Creating Your Monthly Target

If you haven't created your yearly goal and broken it down into monthly goals, now is the time to get on it. You'll only achieve those numbers if you start immediately. So, today sales trainer Kelley Robertson shares how to create monthly goals you'll stick to all year.

Have you set targets for 2010? If you don't know where you're going, how will you get there? Here are a few simple strategies from Robertson that can help you make the most of the upcoming year.

Write down EXACTLY what you want to achieve by the end of the year as well as each quarter and month. Use the SMART formula:

Specific
Motivational
Achievable (in your mind)
Relevant (to your situation)
Time framed

Next, create a mental image of yourself completing the goal and how you will feel, act and think. For extremely powerful results create a visual representation of your goal and place it where you will see it all the time.

The third step is to record two to three action steps you can take that will help you achieve your goal. The more ambitious your target is the more action steps you will likely need to plot out.

Finally, take some form of action within the next 24 hours. This is a powerful strategy because it tells your subconscious mind that you are serious about attaining that particular goal.

Avoid the "I'll just let things happen" syndrome; plan your outcome. Smart salespeople know that time invested in planning always pays dividends.

As President of The Robertson Training Group, Kelley has helped thousands of professionals improve their business results with his engaging approach to sales training and speaking. Learn more at www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com.

Conceive, Believe and Achieve!

When asked what he believes is the most important factor in determining a salesperson's success, sales trainer John Boe doesn't go with the expected answers of hard work or attitude. (Although both are very important!) "While these factors are certainly key components of achievement, in my opinion, the critical ingredient in determining success is one's ability to stay focused on the accomplishment of meaningful goals," says Boe.

"Unfortunately, far too many salespeople look at the goal setting process as a burdensome numbers drill imposed upon them by their sales manager," continues Boe. "It's been my observation that both success and failure leave a trail and everyone is self-made, but only successful people are willing to admit it. Unsuccessful people don't set goals and have a common tendency to blame circumstances, events and other people for their lack of focus and determination."

Here are three tips from John Boe to help you clarify and achieve your goals:

1. Determine where you want to go and chart your course.
Your goals must be realistic and believable, while at the same time, challenging enough to compel you to put forth your best effort and give you pride in their accomplishment. Avoid setting conflicting goals such as I want to double my income and spend more time at home.

2. Write your goals down and visualize their accomplishment.
Anything that is worth achieving begins with a written plan. Because the mind thinks in terms of pictures, rather than numbers, I also recommend creating a vision board. For example, I have a vision board in my office with pictures of a world map, expensive cars and a vacation home at the beach. I get excited just looking at it!

3. Review your goals and make adjustments as required.
After takeoff, due to the ever-changing weather patterns, pilots must make minor adjustments to their airspeed and heading to stay on course for their destination. Review your goals daily and make minor adjustments as needed on a monthly basis.

John Boe presents motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have John speak at your next event, visit www.johnboe.com.

Third Quarter Planning

Nine months down, three to go. Are you where you want to be? Have you exceeded your quota, or are you working to close a deal - any deal? Whatever the case, it's important to view the third quarter just like you would any other, and that entails effective sales planning. Sales trainer Jim Meisenheimer says, "At least once a year professional salespeople should dedicate a minimum of one day to strategically think about their business." If you haven't already done so, make a plan for your third quarter and how it will propel you into the New Year. Use these tips from Meisenheimer to begin your planning, and you'll be on the path to success.

"Begin your planning process with these six critical questions," suggests Meisenheimer. "Direct these questions at your business, your territory, your accounts, your customers, and naturally your competitors, and consider this process a success if you end up with more questions than answers."

1. Where are you are now? Where are you now relative to your selling results and sales skills? How's your performance? What's your relative rank within your region and within your company?

What kind of overall growth do you have in your territory and in your top 10 accounts? Where are your competitors making inroads in your accounts? How well are you managing your time in your territory? What are your biggest challenges and best opportunities for growth? Please be specific.

2. Where are you headed if you don't change anything? What's the implication for you if you don't acquire new skills? What happens to your overall performance next year if you don't make up the loss of your second-largest customer?

How will your customers react to a strategy that is really based on a "More of the same" philosophy, especially when your competitors are becoming more creative in their approach? With more work and less time available, how are you planning to manage next year when your business is expected to grow 7% across the board?

3. Where should you be headed? Do you have specific personal and professional goals? Are these goals specific and clearly defined? Are they in writing? Do you have completion dates established? For each of your top 10 accounts do you have specific objectives for sales, margins, growth rates, product mix, etc?

4. How will you achieve your objectives? You really can't "do" a goal or an objective. What you can and must do is create a written action plan detailing how specifically you plan to achieve the goals you outlined when considering question three.

For example, if your goal is to increase your sales by 6.5% in your largest account, how specifically will you do it? How many "how's" will it take to achieve your goal?

5. What are the specific details involved? The details refer to: who, what, where, why, when, which, and how as they relate to initiating and implementing your strategies. In sales, minor adjustments often create big impacts.

6. What should you measure? Always measure what matters most. One of my favorite old sayings is "What gets measured gets done." To keep you on your stated course (objectives) how will you measure your progress? What key elements of success should your review monthly? Personal growth and development are often the result of careful measurement and evaluation.

"The difference between first-place and second place is often a very narrow margin," says Meisenheimer. "It's time for a tune-up if you're serious about making this year's 4th quarter your best 4th quarter ever."

Former U.S. Army Officer Jim Meisenheimer is an author, speaker and sales trainer with years of successful selling experience. He publishes the bi-weekly No-Brainer Selling Tips Newsletter, which is packed full of information to help you win bigger sales and KO the competition. Learn more at http://www.meisenheimer.com/

Setting Goals for 2008

Successful salespeople know that setting goals is one of the best ways to stay on track throughout the year, and now is the perfect time to get started. Have you created your plan for the year? How many more clients do you want to sign on? How much money do you want to make?

"If you haven't started thinking about your sales goals, you're likely to be in the same place this time next year," says sales breakthrough expert Rochelle Togo-Figa. "The definition of a goal is 'a dream with a plan and a deadline.'"

"The most common reasons people don't reach their goals are they fail to write them down, fail to make a plan, and fail to take action. Without knowing where you want to go and how you're going to get there, you'll never reach your goal destination."

Here are Togo-Figa's nine steps to help you achieve your goals:

• Create your S.M.A.R.T. goals for the year. Make sure your goals are vivid and specific, measurable in quantity, achievable, realistic but also a stretch, and you have a timeline of when you'll reach your goal.

• Write down all barriers you can think of that might get in the way of you achieving your goals. Writing down all these thoughts on paper helps to diminish them.

• Select the top 3 goals you want to reach in the next 3 months from your list, and commit yourself to taking an action step every day to achieving these goals.

• Write specific action steps for each goal. An action step doesn't have to take very long to do. It could be spending 10-15 minutes daily working towards that goal. If your goal is to sign on four new clients in the next three months, an action step could be making ten new prospect calls each day before 9am.

• Make a list of people who can support you in reaching your goals. They may also have goals that you can support them in reaching. People like to help, so ask them.

• Put your goals in a visible place so you can see them daily. Post them on your desk, in your car, on your bathroom mirror.

• Every day read your goals aloud. Speak your goals in the present tense, as if you're already there. The more you say your goals aloud and to yourself, the more real they become.

• Visualize yourself having reached your goals. See yourself succeeding. How excited you'll be when you bring in those new clients and get that bonus commission check!

• Promise yourself that you will achieve your goals. If you want this to be the year of sales breakthroughs, then it's up to you to commit yourself emotionally, mentally and physically. Otherwise, it's likely not to happen.

Put these goals into practice while setting your goals, and you'll see success throughout the year.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System. Visit her website at www.SalesBreakthroughs.com