Can you think of BIG customer service or sales goals you would really like to achieve as a part of your organization?
What is it?
Maybe it’s landing that dream client you’ve been pursuing. Perhaps it’s increasing your monthly or annual sales. How about improving your level of customer service by following up with customers? Or receiving a promotion? Or even starting your own business!
Whatever the goal is, you need to put some work into achieving it. The interesting part about the work/action required is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be BIG steps, but the steps need to be consistent.
Setting Effective Sales Goals with the Rule of Five
Here’s where the Rule of Five comes in. (This simple, yet effective strategy comes from Principle #23 in Jack Canfield’s book, “The Success Principles”)
If there were five specific things every day that would move you toward your goal, would you do them?
Remember, these specific goals or steps don’t need to be big ones. It could be something as simple as growing your social media accounts by 10% each month. One of the specific steps you might take each day to get there is interacting (i.e. liking, sharing, commenting) on five other pages each day.
That’s one of your five steps. The other four could be something like:
- Follow five new (relevant) pages/accounts each day
- Read one blog post or article about social media strategy each day
- Listen to one podcast episode each day about social media strategy
- Moderate and respond to comments on your social media platform every day
When it comes to sales goals, let’s say your goal is to connect with new customers on a regular basis. The idea behind this step is to improve the lifelong value of that customer and keep them coming back. Depending on how many customers you have, one of the steps to achieving this goal could be sending one email each day to a new customer. Another one of your five steps could be a daily phone call to a new client.
(By the way, you won’t want to miss this post about focusing on the ABMs versus the ABS of sales before you go)
When it comes to sales goals, let’s say your goal is to connect with new customers on a regular basis. Every business owner or business leader knows a business needs new customers to continue growing. Depending on how many customers you have, one of the steps to achieving this goal could be sending one email each day to a new customer.
Another one of your five steps could be a daily phone call to a new client. You can also ask for one referral per day from existing customers or colleagues. The purpose is to set a specific goal and then decide what give specific steps need to be followed to accomplish the goal.
According to Canfield, if you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything that you experience in your life. Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your highest purpose, your values, and your goals. To achieve desired outcomes, one must replace complaining with making requests and taking action. The only thing that will change your results is changing your behavior.
A few things to keep in mind
What is your specific goal? What five “specific” things would you do every day to move you towards the sales goal? Reminder…The five specific things do not need to be BIG, but they must be consistent.
Food for thought. Could you knock down a tree with one BIG swing from an axe? Not likely! Could you eventually bring down the tree if every day you took five swings at it with a very sharp axe? At some point, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down. Do you agree?
Some of us may have the discipline to go out every day and commit to five swings to improve our sales numbers or service strategy. Others would tire and give up.
Which side describes you best? If you want something bad enough and the goal is BIG, are you willing to apply the Rule of 5 in your business or sales routine to achieve the goal?
You noticed the word “consistent” was mentioned several times. Lack of consistency, and giving up too soon, is one of the biggest challenges one faces after setting a goal. A tip is to tell others what your goal is, not necessarily how you might achieve it. Ask others to hold you accountable by checking in regularly for progress updates.
Have you applied this principle, or something similar? Why did you do it? If you haven’t, what prevents you from giving it a try? Do you have a burning desire to achieve a particular goal? Have you tried, and given up? If it possible you gave up too soon or did not have something like The Rule of 5 in place?
Why Consistency is Important
Regardless of why we try and achieve consistency (usually it’s to achieve a goal), it is difficult to achieve if it does not become a habit. Just like any other habit, do it is small steps. Sometimes one creates a grandiose goal that appears impressive but it is not broken down to simple steps as suggested in this article.
We often crave instant gratification and get easily discouraged so therefore just give up. Besides implementing the Five Important Goal Setting Strategies, identify what motivates you to action and decide how you can use this to help you become consistent.
Sharing your big goal with someone, or with several people, may help, especially if you find an accountability partner who can follow up on a daily, or weekly basis to check in on your consistent efforts. Or ideally, you report back to them. If you get discouraged, ask for advice. Do not let pride supersede your desire to achieve the selected goal. It is much better to achieve consistency and fall short of your timeline, then to fall short of the entire goal due to lack of consistency.
