Ah, as an original Upstate New Yorker, there was nothing like this time of year. Crisp autumn mornings. Gorgeous yellows, reds and changing greens of leaves. Apple cider and cinnamon donuts. Football. Jeans and sweaters. Going back to school. Living in the Midwest now, I still get this fabulous change of seasons and September is still my favorite month of the year. I LOVE THE FALL!
There is something else I always loved about this season … it was also that time of year when I would sit with my sales stars to develop next year’s goals, individual sales strategies and plan for the upcoming year. It was that time to recollect on the year thus far, look at what worked, what didn’t work so well and focus on what was ahead. It was mentally “back to school” time to buckle down, strategize and get their individual plans together. As their sales leader, I then collected all the individual plans to develop a company wide annual revenue goal with overall strategic plan. Why did I start this process now? I wanted it to be methodical, well-thought out and “massaged” so the final result would be completed and buttoned up by mid-November. Once the holidays hit, we were all too busy to focus on anything strategic and then boom, it’s the new year.
This strategic goal development process is a daunting task if you have never tackled it before. However, it is imperative for sales and executive leadership to encourage this as they grow their organizations, now. SALESPEOPLE WANT GOALS. They want to be successful, accountable and have defined expectations. The easiest way to start measuring tangible success is writing down an agreed upon achievable numeric goal. This is the first and initial step toward individual sales success that in turn results in team success.
Get your team back to school now. Do not wait until the new year begins. That’s kind of like being the last person in the lunch line.