It is that time of year when all professional and dedicated sales professionals should be focusing on what they want to achieve next year.

Having said that, most people, and I would estimate 80%, because Pareto’s principle is always pretty accurate, will not set objectives and in failing to plan will in effect, be planning to fail.

The greatest difficulty most people have is knowing where to begin, so here are some thoughts that will hopefully assist you in constructing an achievable plan for the next twelve months and beyond.

You have to set yourself goals, become goal orientated and a goal achiever – otherwise you will drift through life like a ship without a rudder hoping to be swept into a “harbour of opportunity” Unfortunately, without a rudder, you are more likely to end up on the rocks and in later life look back in frustration: “I could have” “If only I had” etc, but by then it will be too late.

Do You Have A Life Map? – If Not, Think Of The Pilot:

Before a pilot takes off he knows the distance and the payload; he has assessed the weather conditions at departure and arrival points and he has contingency plans should those conditions dramatically change in any way.

He is the manager of his crew, he is prepared at all times for the unexpected and he is capable of making instant decisions. He is also able to psychologically accept the mundane

What Have You Been In The Past? Making An Honest Appraisal:

The objective of appraising your past performance, whether that is last year or your entire life is to improve and capitalise on your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses or limitations. Completing a SLOT analysis regularly will help you enormously.

The SLOT analysis can be an extremely useful technique for you to think about what you can offer relative to your external environment and helps you to take stock of your position so that you can plan your future development.

S = Strengths:

What can I do well? What are my best skills and attributes? Where do I have the greatest talent? (Try to illustrate your ideas with concrete examples.)

L = Limitations:

What am I less good at? (In which aspects of your work and personal life do you need improvement? Is the improvement needed large or small?)

O = Opportunities:

What is currently happening that can give me the opportunity for personal growth and improved performance? As technology changes and society advances what new opportunities will occur that I can take advantage of?

T = Threats:

What changes or forces may affect my current situation or act as a barrier to future development? Which people might get in the way? How could I sabotage my own development?

The Strengths and Limitations elements are personal to you. Opportunities and Threats lie in the external environment.

Use Your SLOT Analysis To:

• Identify how you can maximise the use of your strengths

• See how you can compensate for your limitations

• Identify opportunities, particularly ones that may not be immediately obvious

• If at all possible, see if threats can be turned into opportunities

What you have been in the past can only have two influences on the present – positive or negative. I believe that successful people have invisible plastic wings on their shoulders and this prevents them continually looking back: They only take good experiences forward with them, casting off disappointments, errors of judgement and unhappy times.

Today’s News: Imagine being able to find all of the world’s best sales blogs in one location – well from tomorrow you will be able to do just that -

Full details tomorrow.

Tomorrow: My guest is Dr.Drew Stevens – the “Voice Of TSE”

All managers expected to carry out performance appraisal should have some training. Ideally this should not just be on the skills of performance appraisal – the ‘how’ to do it, but also on the reasons for performance appraisal the ‘why’ we do it. Managers should understand how it fits into the wider strategic process of performance management and how the information and data generated contributes to understanding of the capacity of the human capital of the organisation to contribution to business strategy and value.

A basic requirement is that appraisers have the skills to carry out an effective appraisal as described above. This means they ask the right questions, listen actively and provide feedback.

Asking the right questions:

The two main issues are to ensure that appraisers ask open and probing questions.

Open questions are general rather than specific; they enable people to decide how they should be answered and encourage them to talk freely. Examples include:

• How do you feel things have been going?

• How do you see the job developing?

• How do you feel about that?

• Tell me, why do you think that happened?

Probing questions dig deeper for more specific information on what happened or shy. They can should support for the individual’s answer and encourage them to provide more information about their feelings and attitudes and they can also be used to reflect back to the individual and check information. Examples would be:

• That’s very interesting. Tell me more about ….?

• To what extent do you think that …?

• Have I got the right impression? Do you mean that ….?

Listening:

Good listeners:

• Concentrate on the speakers and are aware of behaviour, body language and nuances that supplement what is being said.

• Respond quickly when necessary but don’t interrupt.

• Ask relevant questions to clarify meaning.

• Comment on points to demonstrate understanding but keep them short and do not inhibit the flow of the speaker.

Giving feedback

Feedback should be based on facts not subjective opinion and should always be backed up with evidence and examples. The aim of feedback should be to promote the understanding of the individual so that they are aware of the impact of their actions and behaviour. It may require corrective action where the feedback indicates that something has gone wrong. However, wherever possible feedback should be used positively to reinforce the good and identify opportunities for further positive action. Giving feedback is a skill and those with no training should be discouraged from giving feedback.

Feedback will work best when the following conditions are met:

• Feedback is built in with individuals being given access to readily available information on their performance and progress.

• Feedback is related to actual events, observed behaviours or actions.

• Feedback describes events without judging them.

• Feedback is accompanies by questions soliciting the individual’s opinion why certain things happened.

• People are encouraged to come to their own conclusions about what happened and why.

• There is understanding about what things went wrong and an emphasis on putting them right rather than censuring past behaviour.

Today’s News: I have received a number of messages in the last two weeks, asking if I am going to run “The JF Annual Awards” this year, and the answer is most definitely yes! We are currently working on some designs, and I will be announcing the nominees on the 16th. If you missed last year’s event, you can check out, what it is all about here 

Tomorrow: My favourite posts of the week – “JF Uncut” is back, so if you need some light relief after all that Christmas shopping, be sure to join me.

Success should be something you don’t just ‘Kinda Sorta’ want to achieve but something you must achieve.

Generally top achievers expect to be successful and as a consequence they usually are. They are driven by a ‘have to’ attitude not a ‘want to’ attitude.

If you have no concrete goals and you have been succeeding in spite of yourself, just think how much more success you could enjoy if you set your sights on a definite path and had a specific time-frame in which you expect to reach your destination.

Setting Goals Keeps You Focussed:

What you should know is that goals give you three distinct advantages, which help you succeed:

• Goals keep you on track

• Goals let you know when and what to celebrate

• Goals give you a focussed plan to work with

If nothing else, goals let others know what they have to aim for to keep up with your standards.

Effective Goal Setting:

Take the time to think about what would make you happy, contented and satisfied and about what would motivate you to become a Top 5% Player.

It’s important to remember that goals are maps; they will guide you towards your success – the more detailed your goal setting the easier it will be for you to reach your destination.

When you are in the first stage of goal setting you also need to remember two important factors – i.e.

• The goal must be better than your best yet – but it must be achievable.

• Goals should be based on productivity not production.

Keeping these two rules of goal setting firmly in your mind will help you to form and stay committed to what is really important to you.

Time Yourself – By Months, Years & Decades:

• Always begin with long-term goals and work backwards. Your long-term goals are probably the most difficult to set anyway, so if you set those first, you accomplish the tough stuff right up-front.

• Long-term goals should be five-year projections and three areas you may want to consider when you set them are personal accomplishments, status symbols and net worth.

• Medium-term goals are usually three year projections and the same criteria can be used – but again think productivity not production and consider the activity that will be necessary to achieve success.

• Short-term goals will demand most of your attention and these are usually a twelve-month projection although you can set ‘immediate goals’ which have a 90-day projection.

You must believe you can achieve all of your goals – otherwise you will not
achieve them.

Setting a Well Balanced Diet of Goals:

It is essential to set personal as well as career goals to keep your life well balanced. If all your goals are connected to your commercial life, you will have trouble taking time out for family and friends because you will always be pushing towards the next career goal.

Remember:

Work smarter not harder. Setting personal goals gives you a life after business.

Put Your Goals in Writing:

Once you have formulated your goals it is time to make your final commitment to them by putting them down in writing. This is undoubtedly the single most important step in goal setting because until they are inscribed somewhere they are merely wishes and dreams.

After you have written them down, your mind will start seeking out whatever it will take to make them a reality.

Remember:

The moment you start moving forward towards a goal is the moment you start to succeed.

In Summary:

Even though you do not need to set goals in order to reach some level of success, most professionals who fail to set goals reach a plateau and lack either the motivation or the direction to go beyond it. They are unable to move upwards to a higher achievement status.

Today’s News:

Special message from the “Queen Of Cold Calling” that I need to pass on to you:

Hello Jonathan,
 
Earlier this week, I sent you an email that we will be hosting our first ever Black Friday Sa.le!  This is just a reminder for you of the following coupon codes needed to take advantage of these special offers:
 
40% off of all products (excluding events and teleclasses) all day Friday, November 28, 2008. (use coupon code BF2008) to view the product store, click here.
 
50% off of one of three available Cold Calling College Live tuitions (starting February 2009) – a savings of nearly $500.00!  (use coupon code BFCCCL) For more information on Cold Calling College Live, Click Here.

Sounds like some pretty good deals to me

Tomorrow: It’s JF Uncut, and I am going to be thinking about what it takes for people to think they have “made it,” just how far the British go to “Keep up with the Jones’” – and how such insane vanity is now leading to such agony.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are coming up to that time of year when we should be benchmarking our 2008 performance, conducting post-mortems and setting out our objectives for 2009. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be offering advice and providing guidelines.

I have always worked with the following formula:

Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success

Therefore, when measuring my teams, I always ensure that I benchmark against that criteria:

A simplified example might look something like this (although I have to admit that my own companies’ measurement system is much more rigorous):

Personal

• Self-organisation & planning

• Motivation and attitude

• Ability to work under pressure

• Team playing and interpersonal skills

• Personal presentation

• Communication (oral/written/listening)

• Flexibility

• Initiative

• Performance vs. objectives

Sales

• Account management

• Business development

• Opportunity assessment -qualification

• Negotiation skills

• Presentation skills

• Strategic work

• Pro-activity

• Forecasting

• Achievement of targets

And for those with supervisory responsibilities you could add:

• Delegating authority

• Decision making

• Motivating – i.e. Creating enthusiasm and confidence

• Appraising and assessing

• Selecting and recruiting

• Coaching and developing

• Creativity

• Planning and allocating resource

• Representing

Next you need to implement a grading or scoring system – I use the following:

E – Poor: Definitely below acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is consistently deficient.

D – Fair: Improvement is needed to meet acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is inconsistent.

C – Average: Meets acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is consistent.

B – Good: Above acceptable standards; performance usually exceeds job requirements.

A – Excellent: Outstanding; unquestionably above acceptable standards; performance consistently exceeds job requirements.

In addition I translate these marks into scores, because that provides me with an overall numerical total which is so much easier to use when making comparisons:

I.e. using the above measurement scale: A=5, B=4 etc

In fact, I allow myself further “latitude” by using + or -, which in effect provides me with not five levels of rating but fifteen!

So now I have: E- = 0, E = 1, E+ = 2, all the way up to A+ which is now the equivalent of 14

This makes it so much easier to avoid the two common mistakes in rating i.e.:

Firstly, a tendency to rate nearly everyone as “average” on every characteristic instead of being more critical in judgement. The evaluator should use the ends of the scale as well as the middle.

Secondly, the “halo effect,” i.e. a tendency to rate the same individual “excellent” on every characteristic or “poor” on every characteristic based on the overall picture one has of the person being evaluated. However, each person has strong and weak points and these should be indicated on the rating scales.

What Else Should An Effective Appraisal Include? Mine Include All Of These:

Performance versus Commercial Targets

Specific Objectives vs. Results Summary

Quarterly Performance Rating

Commercial Targets For The Next Twelve Months

Specific Objectives For The Next Twelve Months

Performance versus Commercial Targets:

In this section, I review performance against all commercial targets for example:

• Revenue achieved.

• Overall gross margin.

• CCT (Customer contact time) as a % of TWT (Total working time).

• New accounts opened.

• Revenue increases from existing accounts.

Specific Objectives vs. Results Summary:

Specific objectives are all those targets that are “non – commercial” for example:

• Increase product knowledge in x areas.

• Profile any key accounts.

• Improve presentation skills.

• Attend a “Key Account Management” course.

• Become more involved with the induction of new recruits

Quarterly Performance Rating:

I have always believed in frequent reviews and as a consequence, I hold QBR (Quarterly Business Review) meetings at the end of each quarter. The scoring system is identical to the annual appraisal and in fact the QBRs provide most of the information and data for the annual session.

Commercial Targets and Specific Objectives for the Next Twelve Months:

A good appraisal should always conclude with agreement from both parties on the targets and objectives for the next twelve months. These do not have to be set in stone and can be reviewed at the next QBR; however it is essential that every individual buys in to what is expected of them.

Target setting is a vitally important part of a manager’s function because if targets are set too high that will only act as a demotivator: Equally, if they are set too low, typically that is all that will be achieved.

In the same way the high jumper just clears the bar and does not leap a metre over the top, salespeople sell to expectation and have no inclination to burst through targets – unless of course, there is a significant incentive on offer! Although that begs the question of why they were not challenged with a higher target in the first place?

Finally, it is important that the manager uses the occasion to send the apraisee away feeling good about themselves, fully motivated and believing that all of the targets that have been agreed are indeed achievable – a motivational summary works wonders, even if there were areas of concern during the meeting, always focus on the highlights.

Today’s News: What do you make of this?

“Improved Sales Opportunities

Marketing automation aswell helps ensure that sales and business departments are in accord about how to accomplish the adapted admission in sales. The software can accommodate tools, analysis -to-be leads and conduct alone business campaigns. According to architect and business adviser Jill Konrath, “The alone way to abduction the absorption of accumulated accommodation makers is to actualize a actual alone bulletin based on all-embracing analysis of their firm.”

You can aswell accumulate in blow with algid leads, which may accompany approaching sales if they balmy up. Lead-generation accoutrement advice ascertain advance backbone and forward those leads anon to your sales force, accretion the achievability of bound axis a advance into a sale.”

Yep, I agree and I passed it on to Jill yesterday, who was equally mortified. It seeems that we are all becoming victims of machine translation these days – this extract is taken from: http://www.usd8.com/how-business-automation-increases-leads/ - I am investigating!

To all of you who have e-mailed me to ask when and where you can register for the TSE “Roundtable” event on December 9th – “Selling Successfully In A Downturn Economy” I can confirm that full details will be posted here next Tuesday – December 2nd.

Tomorrow: On the JF Guest Author Spot – the ubiquitous Tim Wackell

Success should be something you don’t just ‘Kinda Sorta’ want to achieve but something you must achieve.

Generally top achievers expect to be successful and as a consequence they usually are. They are driven by a ‘have to’ attitude not a ‘want to’ attitude.

If you have no concrete goals and you have been succeeding in spite of yourself, just think how much more success you could enjoy if you set your sights on a definite path and had a specific time-frame in which you expect to reach your destination.

Setting Goals Keeps You Focussed:

What you should know is that goals give you three distinct advantages, which help you succeed:

• Goals keep you on track.
• Goals let you know when and what to celebrate.
• Goals give you a focussed plan to work with.

If nothing else, goals let others know what they have to aim for to keep up with your standards.

Effective Goal Setting:

Take the time to think about what would make you happy, contented and satisfied and about what would motivate you to become a Top 5% Player.

It’s important to remember that goals are maps; they will guide you towards your success – the more detailed your goal setting the easier it will be for you to reach your destination.

When you are in the first stage of goal setting you also need to remember two important factors – i.e.

• The goal must be better than your best yet – but it must be achievable.
• Goals should be based on productivity not production.

Keeping these two rules of goal setting firmly in your mind will help you to form and stay committed to what is really important to you.

You may also enjoy my summary of Covey’s superb best selling book “The Seven Habits Of Highly Successful People,” here

Are you a great goal setter? Leave me a comment and share your success.

Today’s News: We have posted Top Sales Article Of The Month for July over on Top 10 Sales Articles, and it is a cracker! Just click on the banner below and all will be revealed.

I received a message from fellow Parisien, Christian Maurer last week, inviting me to meet up and it coincided with one of his blog posts, which I had just read and enjoyed – think you will too – “The Sales vs Marketing Debate….. was Peter Drucker right after all?”

You will also appreciate – “Sales Lessons From My Hero, Jimmy Buffet… passion, purpose, personalization” from my good friend Kevin Eikenberry

Tomorrow: Another really nice guy and good buddy, Stone Payton is on The JF Guest Author Spot