2011 Can Be Heaven... If You Plan Your Goals Correctly

By: Andrea Schuch
So last week we heard from Kelly Guinaugh of Interior Enhancement Group, a design firm in Inverness, IL, she shared with us how she is setting goals for her company to ensure a prosperous 2011. Since this is our monthly slot for a business article - I chose one from 2007 based on goal setting. I have modified it a little to relate to this coming year but I think it's definately an article to learn from. So take a seat, grab a pen and some paper and get ready to start taking notes. Goals are very important for a company, having them means giving your company a direction - so get started!
(Original article in Draperies & Window Coverings magazine in December 2006 by Steven C. Bursten)
We are focusing on why you want to set goals and the fundamentals to prepare. Possibly even more importantly, we will address the fears that may be holding you back. Many studies have shown that only about five percent of business owners set goals. Yet, it can be the single most powerful way to visualize and plan your business to earn the money you deserve.
Once you know the sales you want, and you are prepared correctly, it is so easy! Here are four steps to prepare and execute a solid goal setting program.
Step 1: Keep Records
If you don't have records to tell you where you are, it is impossible to correctly plan improvement. Do you know how many appointments you had last year? Usually, fewer than three percent know the answer. Most don't know how many customers they had last year.
Appointments are the most important key to success in a design business. If you don't know your number of appointments, you can't know your closing rate. If you don't know how many customers you sold, you can't know the average size of your customer sale.
Step 2: Set Benchmarks
You must know the three things that affect your sales. It has nothing to do with "great service" or "quality products" or any of the other ideas and opinions I hear so often. Instead, it has to do with the facts.
There are only three measurable facts to affect your sales:
1. Number of appointments
2. Closing ratio
3. Average size of customer sale
All the rest is fluff and talk. Improve any of these three and you improve your sales. When you know these three things about your business for the last year (or even the last 90 days) you can set them as benchmarks to improve for next year. In the next step, I will tell you the best one of the three to make the most money quickly.
Step 3: Set Goals to Improve
Only after you know your benchmarks can you set goals to improve. When you know your total sales and number of customers sold last year you can determine your average customer sale. (Count the transactions not the names; you may sell the same name two or three times during the year!)
The best way to improve your sales is to increase your average size of sale. That is more powerful than getting more appointments and more effective than improving closing ratio.
Step 4: Visualize your Plan
Your plan must always begin with the number of appointments you require. After you know the benchmarks of your appointments per month, you can improve it by a number you are willing to fight for. You can increase appointments by increasing awareness with potential customers. You can use time (flyers, phone calls, special demonstrations and canvassing) or you can use money (advertising by media, direct mail, yellow pages and more), but you should not expect to increase appointments without first increasing awareness.
This is why your sales plan is so critical. When you decide the appointments you require, the next step is to develop a marketing plan to create awareness.
Is Fear Holding you Back?
So, after years of reading about goal setting, why aren't you constructing a sales plan and marketing plan? Chances are the old ghost of fear is holding you back. I was reading Napolean Hill's Think and Go Rich, the original self-improvement book written more than 70 years ago and still the most powerful of it's type. The book fell open to a message I want to share with you at this time of the year as you plan your future. Napolean Hill understood the debilitating impact of fear and addresses it often, but never better than his chapter on "Six Ghosts of Fear," in which he asks, "Do you use these alibis?"
People who do not succeed have one distinguishing trait in commong. They know all the reasons for failure and have what they believe to be air-tight alibis to explain their lack of self achievement.
Some of these alibis are clever, and a few of them are justifiable by facts. The world wants to know only one thing- have you acheived success? A character analyst compiled a list of the most commonly used alibis. As you read the list, examine yourself carefully, and determine how many of these alibis, if any, are your own property. Remember too that the philosophy presented in this book makes every one of these alibis obsolete.
Following is an edited list of Hill's alibis selected for being especially relevant to design sales:

• If I had been given a chance...
• If I now had a chance...
• If I could meet "the right people"...
• If I had the talent some people have...
• If I dared assert myself...
• If I only had somebody to help me...
• If I could just get started...
• If I had the personality of some people...
• If my talents were known...
• If I were sure of myself...
• If luck were not against me...
• If I only had a business of my own...
• If I had a good education...
• If I could get a job...
• If times were better...

Napolean Hill goes on to explain that behind every one of these alibis is a fear that is holding you back. This year, put your fears behind you. Don't hide behind an alibi.
Have a happy, successful and prosperous New Year!

As I was talking with Steve this week, he mentioned that he is having a seminar that he is opening up to all of our readers at NO COST! Click here for more info!