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HOW do I reach my goals?

Now that your goals are written, we move to creating a strategy for achievement.

This is kind of fun because you can focus on HOW you will achieve this. During your evaluation and assessment of the year, you might have noticed that you like doing some strategies more than others, or you were better at some than others, or some strategies were more effective than others.  You may have found that the market or buying habits of your customers/clients has changed and you need to adjust your appro…

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What exactly are goals?

Consider WHAT you WANT to create and achieve next year. What matters to you so much that you are going to “make it happen,” as my father used to say by setting a strategy. Those are your goals.

Goals should always be written as RESULTS. Articulation is important. I like the S-M-A-R-T process because it’s clear and simple.

               Specific                             Clear, not ambiguous or vague.
               Measurable                    It can be counted. Numbers or percentages…

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Goals Again

Yes. Goals again!

In most showrooms, December is rather quiet, with customers, clients and designers preparing for and celebrating the holidays. Prior to setting goals for the new year, December is a good month for evaluation and analysis if you didn’t do so in November. If not, see my November blogs for assistance.

Are you noticing any resistance to writing goals for next year? Do you have any sense that you don’t really need to do write goals? Perhaps you feel that you have figured out a p…

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Differently

Differently? What?

We have looked at what to do more of, less of…and now differently.

Doing things differently is just that. If you have been ‘white-knuckle attached’ to using a paper
calendar and absolutely resisting using technology…it might finally be time to do things
differently.

Or you don’t want to make appointments with prospects you haven’t closed, preferring to follow
up in 2 days, because you think appointments are too pushy. Look at what it cost you in time and effectiveness.

C…

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Bear Down

The strategy for coming from behind has MORE actions than the strategy for making goal when you are on track to do so. 
That means elevating expectations and perspective of what it will take…to aim higher and be prepared to do what you need to do to achieve the goal.

That also means MORE outreach calls. Making more appointments. Closing more appointments and more sales…and doing more with the time you have or maybe extending the time needed to each segment of the period. 

Notice your reac…

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Be Realistic and Honest

This month I'd like to dedicate time to discuss ENDING a selling period…and ending it on track and on goal, even if the month didn’t go as smoothly as desired.

We are now in the fourth quarter of the year, so the skill of finishing strong applies to the month as well as to the year.
Let’s start with being straight and realistic. You are either on track to make goal or you are not. You have had a specific number of opportunities that you have closed or scheduled, or you have not. You have sch…

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What is Your Relationship to Organization?

As a natural list maker, it still surprises me when I work with someone who relies solely on a daily to-do list and doesn’t use a calendar. Is that you?

A daily to-do list is an insufficient structure for organizing actions in time. They are good vehicles for prioritizing results per day…but using them exclusively fosters high stress and a narrow perspective…which is why I encourage using a calendar with at least a weekly view. It encourages a wider vision of the time allowed and the best tim…

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Sell it or Schedule it: Train it and Coach it.

Now that you know the elements of Sell it or Schedule it, what are the skills to develop to train it or to coach your sales associates?

If you need to increase the team close ratio, what are the actions in the sales process that will accomplish that? Which steps in Sell it or Schedule it will raise their success rate? How are you going to do that?

And once you train a selling skill, how are going to coach it - formally and Informally?
How will you structure your observations on the floor to wa…

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Sell it or Schedule it: Know it and Demonstrate it.

We all nod in agreement when someone says, “You need to lead by example.”And yet, when put to the test to demonstrate the process that the salespeople are expected to execute, many sales managers would fail. So I ask you, how would you do with that?

Are you able to demonstrate 'Sell it or Schedule it' by taking a sales opportunity in the showroom and executing the process from start to finish…including getting a sale or getting an appointment?

Being able to demonstrate selling actions that pro…

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Sell it or Schedule it…or “You Do You.”

If you manage a sales team, your role is to have each of them make their goals and improve their performance… and if they do, then you make YOUR goal, which is the SHOWROOM goal.

(Yes, the showroom goal is YOUR goal.)

And to do that, you need structures and actions and a methodology to teach from, or you will be managing your team from your own behavioral preferences and your own selling autobiography.

That doesn’t mean that what you did when you were a salesperson was wrong or deficient, esp…

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