Productivity and Goals

It’s that time of year when we need to review the past year and see where we’ve been and plan for the new year. If you own your own business or rely upon commission sales for your income, then goal setting is one of the most important things you need to do. Not sure where to start?

Start with a piece of paper and a pen and writing them down!

1. You need to set SMART Goals.

What are SMART goals? They are -

• Specific – the what, why, when, where and how you will set your goals. You are giving the subconscious mind a detailed set of instructions to work on. The more information you give it, the more clearer the final outcome becomes Can you close your eyes and visualize the goal. Can you see it? So can your subconscious mind.
• Measurable – how will you measure your goals and successes?
• Action-oriented – how will you achieve your goals? What steps will you take to get there?
• Realistic – make sure your goals are achievable, don’t set them so high that you won’t reach them and set yourself up for failure
• Time Oriented – you need to set deadlines for your goals. Set specific dates to complete them by.

2. When you start planning your goals, don’t forget to include your personal and/or family goals as well. Many find it helpful to develop goals in each of the following 6 categories

• Family and Home
• Financial and Career
• Spiritual and Ethical
• Physical and Health
• Social and Cultural
• Mental and Educational

Setting goals in each area of your life will help ensure a more balanced life as you begin to examine and change the fundamentals of everyday living.

3. Write your goals in the positive instead of the negative. Set your goals to work towards what you want, and not for what you want to leave behind. One of the main reasons why you write down and examine your goals is to create a set of instructions for your subconscious mind to carry out. Your subconscious mind is a very efficient tool, it cannot decipher right from wrong and it does not judge. Its only function is to carry out its instructions. The more specific and positive instructions you give it, the more positive results you will get.

4. Break down your goals and activities so that you can measure incremental progress against your goals and remain accountable while tracking key business indicators. You may find the attached 4-1-1 form helpful if you are on commissioned sales. List your Gross Commission Income for the year that you want to reach, then break that down into a monthly goal and then break it down further to what you are going to do the 4 weeks out of each month to reach your monthly goal. 4-1-1 – four weeks, each month to reach your 1 year goal. Download this  411_planning_sheet.doc 68.00 Kb, it will you and your employees help turn plans into actions. Lay out the following as well:

• GCI – Gross Commission Income (before any expenses)
• Budget – what is your budget for expenses
• Net Income – what will be your take-home income
• Prospecting and Marketing – what are you going to do to generate more business and clients
• How are you going to increase your market share in your key areas
• Education – can you learn more about your industry so that you stand out from your competition and become the expert in your field.

5. Work with a facilitator to help you sharpen your focus refine your goals, and strategies. Certified FocalPoint Business Coaches work alongside you and your team to help take your planning to the next level. This can be one of the highest ROI investments you will make this year.

Contact  Brian's FocalPoint Home Office Referral Team, for a coach near you to discuss how you can blaze past last year’s results results and grow faster this year.