I am going to be bold and state that everyone sets goals. But, there is a vast difference between achievers, smart goal setting, and simply setting goals. I want to ask you a question - are you doing smart goal setting when setting goals? Join me as I show you how you can start smart with setting goals.
Setting goals and achieving goals is both a science and an art. There is many ways to go about it, you can be analytical with goal setting or you can start getting creative. In either case goals fall down into 2 parts.
The 2 parts of goal setting, can be thought of as a piece of string, a timeline. This timeline has a point A and a point B. These points are critical, because point A shows you in your current position, and point B shows you at your goal achieved.
This looks good so far, but why doesn't everyone achieve there goals? The biggest problem is that most people don't go through both parts. Without setting effective goals, there is no way to maneuver to the destination.
You see, most people will set goals. They will set goals at New Year, when it is time to go on vacation, etc. But, they will never sit down and plan the most important destination, and that is life.
Goal setters are a different breed of people. Instead of focusing on such words as fate, destiny takes on a new meaning, because day by day, you can design your life, how you want. And this is the domain of the goal setter. Because they are focused to do, be or have something.
In my research, I have found that approximately 50-60% of people who set goals, achieve them. This may seem like flipping a coin, and goal setting may not prove successful. However, the truth is that when we take a look at the New Year resolution goal achievers, the figures dip down into 1% success rate.
So, smart goal setting is about tipping the balance in our favor. And there are many ways to accomplish this. Writing your goal down adds a few percentage points in your favor.
Add a goal setting system to this equation and you can take the success rate even higher. Now, there is only one part that makes or breaks all these benefits, and that is action.
Now, I can't stress the action part. Some people are all for the action, and forget the goal setting and planning phase, while others don't act. And here is the biggest concern, because the goal setters, who don't make it, are those who don't act.
Action is the most important part, because goal setting can take you a week, it could take a day. If you have been looking at setting life goals, you can easily do that within a week or like I did, invest a whole month into the process.
That is small in comparison to the action necessary. When I set a life goal, it requires decades of effort. Action and smart goal setting is the only way to achieve success.
Have you ever set a stupid goal? You know, a goal made in the rush of excitement with little thought as to how it was going to get done or how it fit with the other priorities of your life. I have sold expensive pieces of exercise equipment for pennies on the dollar and have thick notebooks of training material lining my shelves as testimony to the futility of stupid goals.
Goal setting, however, is still an important part of my life. But a certain kind of goal setting, SMART goal setting. Goals are SMART when they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant to current business objectives, and Time bound.
When goals follow this formula, they also get done. Which, or course, is the whole point of goal setting.
A FIVE STEP SYSTEM FOR SETTING A SMART GOAL
1. State your goal in one sentence.
The one sentence rule forces you to be sharply focused and state clearly and plainly what you intend to accomplish. This is incredibly powerful. Gaining clarity right at the start of the goal planning process. Most business leaders never do this in setting their goals.
Here is an actual statement from a SMART Goal of salesman I worked with:
To achieve $1.8 million of agricultural sales in 2006 by selling $600K of fertilizer by April , $600K of fungicide and growth regulator by June, and $600K of lime, herbicide, and other products by December.
Note how this goal is very specific and measurable, by both amount and product. In analyzing his accounts at the beginning of the year, it became obvious that it was achievable and the dates we set were in line with the growing season of his customers. It is also aligned with the overall business objectives of the company and his own family's financial goals.
In short, it is SMART.
2. List the main benefits of achieving this goal.
If we want to lose weight, fitness experts tell us that we should focus on gaining health, a postive outcome, not all the food weare not allowed to eat on our diet. When we place the benefits of our goals before us, they become powerful motivators for the process of change.
The benefits of this sales professional's SMART goal were:
1. I will feel a great sense of accomplishment of having sold more product than in any other year. 2. I will feel good about the job I am doing for my company, a place I love to work. 3. I will enjoy increased pay through commissions and bonuses. 4. I will set the table for years of repeat business with these customers.
Understanding fully the benefits of fuflfilling this goal taps the power of our emotions to get it done.
3. List the steps of action for achieving this goal
Here is where the rubber meets the road and, according to my client, the part of the goal planning process gave him the most value. We took the time, step by step, to list exactly what it would take to get it done.
Each step was given a date and a deadline that was then placed into his calendar.
As we continued working together, I held him accountable for completing these steps of action. As they were met, we celebrated, or, if they were missed, we made a mid-course correction and moved on. Here are some of those steps of action:
1. Update and analyze soil samples of my all my customers by April 24. 2. Write up fertilizer blend recommendations based on the soil samples by March 8. 3. Make appointments with all my customers to present recommendations by March 10. 4. Apply first round of dry fertilizer by March 30. 5. Apply second round of liquid fertilizer by April 30.
4. List the possible obstacles for the completion of this goal
This is a missing link when most people set goals, asking oneself the question, "What can go wrong?" It is NOT smart to think only about the new opportunities a goal brings you without analyzing the obstacles that stand in your way.
Furthermore, if a goal has nothing standing in its way, it would have been done by now. By uncovering as many of these obstacles as possible at the beginning of the goal planning process, you can address them right from the start so they don't derail performance.
In other words, if there are clouds on the horizon, bring an umbrella so that you are ready for them! With this salesman we identified these three obstacles:
1. Letting a bottleneck develop by doing all my own soil sample work 2. Losing sales due to pricing concerns 3. Losing sales due to product supply
5. List the possible solutions to the obstacles of this goal
Having placed the obstacles this sales professional faced on the table, we realized that some of them had hindered his goal completion in the past. So we began to design solutions, which included talking with his manager who had no idea that there were product supply problems!
Here are this SMART goal's solutions:
1. Work closely with scouts to help with gathering soil samples 2. Get pricing strategy set BEFORE customers bring it up. 3. Solve supply problems at the management level.
WHAT HAPPENED AS A RESULT?
Following this exact SMART goal planning process, this salesman increased his sales from $1.2 million to $1.8 million. His goal was accomplished, not in the year's timeframe we gave it, but in SIX MONTHS. That is a sales increase of 50% in 50% less time.
Perhaps the most important thing to understand about this story, however, is that this was not a sales superstar. He was a normal, average guy, very much an introvert. His sales had been stuck at $1.2 million or less for over the past five years. Yet, with a SMART system in place, he experienced success beyond what he thought he could possible accomplish.
What would an increase of 50% of sales in 50% less time do for your business? Get SMART and you could experience the answer to that question.
Both Koz Huseyin & Bill Zipp are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Koz Huseyin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Multi Level Marketing, Gadgets and Start Online Business. Find out more about and the I use, and get. Koz Huseyin's top article generates over 1000000 views. to your Favourites.
Bill Zipp has sinced written about articles on various topics from Careers and Job Hunting, Customer Service and self improvement and motivation. Succeed wildly at what you do AND have a life outside of work! Learn how with The Business Fitness? System. Designed by Bill Zipp, President of Leadership Link, Inc., The Business Fitness? System is a proven program that provides a step-by-step plan for b. Bill Zipp's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.