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4 Reasons Why We Don’t Set Goals
Posted by: In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople 11 Dec 2024 0 comments Tags: , ,

By Michael Caron, President, Northbound Sales Training

In last week’s sales tip, I suggested that you shouldn’t set New Year resolutions.  I had some feedback that some people thought I was against setting goals.  Not at all.  I’m against setting goals or New Year resolutions without having a goal achievement process to prevent the “set ’em and forget ’em” failure cycle from taking hold.  This will most often set you up for failure and disappointment & frustration — exactly opposite of what you want!

If you’re a reader of sales-enhancing literature, you’ve surely read lots on the power of goal setting. If you consistently set written, realistic goals with all the other necessary components for goal success, then read no further. If, however, you are one of the 95% of the population who doesn’t, continue reading.

A powerful question then becomes, “If goal setting is so great, why do only 1 in 20 of us do it?” I don’t know what the statistics say for the number of us who exercise, but I suspect they are similar. Both are activities that undoubtedly produce immense benefits yet seem to elude the average person. There are 4 main reasons why we don’t.

1—Fear of Failure

The dreaded F.O.F. Many of us are stopped by the thought that, “If I set a goal and miss it, I will feel like a failure.” What is not understood is that having a goal always gets better performance than not—even if the goal is missed. What’s key is the need for goals to strike a balance between being too hard and too easy. If you’re hitting your goals all the time, it means that it’s time to raise the bar. You need to be challenged more to sustain growth and generate that feeling of accomplishment that salespeople thrive on. If, on the other hand, you are consistently missing your goals and all the other components of good goal setting are present, it’s important to reduce your goals to something more realistic. If your goals are simply too out of range, you will give up and they will no longer provide the power to motivate.
Also, what people who fear failure might not realize is that failure is necessary for growth. Knowing what not to do next time can be very valuable. Winston Churchill said, “I would rather fail my way to success rather than be a successful failure”. Failing can be the greatest learning experience.

2—Procrastination

To misquote Alexander the Great, “Why do something today that you can put off until tomorrow?” The art of procrastination is worthy of an article of it’s own! Setting goals, while incredibly powerful, isn’t something that has the urgency of other countless day-to-day tasks crying out for attention. Disappointingly, like other important but low urgency life enriching activities like exercise, learning and family, we put goal setting in the “when I have time” category.

3—“I’ve done OK without them”

If you’re satisfied with a just “O.K.” life, then this is a perfectly good excuse.

4—“I keep them in my head”

When teaching our “Bulls Eye!” goal setting workshop, I often hear this one. My immediate response is a query on the individual’s goals in key areas. The typical responses are some vague generalities with no time frame, no plan and most importantly no answer as to “why?” For the immense power of goal setting to be released, they must be taken out of your head and written down. The mere act of putting something in writing solidifies your brain’s ability to focus.
Your homework: Get yourself in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Write down the biggest sales failure in your career to date. What were the negative outcomes? What were the positive outcomes? (yes, you will find some if you look hard enough) Lastly, what did you learn?
An M.I.T. study found that the 3% of a graduating class who had set clear, written career goals upon finishing school, had cumulative net worth 20 years later greater than the entire other 97% combined!.

With a little bit of effort and discipline to avoid the classic goal setting obstacles noted above, you too can turn your dreams into reality.

New Years Isn’t the Only Time to Set Goals
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 11 Jan 2024 0 comments Tags: , , , ,

By Michael Caron, President, Northbound Sales Training

Tom, our fictitious and ambitious sales professional sees the new year coming down the track at breakneck speed. What activity does he make part of the season? Finding the best party to go to? Taking in the crazy Boxing Day sales at Electronic World? Yes and yes but Tom also views the dawning of the new block of twelve months as an opportunity to set down some fresh goals, sometimes referred to as New Years resolutions. And that’s great. Having goals always brings greater results than without, but if Tom could embrace some of the key components of achieving goals, he’ll be a lot happier next New Years.

The sad truth is that while 20% of the general population set written goals, only 5% reach them. Poor Tom, like most, do their goal setting and review only once a year—not nearly enough. In fact, most don’t even bother to do a review of last year’s goals leading to a repeat of the same unsuccessful strategy. To increase his odds of reaching his goals, he should be reviewing them monthly and the important ones weekly. Here are some of the other steps needed for goal fulfillment . . .
Effective goal management needs to be S.M.A.R.T. That is:

SPECIFIC:

The more specific, the better. Saying, “I’d like to sell more this year,” isn’t good enough. How many more sales exactly? At what margin?

MEASURABLE:

As the saying goes, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” You need to know if you’re winning or losing and you can’t tell if you’re not keeping score. It’s best to have major goals broken down into mini-goals that you can measure along the way.

ACTIONABLE:

Hope doesn’t cut it. You need to have a massive action plan designed. And you need to be ready to change. How many more calls am I going to do each month, each week, each day? Are they scheduled in your agenda? Are you planning on increasing your selling skills? How? When?

REALISTIC:

Goals need to be a delicate balance between too hard and too easy. Too hard and you’ll give up when you see it being out of reach. Too easy and you’ll feel like you haven’t really accomplished anything. R also stands for REVIEW. Reviewing your progress along the way allows you to adjust your tactics accordingly.

TIME PHASED:

If there is no time frame, there is no goal. Would you really be happy if you increased your sales in your last year before retirement? Of course not. Attach dates to everything. Pull out your goals regularly and “keep your eye on the prize”. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by some of the uncomfortable steps along the way. Keep your focus on how amazing you’re going to feel when you’ve reached your objective.

A great thing about training and developing sales teams is that I get to work with salespeople who, by nature, are goal oriented and high achievers. If you would like to learn more about improving your skills in reaching goals, Northbound offers “Bulls Eye! Setting and Reaching Your Goals,” a workshop dedicated to helping sales professionals get what they want out of their career and their life.  To learn more or arrange a complimentary session for your team, contact us.

4 Reasons Why We Don’t Set New Year’s Resolutions
Posted by: In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Training, Salespeople, Training, Uncategorized 07 Dec 2023 0 comments Tags: , , , , ,

New YearsThere are many reasons (excuses!) most people don’t get around to it.  Here are the 4 biggest.

By Michael Caron, President Northbound Sales

Of course, at this time of year, many of us are thinking about what we’d like to accomplish in 2024.  Like a lot of people, we might call them New Years resolutions.  Just over 40% of North Americans set at least one New Year’s resolution.  Sadly, most people fail to reach them by the end of the year but don’t let this stop you as studies have clearly shown that you always get better results with a goal than without.

Some of you already know that setting goals works.  If you’re a reader of sales-enhancing literature, you’ve surely read lots on the power of goal setting.  If you consistently set written, realistic goals with all the other necessary components for goal success, then read no further.  If, however, you are one of the 60% of the population who is convinced, continue reading to help overcome your resistance.

A powerful question is, “If setting goals is so great, why do less than half of us do it?” I don’t know what the statistics say for the number of us who exercise, but I suspect they are similar.  Both are activities that undoubtedly produce immense benefits yet seem to elude the average person.  There are 4 main reasons why we don’t set goals.

#1 – Fear of Failure

The dreaded F.O.F.  Many of us are stopped by the thought that, “If I set a goal and miss it, I will feel like a failure.”  What is not understood is that having a goal always gets better performance than not — even if the goal is missed.  What’s key is the need for goals to strike a balance between being too hard and too easy.  If you’re hitting your goals all the time, it means that it’s time to raise the bar.  You need to be challenged more to sustain growth and generate that feeling of accomplishment that salespeople thrive on.  If, on the other hand, you are consistently missing your goals and all the other components of good goal setting are present, it’s important to reduce your goals to something more realistic.  If your goals are simply too out of range, you will give up and they will no longer provide the power to motivate.

Also, what people who fear failure might not realize is that failure is necessary for growth.  Knowing what not to do next time can be very valuable.  Winston Churchill said, “I would rather fail my way to success rather than be a successful failure”.  Failing can be the greatest learning experience.

#2 – Procrastination

To misquote Alexander the Great, “Why do something today that you can put off until tomorrow?”  The art of procrastination is worthy of an article of it’s own (put title and link here).  Setting goals, while incredibly powerful, isn’t something that has the urgency of other countless day-to-day tasks crying out for attention.  Disappointingly, like other important but low urgency life enriching activities like exercise, learning and family, we put goal setting in the “when I have time” category.

#3 – “I’ve done OK without them”

If you’re satisfied with a just “O.K.” life, then this is a perfectly good excuse.

#4 – “I keep them in my head”

When teaching our “Bulls Eye! – Setting and Reaching Your Goals” workshop, I often hear this one.  My immediate response is a query on the individual’s goals in key areas.  The typical responses are some vague generalities with no time frame, no plan and most importantly no answer as to “why?”  For the immense power of goal setting to be released, they must be taken out of your head and written down.  The mere act of putting something in writing solidifies your brain’s ability to focus.

Your homework: Get yourself in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.  Write down the biggest sales failure in your career to date.  What were the negative outcomes? What were the positive outcomes? (yes, you will find some if you look hard enough)  Lastly, what did you learn?

An M.I.T. study found that the 3% of a graduating class who had set clear, written career goals upon finishing school, had cumulative net worth 20 years later than the entire other 97% combined!.

With a little bit of effort and discipline to avoid the classic goal setting obstacles noted above, you too can turn your dreams into reality.

Click here for more information on the “Bulls Eye – Setting and Reaching Your Goals” workshop or contact  Michael Caron at [email protected] or 416.456.1440.

Are Your 2023 New Year’s Resolutions Being Met?
Posted by: In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople, Training, Uncategorized 19 Jan 2023 0 comments Tags: , , , , , ,
Setting Goals & ExpectationsChecking your progress is critical for success!

You might be thinking, “Why is he asking me how I’m doing on my New Year’s resolutions when it’s only January?”  The reason is that 1 in 4 people don’t even make it through the first week on their resolutions or goals, whatever you want to call them!  If you don’t get off to a good start, there’s little chance of you hitting your goals by the end of the year.  Goals can be the source of motivation and drive yet they can also represent endless frustration if we fail to reach them.

Everyone knows that goals make a difference, an incredible difference in fact. We all know (and maybe even secretly envy!) our friends and colleagues who set and reach their goals. High achievers will rarely be heard saying things like, “I don’t know how I did so well. It just sort of happened!” Rather, they use a process that others don’t.

If goals are so powerful, why do only 5% of the population set clear goals for their career and their life? The biggest reason is the dreaded F.O.F.—Fear of Failure—an enemy I was first introduced to many years ago in training as a summer student manager for College Pro Painters. The thinking seems to be “If I don’t have goals, I certainly can’t fail reaching them can I?” Of course, this is skewed logic leading to failure.
What these people might not realize is that failure is fundamental to growth and higher performance in the future. Further, research proves that having goals almost always leads to greater results than not having them — even if you fail to reach them!

Reaching goals is something you can learn

The second most common reason for not setting goals is not knowing how. Setting & reaching goals is more complex than many people may think. It is a process that needs to be taught. Strangely, most people have little to no training on this powerful skill. If you are one of the few who took the time to write down some goals for 2023, congratulations. You’ve taken an important first step! Now let’s check to see if you have some of the other components that will lead to success. Effective goal management needs to be S.M.A.R.T. That is:
SPECIFIC. The more specific, the better. Saying, “I’d like to sell more this year,” isn’t good enough. How many more sales exactly? At what margin?
MEASURABLE. As the saying goes, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” You need to know if you’re winning or losing and you can’t tell if you’re not keeping score. It’s best to have major goals broken down into mini-goals that you can measure along the way.
ACTIONABLE. Hope doesn’t cut it. You need to have a massive action plan designed. And you need to be ready to change. How many more calls am I going to do each month, each week, each day? Are they scheduled in your agenda? Are you planning on increasing your selling skills? How? When?
REALISTIC. Goals need to be a delicate balance between too hard and too easy. Too hard and you’ll give up when you see it being out of reach. Too easy and you’ll feel like you haven’t really accomplished anything. R also stands for REVIEW. Reviewing your progress along the way allows you to adjust your tactics accordingly.
TIME PHASED. If there is no time frame, there is no goal. Would you really be happy if you finally hit your sales target in your last year before retirement? Of course not. Attach dates to everything. Pull out your goals regularly and “keep your eye on the prize”. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by some of the uncomfortable steps along the way. Keep your focus on how amazing you’re going to feel when you’ve reached your objective.

A great thing about training and developing sales teams is that I get to work with salespeople who, by nature, are goal oriented and high achievers. If you would like to learn more about improving your skills in reaching goals, Northbound offers “Bulls Eye!”, a workshop dedicated to helping sales professionals get what they want out of their career and their life.