Most of the salespeople I train are not working on achieving personal goals.
They are not working on achieving “things for themselves” but rather focusing all of their efforts on achieving their company targets. There comes a time when a salesperson will question their efforts if they are not getting something personal out of the deal. (New TV, 4 Day boat cruise, etc. Contact us for phone sales training.
When driving in traffic to work “Why am I doing this”?
When being rejected by a customer “What am I doing this for”?
Salespeople need to have “Something in it for me” (SIIFM) to look forward to otherwise they end up grinding out day after day trying to achieve their sales targets with little enthusiasm and very little motivation for what they are doing.
Goal setting is a simple business but we tend to overcomplicate things by believing that goals have to be grand!
“In the next 5 to 10 years I want a Porsche, my own business, a holiday home in Spain”. 5 to 10 years is too far away, there is no real commitment and no pressure to achieve. As long as you are doing something useful everyday then in 5 years’ time you will have achieved many worthwhile personal goals.
If it’s not written down it’s not a goal, it’s a dream.
When I ask salespeople to write down their personal goals, what they would like to have, they struggle. If you don’t know what you want, it’s because you haven’t been out and looked!
It’s time to do a “Shopping trip”. Go to Makro. Have an open mind. Visit all departments and go through every aisle. Make a list of anything you see that you might like to have.
Working towards achieving personal goals and not just company targets helps salespeople to focus on their sales activities. Each phone call, meeting with a customer, presentation, close and any other sales activity now has a purpose.
In sales you can’t just work every day and not have anything personal to show for it. A salesperson without personal goals to achieve is only an order taker at best.
Question: What gives salespeople that spark when they need it, that determination to persist against the odds and not to give up too soon?
Answer: Working towards achieving personal goals.
Think back to 5 years ago; what were you doing and what personal goals did you want to achieve? The sad truth is that in 5 years’ time you will be in the same situation you are in now if you don’t start setting and achieving personal goals.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
© 2019 Ray Patterson. All materials, images and contents contained herein are the intellectual property of Ray Patterson and may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, displayed, adapted or modified without Ray Patterson’s express permission. Any unauthorized copying, reproduction, distribution, display, adaptation or modification will amount to copyright infringement.