If we told you one of our clients broke his three-year sales goal in just six months, you’d probably think there was a major component to the story we had left out. Perhaps another sales associate had been added to his team? Perhaps the bar for success was too low? Or maybe he just got lucky and landed a big client?
Incredibly, none of these are true. For Bart Dennis of Outdoor, Inc., the solution to hitting three-year goals in just six months was a lot simpler: He implemented proper goal-setting techniques that he learned from Sandler Training!
Goal setting is an integral step in Sandler’s process for becoming increasingly successful at anything you put your mind to. Far too often, we set out with a tireless work ethic and determination yet have no system to see when we’ve been successful. This can leave professionals feeling drained, unaccomplished, and burned out: like the famous football scene from the movie Forrest Gump. While Forrest’s athletic prowess leaves his would-be tacklers in the dust, no one told him when to stop running. Forrest ultimately passed through the end zone and through the stadium tunnels without stopping.
While it’s a hilarious scene, it also presents a few questions for self-examination:
- If I don’t have a goal, how will I know when to reset so that I can scale my success?
- If I don’t have a goal, could I be missing future opportunities because I’m still working on the first one?
- If I don’t have a goal, how will I ever know that I’ve been successful?
In 1979, a study was conducted on Harvard MBA students to identify the impact of goal setting on one’s future. The results were incredible. The graduating class was asked the following question about their goals in life: Have you set written goals and created a plan for their attainment? The study found that:
- 84% of the entire class had set no goals at all
- 13% of the class had set written goals but had no concrete plans
- 3% of the class had both written goals and concrete plans
Ten years later, the middle group (the 13%) that had set written goals but had not created plans, were making twice as much money as the 84% of the class that had set no goals at all. Amazingly, the 3% of the class that had both written goals and a plan, were making ten times as much as the rest of the 97% of the class.
What about Bart Dennis, our Chattanooga client? Though Bart had been involved in Sandler Sales Mastery classes previously, he was wearing so many hats that he initially wasn’t able to follow the Sandler Process of goal setting. But when he narrowed his focus to his true goals and revisited the Sandler’s concrete system for accomplishing them, he knew that he had an opportunity to accomplish great things. Before the start of the year, Bart took the time to carefully map out sales goals that he’d set after working through Sandler Training’s Sales Mastery course in Chattanooga. Bart set big goals, but he put benchmarks in place to accomplish them and had a thorough process ready to accomplish each phase. What could have been audacious now seemed accomplishable -- and accomplish them he did!
Through his hard work and through proper goal setting skills that he gained from Sandler Training, Bart accomplished each one of his sales goals by February of 2018! Bart didn’t set low goals; he just followed the Sandler process for accomplishing them. That process helped him find efficiencies and allowed him to focus his efforts on what would truly make him successful, rather than letting wasteful tasks occupy his time.
Congratulations, Bart! We’re incredibly proud of your success!
