mindful of the process, you now have the opportunity to recognize and celebrate your accomplishments on a daily basis (even the little ones) rather than pushing for or waiting until the “End.” (And when does that happen?)

Tags: Goal Setting, goals, hit your numbers, process driven, quota, result driven, results, Sales Coaching, time management

How Managers Position Their Sales Team For A Successful New Year and Enroll Them In Their 2011 Sales Goals

Jan 19, 2011 coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, Goal Setting, Hiring and recruiting, Sales Management, training for managers

It’s the third week in January. Do you know where your goals are? How about the plan that will enable you to achieve them? At this point, a good number of managers have already set their yearly sales goals for themselves and for their sales team. Whether these goals were sanctioned from the top, developed through a mutual collaboration between the salesperson and the sales manager, have been calculated by a formulaic process based on the salesperson, the marketplace and their territory or were developed and disseminated to their salespeople with a more reactive ambiguity, (“Just get out there and sell more this year!”) the majority of managers are thinking about making this a better year than its predecessor.

While some level of goal setting activity has taken place or a declaration has been made by the manager how important it is to “do better this year,” it’s the deeper conversation that follows the goal decree which I often find missing within sales organizations that needs to be facilitated by management.

Sure, you may have set the sales goals with your sales team, and you may have even discussed strategy with them; that is, how they are going achieve their goals. You may have gone as far as having your salespeople submit a business plan to support this. While these are healthy practices for management and for their salespeople, these sparkles of management brilliance do not encapsulate the full composition needed to ensure success throughout the year.

For example, when discussing your sales goals with your salespeople, did you address the following topics?

*Exactly how they are going to attain their goals; that is, the strategy that needs to be executed.
*Their level of buy in around their goal.
*Their level of confidence around attaining their goal.
*The potential roadblocks that can sabotage their efforts and prevent them from reaching their goals.
*The role they want you, as their manager, to play in supporting them.
*How they want to be managed around their goals.
*How they want to be held accountable around reaching their goals and how they want you to approach them if they drop the ball.
*The structure they need to put in place regarding how they will manage their daily activity that will move them towards attaining their goals.

What follows is a brief outline to use when conducting this conversation with your salespeople around their yearly sales goals that creates buy in, while ensuring your salespeople are bought into being coached and supported by you. You will notice that these questions will address the gaps I mentioned that often go overlooked until it’s too late. At this point, managers now find themselves in the reactionary position of spending their time managing problems and fires rather than managing goals and coaching their salespeople on achieving them.

Please note that the following outline and questions have been developed with a few assumptions in mind:

First, you are already coaching your salespeople.
Second, your sales team is bought into being coached by you.
Third, you are truly coaching them using a proven coaching framework (rather than relabeling how you managed them yesterday as coaching). Finally, their sales goals have already been established. (We’re not talking about their personal goals at this time.)

Keep in mind, this is just an outline. While it’s critical to appreciate the importance of having this conversation with each of your salespeople, you may want to fine tune it to best fit your situation.

Step One: Schedule at least a one hour meeting. (This is a conversation too important for anyone to rush through. After all, planning for the race always takes longer than the race itself.)

Step Two: Set the expectations of your meeting and what the objective of the meeting is with them. For example, “I want to use our time today to discuss your goals, how I can support you around achieving them and how together, we can develop the best strategy for you that’s going to drive the results you want.”

Step Three: Discuss the goals that have been set. Ask questions such as:

1.“So, how do you feel about your goals?”
2. “How did you come up with that goal?” (If they indeed, did so vs. having a sanctioned quota.)
3. “How confident are you about achieving this goal?”
4. “Why?” “What’s making you feel that way?”
5. “What would it mean to you if you achieved these goals? (Personally/professionally)”
6. “What’s the cost you would incur if you don’t achieve them? What would it mean to you if you don’t achieve these goals? What would happen then?” (This isn’t old school motivation by fear or consequence. Rather,this question is more for those underperformers who need to understand that there may be a consequence incurred if they fail to reach their goals, this helps them articulate it in their words, instead of the manager standing on their pedestal preaching the consequences to them and sounding like the bad guy. Remember, people listen better and believe what they say more than what they’re told.)

Step Four: Enroll them in coaching (if need be). The timing to do so is perfect, as coaching is the means for them to achieve their goal and how management needs to support their people in doing so.

Step Five: Facilitate this conversation using the following questions:

1.What are the parts of your job that you’re exited about and motivate you?
2. What do you want to/need to achieve in the short term/long-term that will support your goals? (If you’ve already established this, i.e. in their business plan, you can skip this.)
3. What’s your action plan and strategy to achieve your goals? (If they don’t have one, make sure they have a top level view of what this could look like and make this one of their action steps that they need to complete for your next coaching session with them. You can start this process by asking them, “So if you were going to put together an action plan and a strategy to achieve your goals, where would you start? What would some of the necessary components of your strategy be? Think about the last goals that you’ve achieved. What has made you successful before?”
4. How can I best manage and support you to achieve these goals? (This is a great opportunity to discuss creating their Coaching Action Plan to determine the frequency and parameters of your coaching with them.)
5. How do you like to be rewarded/acknowledged for a job well done?
6. How will we measure your success and progress along the way? (30, 60 and 90 day milestones and mini-goals are critical to maintain your sales team’s focus and motivation throughout the entire year. A year end goal is a long way off. So, celebrate wins along the way and use these milestones as an opportunity to adjust or modify their strategy if necessary.)
7. What might sabotage your efforts to achieve these goals? What do we need to look out for that would get in the way of achieving your goals? What safeguards can we put into place to ensure that doesn’t happen?
8. What structure do you need to put into place in order to make sure you’re engaging in the right activities each day that support your goals while keeping the distractions at bay? (Hint: A structured routine!)
9. How can I hold you accountable around your goals in a way that will sound supportive rather than negative?
10. How do you want me to approach you if you don’t follow through with the commitments you make? What would be a good way to bring this up? How do you want me to handle it?

Step Six – Debrief:
1.So, how are you feeling about our conversation (and first coaching session)?
2. Do you have any concerns moving forward?
3. Great, and to reconfirm next steps, what are you going to be working on next? (What are the action steps you’ll be taking based on our conversation today?)
4. Lets go ahead and schedule our next meeting. What are you willing to commit to having completed by then?
5. I’m looking forward to working with you so that you can achieve your goals this year!

TIP:
Give your salespeople the space to answer these questions. Remember, some of these questions are not only questions you may have never asked your salespeople, but questions they, themselves have never been asked before. So, don’t rush them through this important process of self discovery and do make sure they answer your questions completely.

After effectively facilitating this conversation, you and your team will have a greater sense of comfort, confidence and a stronger focus regarding what they need to do to achieve their goals and what you can do to support them that will create a successful year for your company, your team and yourself.

Tags: forecasting, Goal Setting, goals, management, quota, Sales Coaching, setting goals for salespeople

Goals Can Be Your Worst Enemy – An Intervew with BNET’s Sales Machine

Jan 7, 2010 Career Advice, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, management tips, Time Management Tips

A few months ago, I was interviewed by Geoffrey James who writes the Sales Machine column for BNET. (Geoffrey is also the author of seven books and the columnist for Business 2.0, CIO, The New York Times as well as many other publications.)

Today, he wrote about something we discussed during our conversation, which is one of the most important characteristics that successful people possess, especially top sales champions. And that is, the importance of being process driven rather than being so result driven.

No, I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t focus on the results, or set goals. After all, we need to have something to measure our success, especially in sales, and we need those goals to help determine an endpoint to strive for, something that we’re focused on attaining and the gauge that lets us know when we’ve ‘arrived’ at our destination.

What I am suggesting is to also adopt a mindset that may seem, on the surface, to be in conflict with the belief that you should stay focused on your goals. So, if you suffer from absolute or ‘either or’ thinking, this concept may be a real challenge to wrap your head around. Since we’re on the subject of healthy thinking, absolute thinking is something worth abandoning as well. It’s not one way or the other way; instead, it’s both. (“Either-or” vs. “And.”)

Those people today who challenge status quo and traditional ways of doing things are realizing the benefits of embracing not just one but two truths; two conflicting truths that can, in fact, live together in harmony. Yes, I know this sounds counterintuitive but that’s the paradox and the source of power for those who adopt this mindset.

That is: be mindful of the future, while engaged in and living in the present. To get a bit more cerebral, your process lives in the present where your results or your goals are all living in the future. And if you’re always focused on the result or outcome you seek, it’s going to affect what you need to be doing in the present moment. That includes the quality of your activities, the way you communicate, how well you listen, your level of creativity and ultimately how connected, present and engaged you are with people, especially your customers.

The point is, once your goal is set, continually thinking about or obsessing over your goal or the results you need to achieve doesn’t make that goal manifest itself any faster or easier. Instead, it actually winds up becoming a diversion, keeping your stuck in the future. The real cost is, you’re not being fully present and focused on today and more important, the actual process that’s going to take you to your desired destination.

Think if it this way. If I wanted to move a concrete wall, does the act of pushing on that wall all day make the wall move? Not even a little. It’s the same as spending all of your time thinking about the goal or the result. Doing so doesn’t move you any closer to your goal.

Once your goals are set, they’re not going anywhere! Now it’s time to shift your focus on developing and fine tuning your process which is what will ultimately be the vehicle that will take you to your goal.

Below is an excerpt from Geoffrey’s post based on our interview. You can read the full post here.

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Sales pros always have goals, and most enjoy the process of achieving them. But did you know that goals can be a major impediment to your success?

Take cold-calling, for instance. Most sales pros see cold calling as a goal-oriented activity — fill the pipeline with “X” number of prospects, in the hopes of creating as many customers as possible.

That makes sense, but it also encourages sales pros to see each conversion that results in a prospect as a “win” and each cold call that ends in some other way as a “loss.”

And that’s setting yourself up for failure, because the nature of cold calling is that only a small percentage of the people you contact will be potential customers. The majority will be people who simply aren’t interested or are not a fit for a variety of reasons.

However, if you’re caught up in the “win/loss” way of thinking, you may feel like a “loser” even if the person you called had absolutely no use whatsoever for your product!

Not surprisingly, sales pros begin dreading it, avoiding it, and become increasingly less effective when they actually get around to doing it.

The root cause of this deeply flawed “win/loss” thinking is focusing on the goal rather than the process. If you’re focused on the result, you are visualizing the future (i.e. “will I make my goal???”) rather than experiencing the present moment.

As a result, there’s no way that you can really listen to the prospect, because your attention is on a possible event in a future-yet-to-be. Because your focus is elsewhere (on your goal, that is) you’ll find it difficult to be creative and flexible in responding to what the potential prospect actually says.

Here’s how you fix this. Define cold-calling as a process rather than goal-oriented activity. Stop focusing on the result and start focusing on the potential prospect and the process of communicating with that prospect to determine if in fact, there’s truly a fit.

Changing your way of thinking is that you’ll immediately become more effective because it removes the “sting” of contacting a lead that turns out, for whatever reason, not to be a real prospect.

Rather than a “loss,” the event simply becomes something that you happened to discover during the process of cold-calling.

More importantly, treating cold-calling as a process keeps you focused on finding ways to help potential prospects and customers – and on not wasting the time of those who don’t need the help.

Your true goal shouldn’t be to make your sales goal, but to emulate an Olympic athlete. Top athletes visualize “winning” (the goal) before competing, but when they’re actually performing they focus on what’s happening right then and there.

Here’s the cool part… the real reason for this entire post. Focusing on process rather than your goals increases the chances that you’ll fulfill your goals.

In other words, know your goals, then forget them, and put your mind into the process. If you do this right, your goals will take care of themselves, because your process will make them happen without you wasting time obsessing on them.

You can read the full post here.

Tags: calendar, career coaching, Executive Coaching, goals, results, Sales Coaching, schedule, time management

Are Your Goals The Right Goals? For A Year of Success – Align Your Goals With Your Priorities

Jan 4, 2010 Career Advice, Goal Setting, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Sales Coaching, Setting Goals, Time Management Tips

With the timely pressure that we place upon ourselves in the New Year when declaring our resolutions and charting our goals, many people often fall short of attaining their goals or honoring these resolutions. Sure, there are many reasons why we may not reach our goals but before we point our finger at things like lack of execution, resources, skills or effective time management, we need to first look at the source of the problem; that is, the goal itself. In other words, are you sure you’re setting the right goals for yourself?

Sure, our goals are supposed to resemble and support that which we want to bring into in our life or career, yet many times, people set goals around what they think they want, what they think they need or what they think they should be doing.

Several years ago, I introduced the difference between priorities and goals and the importance of aligning the two when setting the right goals. Here is the full definition and an example to make sure that you’re setting the best goals for you.

Priorities vs. Goals- What’s the Difference?

Definition:

Priorities: What is most important and meaningful in your life today (activities, values, beliefs, lifestyle, principles, standards, hobbies, integrity, etc.) that you are not willing to compromise or sacrifice in pursuit of something else (such as a goal).

Goals: A future based anticipated expectation, possibility, measurable end result or experience that you are working towards creating, achieving or bringing to fruition that has not yet been realized in the present.

Comparisons:
*Present Focused vs. Future Focused
*What Is Happening vs. What Will/May Be
*In The Present vs. In The Future

Here’s an Example:

John had a goal of being a top producer in his company. As such, he looked at the other top producers and the activities they engage in which make them successful. The top salespeople are working twelve hour days, sometimes even seven days a week. Thinking, “It worked for them, so I guess I should do that too,” he decided to give up a chunk of his family/personal time and other enjoyable activities/hobbies in his quest to become financially successful.

Although John’s priority was spending time with his family, he didn’t understand why he felt miserable and encountered resistance while attempting to achieve this goal.

Once he created a personal strategy and a routine for achieving his own bigger goals that supported his lifestyle and priorities without having to sacrifice what matters most to him, he was able to reach his goals with less effort and enjoyed the process even more.

Here’s The Key Point:

If you are encountering resistance while attempting to reach certain goals or performing certain tasks, chances are it’s either something you really don’t want to be doing, an old goal that may not serve you anymore (a “should“) or you are operating from someone else’s agenda (also a should)! The bottom line is, these goals don’t support your priorities and you’ll continue to feel “off” or out of your integrity throughout your pursuit of these misaligned goals.

Take the time to align your goals with your priorities. Otherwise, you’ll feel confined or powerless to make changes, allowing situations, circumstances or other people to influence or control you. Discover what YOU truly want by aligning your goals with the priorities in your life rather than the “shoulds.”

The fact is, “Should-based goals” do not support your priorities or personal vision. So, if you are unsure whether the goal, activity or task classifies as a should, take a look at your lifestyle, values and priorities and see if they are all in alignment. If the goal doesn’t support them, it’s a “should.” So, don’t “Should” on yourself!

Benefit of Getting This Distinction:

At the end of the day, your goals need to be aligned with your priorities. Honor the priorities in your life by making them non-negotiable.

Before you map out your goals, determine the priorities in your life that you’re not willing to sacrifice. This way, you can identify the activities you need to engage in and what you are willing to give up today (maybe even a conscious, short – term sacrifice of certain priorities) in pursuit of a bigger dream tomorrow.

When your goals are aligned and balanced with your priorities, natural strengths and talents, you’ll maintain your integrity, feel calmer and will experience greater peace of mind while traveling on your path to achieving bigger goals and meaningful, long lasting results. You’ll find the process of working towards these goals more enjoyable and fulfilling, without feeling as if you’re continually pushing for something to happen. Instead, you’ll be pulled towards your goal with less of an effort.

Once you can orient your life around your priorities, you’ll find that you will actually have fewer goals that you’ll feel compelled to attain or be driven and consumed by. If you design your life and career around what is most important to you on a daily basis, you’ll avoid becoming hooked or attached to creating something ‘better’ at a future point in time, which can rob you of the quality of your life today.

Tags: career coaching, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, goals, life coaching, priorities

Be Visible but Not Egocentric. How to Keep Your Job – Part 3

Mar 11, 2009 accountability, Career Advice, career coaching, coaching for managers, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, Hiring and recruiting, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Sales Coaching, Sales Management

In this third part of an eight part series, here are some strategies that will enable you to increase your visibility and the measurable value you deliver in order to avoid being the victim of another layoff.

Be Visible but Not Egocentric

Ironically, this is not the time to put your head down and just do your work. If you’re not known by others and the measurable value you bring to the organization, then you’ll be the first to go. It’s great if your boss is a raving fan and an advocate. However, make sure he’s not alone. Make it a point to get your name in front of other managers so that they know and value your work as well. After all, what if your boss loses his or her job first? You want to make sure that someone else knows who you are and can speak highly of you, especially if your boss is first to get axed.

If your great work is unnoticed or you are not connected with some measurable results, something positive, something important, such as an increase in sales or profit, then all of your efforts can easily become insignificant if not visible. What if there’s no one to stand up for you during the planning meeting where the objective is to determine the number of layoffs and who it’s going to affect? At that point, it won’t matter how valuable you are if your value is not clearly recognized by these decision makers. Make sure people understand what you do and how you add value.

Finally, while you want to be visible about the results you’re producing, do so without bragging about it. Instead of running around pontificating about your achievements or emailing people about your successes as if you’re running for public office, meet with your manager regularly to make sure you’re on the same page regarding your performance objectives. Moreover, ask directly where they feel you can improve and what you can do about it. If you haven’t had your annual performance review yet, take a more proactive posture and hand in an updated progress report, action plan or business plan with the intention of bringing your boss up to date on your accomplishments and responsibilities within the company.

Tags: career advice, career coaching, Executive Coaching, keep your job, layoffs, Sales Coaching

What are some common mistakes retailers make? Retail Sales Interview Question Number Two

Feb 27, 2008 All About Selling, closing the sale, Goal Setting, management tips, Sales Management, sales tips

In a recent interview, I was asked what companies can do to ‘boost their close ratios’ within the specialty retail market. Here were the questions as well as my responses.

Question: What are some common mistakes you see retailers make with regard to close ratios?

Response: Quite often a common mistake is simply not managing their sales numbers on an individual basis or not managing them accurately enough to provide a realistic picture of where they are and what they need to change or adjust regarding their selling efforts and approach. But the problem goes even deeper.

At the core, the real mistake is not accurately accounting for the activities they need to engage in throughout their day. All roads lead back to time management. So if you find that you’re not getting through all the tasks you need to in the time you’ve allocated for it, then there’s a strong chance you are suffering from unrealistic planning or you’re doing something else that you didn’t plan for nor account for in your daily schedule. As such, designate separate blocks of time for all your daily activities and responsibilities so that it doesn’t interfere with your selling efforts.

Finally, lack of follow up or follow through in their sales process. Many simply lack the sales acumen and selling skills they need to boost their sales such as effective follow up, asking the right questions that would create more selling opportunities as well as qualify the opportunities that make the most sense to invest your time in.

Create Your Career This Year, Discover the Ideal Career for You – By Design

Jan 27, 2008 Business Coaching, coaching for managers, coaching tips, Goal Setting, How to Manage Your Team, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Setting Goals

Here’s a list of questions that will assist you in discovering the ideal career for you. Create it first, then attract it. Have fun with this! In other words, don’t get hung up on what you think is feasible, available or possible. Just create what you want most.

After reviewing my clients’ responses to these questions, it’s interesting how many of them answered the questions. They answered many questions about how it was or how it is in their current job rather how they want it to be. Remember, answer every question from the place of how would like it to be and create the vision of what you would like your career to look like.

1. How many hours in a typical workday?
2. What is your desired salary?
3. Who are the people you are working with?
4. What type of clients do you want to serve?
5. What type of product/service do you want to offer?
6. What is your day filled with or what type of activities you are responsible for?
7. What type of industry?
8. What is the level of autonomy?
9. What type of growth opportunities exist?
10. What kind of supervisor do you want to work with (if any)? What’s that person’s management style?
11. What are your co-workers like (if any)?
12. What benefit/incentive package is offered?
13. What type of environment/corporate culture do you thrive in (fast paced, stressful, relaxed, quiet, etc.)
14. What are you passionate about?
15. What type of career would be a reflection of who you are?
16. How does your career complement your lifestyle?
17. What are the demographics of your clients and co-workers?
18. What are your strengths and talents that you would like to orient your career around?
19. What do you do great?
20. What don’t you like to do?
21. What needs to be present in order to make a smooth transition and be financially responsible with the least amount of risk or error?
22. Who do you have in your circle of influence to support you through this transition? (family, friends, coach, etc.)
23. Who do you need to be (or become) in order to achieve, create or succeed at this?
24. What are the fears or limiting thinking that’s keeping you from moving forward without hesitation?

The Top Radical Resolutions To Create Your Best Year Yet!

Jan 3, 2008 All About Selling, coaching articles, coaching tips, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, management tips, sales articles, Sales Coaching, Setting Goals, Time Management Tips

The Top Radical Resolutions To Create Your Best Year Yet!

With the dramatic changes in our economy and in our society, it’s no wonder that many of us are asking ourselves, “Now what do I do?” while looking for more order and certainty in an uncertain world.

The New Year brings the opportunity for change. For many us, it’s the time to think about resolutions. Often these resolutions are the same ones that we make every year or the ones we only stick to for a few weeks.

If it’s ever been a struggle to create what you want most in the New Year or to keep to your resolutions, consider that your goals and the strategy to achieve them may not serve you best.

Resolution is defined as, “The process of reducing to simpler form.” Which brings us to the paradox of resolutions: instead of simplifying our lives, we wind up dumping more tasks, goals or projects on our “to do list” thinking that by achieving more, our lives will be more fulfilling and successful in the New Year.

To make and keep your resolutions with the least amount of effort, start with upgrading your attitude and your strategy to achieve greater results. To begin, here are ten resolutions that will enable you to maximize your potential and manage your life.

1. Quit Tolerating. To attract new and better opportunities and results, first clear out what’s clogging up your life to create the space for the better stuff to show up. List the things you’re putting up with that limit productivity, cause stress and waste time and energy. Then determine what needs to happen to eliminate these tolerances. If you no longer accept being dragged down by unwanted events, problems or other people’s behavior, you’ll stop wasting time managing situations that shouldn’t be there anyway.

2. Play Your Game. The best game to play is the one where you make up your own rules. If you’re encountering resistance in reaching some goals, chances are it’s either something you really don’t want to be doing, an old goal that may not serve you or you’re operating from someone else’s agenda! Take the time to discover what YOU truly want by aligning your goals with the priorities in your life rather than the “Shoulds.”

3. Create A Winning Routine. Busy with tasks that consume you? Feel that you’re fighting the clock? Design a weekly routine that complements your goals so you can focus on the activities that support your objectives and enhance your lifestyle. This includes planning for the unplanned as well. Develop a healthier relationship with time by underpromising on personal/professional deadlines so that time becomes your ally instead of your adversary. To develop a highly effective routine, get organized, eliminate distractions, reduce stress, and manage your tasks in order to reach and exceed your goals, check out Keith’s ebook, Time Management for Sales Professionals at www.ProfitBuilders.com.

4. Have Fun. Let’s face it; this isn’t our practice life! Are you doing the things that bring you the most joy? Find time every day that’s yours. Shift your binoculars around to magnify your achievements rather than what you didn’t do. Otherwise, when’s the big payoff?

5. Deepen Your Learning. While we attract what we need to learn, we often resist the lessons. If similar problems keep reappearing, we missed the lesson. To accelerate success, learn from every experience and person in order to grow and move onto a new and better path.

6. Expand Your Vision. What does your ideal life look like? The fact is, we never grow past what we feel is possible. Let go of your current perceptions that are inhibiting your ability to explore greater possibilities and achieve more. Clarify what success looks like in every area of your life (career, relationships, health, environment, etc.). It’s a lot easier to create something great when you know exactly what you’re looking for. Besides, it’s your canvass. What masterpiece do you want to create?

7. Transcend Your Beliefs. The Korean memorial says, “Freedom is not free.” This holds true for our thoughts as well. Old limiting beliefs often keep us prisoner, preventing us from creating greater successes. Your outlook determines your outcome. So if you believe, “The past is responsible for the quality of my life today,” “Success requires sacrifice,” or “This is as good as it gets,” consider challenging these assumptions and replacing them with healthier ones that would better serve you. Upgrade and direct your beliefs without them controlling you. (Otherwise, we’d still believe that our flat Earth is the center of the universe.).

8. Do Complete Work. You don’t have to achieve every resolution at once. Instead of stopping and starting something, pick one thing you want to change, create or finish and commit to seeing it through to completion. Then move on to the next project. Otherwise, consider that you may be an adrenaline junkie and love the rush associated when working on overdrive. To prevent sporadic results and a pile of unfinished projects, get off the adrenaline train and start creating the momentum that produces consistent, long lasting results.

9. Focus On the Present. Although planning for the New Year is productive, during our quest to achieve more we often lose sight of what is occurring today, preventing us from enjoying the hidden gifts or treasures that are already present in our lives. Keep focused on what is occurring now as opposed to what happened yesterday or what will be in the future. Live for today while planning for tomorrow.

10. Fear-less. Much of life’s decisions are governed by fear. Every year we want more but fear prevents us from taking risks, so we continually produce similar results. We resist what we need to learn the most, preventing growth by staying within what’s familiar and safe. Resisting the fear of the unknown paralyzes our efforts to create greater opportunities for ourselves. Realize that you cannot fail, you can only produce unexpected results; results that you can grow from in order to create new possibilities. And only personal and professional profitability can evolve from new possibility. To accelerate your evolution, embrace fear. Since fear is the negative assumption of the outcome, shift your focus towards the positive outcome or what you DO want to manifest, instead of what you are looking to avoid.

11. Amplify Your Awareness: Our society is recognizing more and more that there is greater pleasure in simplifying one’s life, as opposed to filling it with chaos, to-do lists, goal setting, or trying to keep up with overloaded schedules that result in keeping us buried in trivial tasks. We want less clutter and more clarity to see the magnificence life offers right front of us. To become more, desire less in your life. Awareness is evolutionary since it’s derived from a deeper connection to truth and our authentic self, and truth is the gateway to inner peace. When you have the ability to tap into this higher level of awareness, then and only then can you live a richer and rewarding life without struggle, resistance or sacrifice. Growing back to where we came, to a more simplistic form, (a child) will re- ignite and amplify our senses and our passion to explore the wonders within our lives.

12. Choose to Be Fully Accountable-For Everything! Life works a whole lot easier when we do what we say we’re going to do. Having a personal coach in your corner builds in this kind of focused discipline and accountability that allows you to honor all of these resolutions and create the life you want to live today. A coach becomes your accountability partner and helps you tap into the most powerful tool we have at our disposal – The power of choice. However, there is no choice without awareness (#11). Awareness creates choice. To tap into your fullest potential, exercise choice. Otherwise, you’ll feel confined or powerless to make changes, allowing situations, circumstances or other people to influence you. Choosing to become fully accountable for what we draw into and manifest in our lives creates the space for our personal evolution to occur.

13. Express Your Authenticity: The two fundamental parts to each person, the Self and Ego battle for the drivers seat in our life. The ego makes choices concerned with the outside world and achievements, defining who we are by what we have or do. The self makes choices based on our values, strengths, and passions. The ego can be the elusive thief of your true identity. The self is the authentic reflection of who we are and what we really want. It is the self that is satisfied in the present, without being attached to future accomplishments the ego needs to make their life worthwhile or held back by past events/regrets in our life. When we authentically express who we are, (not who we think we are) we can share ourselves with others, without the fear of being vulnerable. You’ll notice how much deeper your connection with other people becomes when you shift the focus away from yourself and onto others. And you’ll add value to people’s lives naturally, without effort or sacrifice, often a result of the ego’s self- serving agenda. To evolve and live a richer, more fulfilling life, focus more on who you who you are, rather than what you do.

Got Goals? Set and Reach Your Goals and Achieve Your 2008 New Years Resolutions

Jan 2, 2008 All About Selling, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, Insights in Business, management tips, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, sales tips, Sales Training, training for managers

So, are you ready to make 2008 a spectacular year? Below are some questions and exercises I encourage you to take on to prepare for your best year yet including setting your goals, doing a year end review and setting yourself up for extreme success!

Here’s your challenge. Think about the goals you want to achieve next year. Are you ready to play BIG? Want to raise that high bar another foot? What’s at stake for you if you achieve these goals this year?

Here are several questions to explore. Remember, every day is a new opportunity to redesign your life and live way want to live!

***********TIME TO SET YOUR 2008 GOALS!***********
NOTE: If you need me to send you the Attain Now Goal Setting Program to help you not only set your goals but develop the strategy to achieve them, let me know.

1. What would be unreasonable, yet extraordinary for you to achieve this year? (Dream BIG!) Create your goals in the following areas: (Don’t feel you ‘need’ to have one in each category. Just the ones that are important to you; the ones you really, really, really want!)

a) For yourself (personal goals, finances, relationships, well being, etc.)
b) For others (family, friends, clients)
c) In your career/business (skills, competencies, performance/productivity milestones, etc.)

2. What are you willing to do beyond what you’re currently doing to achieve that?

3. What are you willing to give up in order to achieve that? (Old beliefs, ineffective actions, ways of being, diversionary tactics, etc.)

4. Who do you need to be to achieve this?

+++++++++++YEAR END REVIEW++++++++++++++++++

Have you taken the time yet to acknowledge your successes this year? Otherwise, when is the big payoff? Here are some quick exercises to take on so you can pat yourself on the back for your achievements. You really did GREAT things this past year!!

1. What did you create/achieve/complete this year? HINT: When answering the questions a-c, look at your finances, business, relationships, health, well being, career, happiness, environment, upgraded beliefs/peace of mind, hobby, skills, performance, etc.

a) List what you are happy about achieving/creating and why it’s important/what it means to you.
b) List what you’d like to change or what didn’t turn out as expected.
c) List what you’ve left incomplete and want completion on.

Once you’ve listed your responses to #1, evaluate each response by asking the following question:

A. What lessons have you learned from this experience or by creating/completing this?

Here are some examples:

I’VE ACHIEVED:
* I strengthened my relationship with my children/family/friends/spouse/significant other.
* I began saving at least 10% of my income.
* I’ve doubled my sales volume.
* I set stronger boundaries for myself and now have more time for me.
* I approach my career in a way that serves me best.
* I’ve created my perfect client base, company procedures, etc.
* I’ve become stress free!
* I can now best manage my time using a weekly routine that keeps me highly productive while maintaining balance in my life.
* I’ve developed systems that help me achieve my goals (management, selling, marketing, business, etc.)

I’VE LEARNED:
* Being lighter about oneself opens up the possibility to have more fun.
* How powerful the freedom of choice can be.
* Setting specific goals, developing a vision and a strategy actually made me much more successful in less time!
* How important the people in my life are to me.
* To live more in the present.
* Taking care of myself allows me to take care of others with less effort or sacrifice.
* There’s no such thing as mistakes, just unexpected results that create opportunities for growth and learning.
* I’m fully accountable for the opportunities I create and each day is perfect (even when its not!)
* Trying to control things has its high costs and letting go/being flexible brings in new possibilities.

I WANT COMPLETION ON:
* Several tolerations that I’m putting up with that cause stress and need to be eliminated.
* The relationship I had with my partner/boss/friend/family member, etc.
* The projects that I’ve started around the house.
* The (selling, marketing, contact management, prospecting, leadership, professional development, communication, self care, life balance, customer support, staff development, etc.) system I started to create.

+++++NEW YEAR THEME AND VISION++++++++++++++++

2. Create Your Theme For The New Year: This is the year of …? Fill in the blank. (Strong relationships, well being, peace, happiness, great health, an abundance of fun, stress free living, reserves, overdelivering, etc.) Your theme complements your vision and enables you to prioritize what you want this New Year to look like. What’s the one thing you want to stand out most when you look back at the end of the year? Keep it short, maybe one or two sentences, tops.

3. Get your routine in order. (I.E. my book, Time Management for Sales Professionals)
4. Revisit your vision statement as well as your goals and place them as a recurring reminder in your CRM software so they are top of mind rather than collect dust.

Wishing you extreme success!
Keith

Download Keith’s New Professional Development Toolbar! Free Gift for Readers to Support Their 2007 Goals

Jan 14, 2007 Business Coaching, Business Tools, coaching for managers, Cold Calling Tips, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, How To Close The Sale, How to Manage Your Team, How To Sell and Sales Tips, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Sales Training, Time Management Tips

Download the first Professional Development Toolbar Now, Free!
Click Here for more info.

Here’s a totally unique toolbar that integrates seamlessly into your web browser which offers you and your team online coaching and training videos, Podcasts, communication tools, self assessments and templates that will help in developing the skills you need to achieve the results you want today.

NOTE: To satisfy those concerned (including myself!) with spyware, adware and other malicious features this toolbar has no spyware or viruses, does not open pop-ups or hijack your searches, and no personal information is required. The more I researched doing this project, the more I found that to be the #1 issue and reluctance of people to use these toolbars. That’s why I found a company who makes it very clear in both their privacy policy and their download page that they have made certain this was addressed, that it is their primary concern as well and as such, hopefully gives people like yourself the peace of mind to try what can prove to be a truly great tool.

Here’s the scene. You’re at your desk, feeling a bit overloaded, disorganized, behind the ball. Maybe you have some leads and sales that you should be closing faster. Maybe you need to get on the phone to bring in some more qualified prospects. Maybe you could use an added push, listen to a voice of inspiration or even a new cold calling template. Maybe you need to start meeting with your team on a more consistent basis so you can be the coach and manager you need to be for them. Maybe you need to stop procrastinating, admit you just don’t know everything and get some killer ideas to grow your business. Maybe all you need is my new toolbar, my New Year’s gift to you to ensure you stay true to your goals and efforts.

Tip: Do your sales team a huge favor and get this to them ASAP. You’ll be a hero. And if you want, I would be happy to create a customized toolbar specifically for you and your company.

Welcome to A New Way To Access The Resources You Need To Achieve More In Your Career

Here are just some of the highlights this toolbar offers you and the functionality you definitely don’t want to miss.

See Keith Coach! Online Coaching and Training. Stop stressing, click on the video or audio icon in the toolbar and get the “Just in Time” answers, coaching or strategies you need that will make ever day count and make you a winner. That’s what I said. F_ree video coaching and training as your fingerclicks.

Coach Connect: You’re two clicks away from asking me a question or dropping by to just say hello in my live forum. I love visitors, so come in stop by and introduce yourself! Chances are, it’s going to just be me and a few fellow coaches, salespeople, managers or business owners sharing ideas and collaborating.

K-Mail: Forget email and clogging up your inbox. This gives us a chance for us to communicate directly from my desktop and into your toolbar. You will also receive Special Offers, Contests and Exclusive Tools Only Available To Members through K-Mail.

K-Tools: I know, I should be charging for this. So for now, take advantage of the hundreds of articles, self assessments and templates that will help in developing the skills you need to achieve the results you want. Lets get tactical.

Additional Functionality Also Included In Your Toolbar: