Brad Huisken

Challenge Yourself With Goals
October 18, 2007

The most successful companies, sales managers and sales people continually challenge themselves and their people through setting goals. It is my belief that goals are what move companies and people to higher levels of productivity and profitability. Without goals, or setting challenging levels of accomplishment, companies and people easily fall into the trap of mediocrity. In other words goals are what move people and organizations to the next level.

From a company standpoint, a business owner must let their people know what is expected of them on three levels. Those levels being: a minimum goal, actual goal and a stretch goal. Minimum is how much we have to produce, actual goal is how much we are expected to produce and stretch goal would be the level at which I would be willing to give a reward or bonus of some type. I find when you give people a goal they will work to achieve the goal, when you give people a stretch goal with a bonus or reward attached, people will push themselves to achieve. In a business goals should be set for the month with weekly targets to achieve the goal. Goals should be set in several areas depending upon the type of business. Sales to Goal - Add-On Sales - Closing Ratio - Average Sale etc are a few examples.

As an individual I think that you should have goals set in all aspects of your life, not just business. The process of setting goals isn’t that complicated, it is simply a matter of asking yourself three questions.

What do I want to achieve?
What is my plan to get there?
What am I going to do when the goal is attained?

In addition:
Goals must be written, this makes all the difference in the world as to whether you have committed to your goals or if you have simply had an idea that is easy to compromise.

Goals must be realistic and attainable, don’t take your winners and make them losers by setting goals too high. From a personal perspective don’t set out to achieve something that is totally out of the realm of possibility.
Goals must have a statistical measurement, Statistics allow you to track your progress toward achieving your goals and make adjustments along the way. Setting your goals should be done in logical steps toward achievement. In other words, work slowly and steadily toward the productivity increase; don’t believe things are going to do a 180 degree turn around in a matter of hours or days. It took time to get where you are today, be patient in reaching the next level that you want to achieve.

Growth is the result of the consistent pursuit and application of: knowledge, training and education. Knowledge, training and education give a company and the individuals within a company confidence for the future. 
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Posted by Brad Huisken on October 18, 2007 | Comments (0)