I was twenty one years old when my father bought me a book on goal setting. The title of the book was "If you don't know where you're going you'll probably end up somewhere else".



Think about the title and realize that most salespeople have no idea where they're going or what they want to accomplish in sales. They spend more time planning a wedding than they do planning their career. Then they can't understand why they don't get what they want.

The problem is most salespeople have only vague wandering thoughts of what they want. They've never written their thoughts down in a coherent manner.

If you send a message to a friend do you write the words down in random order and expect your friend to figure out what it says? Of course not. You make it very clear what you're trying to say.

Then why not get clear about what you want to accomplish in sales? Follow these steps and you'll be amazed at how your life changes.

Write down on paper how you want your sales career to look.

Get out a piece of paper and start with your top 100 goals. Start writing a list of the things you want to accomplish in sales. I mean anything you can imagine, making five sales per week, getting organized, having a 100% referral business, spending more time with your family, hiring an assistant.

Think big and small. Include the big goals as well as the little steps to reach those goals.

Keep making the list until you reach 100, however, don't stop there. Carry the list with you and continue to write down more goals as you think of them. It may take several hours or days to complete this list. However, it's essential that you do it.

Take your top 100 list and start with the easiest ones and write a more specific description of what you want. If it's I want an assistant, what will they do for you? If it's referrals, how many do you want to receive

from each person, how many per day? If it's money, be specific. How much, and what will you do with it when you get it? Remember, BE SPECIFIC!

Next right down why you want it? Think about and write on paper why you want each of the goals on your Top 100 list. Get specific and dig deep to the emotions and feelings that are behind each one. It's in this step

you'll find which ones you truly are willing to pay the price to get and which ones are not really important.

It's important to send the right messages to your subconscious mind. You won't achieve your goals if you don't believe you can achieve them.

Examine your beliefs about your goals. Do you believe you can achieve them? Do you believe it will be difficult? What negative beliefs do you have

about achieving the goals you have set? If you have negative or limiting beliefs about your goals then you need to change them.

You need to feed your mind the possibilities and send the right message to your subconscious mind. What seems difficult should be considered easy. What you think you can't do should become something you can do. What you

don't believe is possible should become something you believe is possible.

If you want to close more sales, however, you don't know how, you need to change that to: I know how to close more sales or I am learning daily how

to close more sales. Any negative belief or thought pattern related to achieving your goal must be eliminated; otherwise you don't stand a chance

of achieving your goal.

You can take all the other steps required in setting goals, however, if you have a negative belief pattern related to achieving your goals, you will not succeed.

When those steps are completed, it's time to take action.

Start by thinking of all the things you can do to make your goals a reality. Write them down and keep adding to the list. Then start working on the list. Take the action necessary to achieve your goals.

Put actions on your to - do list every day pertaining to your goals. It's important to do something every day, even little things to create momentum. If you want to get in good physical condition you would exercise

daily, not at random now and then. The same holds true with your career goals. Make taking action towards your goals a daily habit.

Ask yourself this question: "What can I do today that will move me closer to achieving my goal of _____?" Then guess what? Do it!

Don't spend too much time analyzing your actions. If you're going to fail, then fail fast. Thomas Edison tried thousands of theories before successfully inventing the light bulb. However, it was the way he looked at failure that made the difference. Edison didn't consider those thousands of failed theories as failures. Each one showed him another way that wouldn't work. Each failure brought his team one step closer

to success.

Notice the results you are getting from your actions and make adjustments along the way. Keep moving forward.

Taking action is an important step in achieving the goals you have set for yourself. Many people fail at goal achievement because they never take any action.

When you decide what you want, why you want it, take action and send the right messages to your subconscious you'll begin to create opportunities to achieve your goals.