The most common mistake made by many salespeople is that they don't think about what they want; they think about what they don't want.
The human mind is unable to deal with negations, such as, "I don't want to miss target," or, "This prospect will always go for the cheapest price."
In these examples, your unconscious mind will create "miss target" and "prospects who only buy from the companies who offer the cheapest prices."
If you are asked not to think of a blue tree, then your mind has already started thinking of a blue tree!
Therefore, when setting goals for themselves, salespeople need to focus on what it is they want, rather than what it is they don't want.
The clearer people are about their goals, the more leverage they create because they start to attract them at an unconscious level. This means that having a picture of their goal and imagining how they will feel achieving their goal can be extremely powerful.
Having goals and well-formed outcomes will stretch and develop your team's ability, keeping them challenged and motivated.
Everyone has heard of SMART - SMART stands for the following:
Specific - because it becomes more real when you are detailed.
Measurable - if you have been very specific about your goal, then you are going to find it much easier to know when you have achieved it.
Achievable - having the faith and the belief that your goal is stretching, yet realistic, generates more clarity, drive and determination.
Relevant - sometimes it can be easy to set ourselves goals that are not really our own goals - they are the goals of others who have influenced us to think that we should want them too.
Timed - people often find that if they have a certain amount of work to be done within a specified time frame, they will take the allotted time to complete their task. Putting a time for when we want to achieve our goal by works in much the same way, and is a vital component for our own motivation.
But I work with SMARTER, because I added:
Exciting - Goals are much more fun to achieve is they excite us to achieve them; if you enjoy working on them - we all need to be stimulated to achieve.
Recorded - We need to let everyone know when we have achieved a goal. Their congratulations and praise will motivate us to even greater levels of success.
So, remember, being SMART will take you onward and upward, but when you add an "E" and an "R" be assured, success will follow.
Today's News: I have let it be known that I will be officially offline from July 6th until September 1st: I will still be posting my blog on a daily basis, and attending to essential issues, but I will be concentrating on completing and recording the new JF Sales Academy and of course finishing my book "Tougher At The Top"
I will also be re-charging the batteries, ahead of a gruelling schedule which begins in September...more of that soon.
The re-vamped JF Consultancy site is almost completed, we just have to add my latest interviews.
You can access my Article Vault and "How To" guides, plus visit the new Store. You can also register for the JF Journal, which I'll publish every four weeks. You can even find out "What They Are Saying About JF" - it's all good, I promise! So do pop across and have a wander round - JF Consultancy.
I will be here tomorrow, to update you on what is really going on in Iran, as I continue to receive daily reports from friend and colleague, Somayeh Bahat.
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