Increasing Sales Can Begin With a Yellow Sticky

I remember when Angie joined our team. She was just out of college and eager to do her job well. It was her first sales job and she plunged right in. For months she was selling her quota of forty units per month. Being new to sales she would often worry her way to those last few sales to hit her goal. One day I asked her if she would be interested in increasing sales and earning more money. She said, “Of course, I try to but I can’t seem to get past forty.” I suggested we make fifty her new imaginary quota and she went for it. We posted a yellow sticky with the number 50 on her computer monitor to add a little focus. It worked! She started selling fifty that month and it become her new norm. Could it be that easy to increase sales?

If you’re doing the right things and applying High-payoff Selling Activity it can be this easy to increase your sales and income. How do you set your goals? Do you simply set what is given to you? Maybe you go by history. Why not simply go for what you want?

Jim Horan, author of “The One Page Business Plan” taught me that setting a vision is not about calculating your way there, it’s about seeing what you want in the future. Don’t look backward to determine what the future holds. Sure we can learn from the past but the future doesn’t have to be a rerun.

Angie was happy attaining the goal of forty units that were assigned to her. The quota of forty was her focus. When we placed fifty in front of her eyes, it changed her focus and the results followed. Of course, I provided a little encouragement and push during the month but she welcomed it as she worked toward a new goal.

I’ve witnessed and experienced the magic of writing down a goal or vision throughout my life. Angie was just one more example. What my experience has taught me is that the goal provides focus and that focus makes room for belief. Focus and belief pave the way for creativity and energy to follow. Sometimes you provide the energy and other times the energy finds you. Focus + Belief + Creativity + Energy leads to good things.

Setting a new goal or vision doesn’t guarantee immediate results. At one of my clients our vision is for each of the 10 sales reps to attain their individual annual goal in the same year. It’s not easy to have 10 people all on target for a given year, but that’s the vision. It’s going to happen, we keep getting closer each year. I can feel the goose bumps just thinking about that day we all sit in our meeting room hooping and hollering. I can see it and feel it. The belief is there and we are now applying the energy and creativity to get there.

When setting your goals this year set them based on what you want, not what you think you can do. Be bold and believe. You can do something big!

Happy New Year!