2005 Is Half Over

As Lisa Haneberg of Management Craft  aptly points out, it is quarterly review time. Even if your business is small, this is an excellent habit to get into. If you have multiple employees and bigger, it is critical.  In fact, I've been amazed by multi-million dollar companies that do not have clear, written goals for the sales team on an ongoing basis. Now is the time.

Assuming that you have annual written goals on a whiteboard somewhere (note: if you don't, now is a GREAT time to do so for the balance of the year); written goals are simply statements of where you would like to be by year's end and beyond. It is important since you can not improve what you don't measure.

Use the classic S.M.A.R.T. goals template: make them specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and tangible. Also create a stretch goal for each of your goals - if you pushed harder, where would those goals be?

I'd like to toss to you some areas for you to watch and measure - some are conventional, others are not. The trick here is to make measuring these and accomplishing these FUN. Email me at lori@smileanddial.com if you would like to learn how to put fun into goal attainment.

Areas to be thinking about and measuring:
Activities you are doing that lead to new prospective customers.
Activities you are doing that lead to current customers increased $$.
Times you have designated to meet others; online and in person.
Tracking actual "talk-tos" and sales conversations and appointments.
Speaking engagements you have volunteered for or been asked to do.
Article writing or white papers - if you're not a speaker, then write!
Publishing articles and white papers - get the word out about you.

If you are committed to your success, it is not too late to make extreme improvements. We'll go indepth on these topics in upcoming posts. Enjoy the holiday weekend, if you are in Canada or the U.S., and take some time to contemplate small but steady tweaks to get you where you want to be.