Achieve Your Sales Goals Using the Power of the Mind

Unleash the Power Of Your Mind And Subconscious mind... Catapult Yourself To Success, Happiness and Much More

Achieving Sales Goals- Why Some Do and Some Don’t

As salespeople we were all taught to set sales goals, and told that by doing so we would sell more, make more money, and reach the top of our profession.

If you are reading this as a salesperson, past or present, I want to ask you- has that promise come true for you?

Yes?  No?

For most people the answer is no, or at least not completely.  I can say this with certainty because I know thousands of salespeople who have set sales goals and only a few who have consistently achieved all of their goals.

Please read on to discover why sales goals often fail to work, and keep reading for a method that can make anyone consistently achieve even the most difficult sales goals.

Let’s start by understanding why sales goals don’t work for most people.

On day one of any sales training class or in the first chapter of any sales book you read you are taught that in order to find success in sales you must set your goals.  While this advice is correct, it is at the same time very incomplete and fails to reveal the the real reason that goals sometimes work, and why they often don’t.

An entire industry has been created around goal setting with the promise that salespeople can sell more by setting better goals using better methods.  The problem is that none of these traditional methods address the reasons why goal setting just does not work for most people.  While some of these traditional methods may work better than others, the truth is that goal setting works better for some people than for others, regardless of the method.  It is the characteristics of the individual that cause goal setting to work or not, and that is the variable we need to consider.

To understand how to make goal setting an effective means to your success we need to take a close look at the relatively small group of people for whom goal setting works like magic in achieving their desired outcomes. From these people we can discover the missing secret to achieving sales goals by examining what certain characteristics they possess that others don’t.  Once we know what those characteristics are we can begin to make the changes in ourselves that will cause us to achieve that same high level of sales success.

The Secret of People Who Achieve Their Sales Goals.

Their are two characteristics or abilities that those who consistently reach their sales goals have that most people do not:

• The ability to convince themselves that their sales goals are a reality even before they are achieved.
• The ability to maintain a laser-like focus on their sales goals until they are achieved, prioritizing their goals above all other things.

The reality is that a relatively small number of people have the natural ability to both.

Let’s look a little deeper into these characteristics.

For a goal to motivate its own achievement it must be believed to be a pending reality in the subconscious mind, and not just a possibility that may occur.  If it is believed to be an absolute certainty, then the effort required to achieve it will be motivated by the certainty of the outcome.  If the achievement of the goal is believed to be uncertain, then the effort applied to achieve it will reflect that uncertainty, and usually be insufficient.

The difference is exemplified in the following two patterns of thought:

• “I am the top sales person in my organization, all I have to do is do the the right things every day.”
• “If I do the right things every day I will become the top sales person in my organization.”

The first pattern is characteristic of goal achievers, and the second defines those who fail to reach their sales goals.  The problem is, most people are naturally oriented or conditioned toward that second pattern where the achievement of the goal is uncertain- as embodied in the use of the word ‘if’.  In this case, the outcome is seen as the product of, or dependent on, the effort.  In contrast, the goal achiever expresses the outcome with certainty, and in the present tense as if it has already occurred.  He has no doubt of the reality of the outcome, and the effort is the product of, or dependent on, the belief in that outcome.

The second characteristic of goal achievers is their ability to focus on the goal and prioritize it about all else.  So often sales people set sales goals only to loose focus on those goals well before they are achieved.  Perhaps this has been the case with you and your sales goals.  The goal had your attention when it was first set, but soon became lost among other priorities.  While it was still important, it was not your focus.  For goal achievers the goal remains the number one priority and focus in their life until it is achieved, never falling our of focus despite all of the possible distractions that life can bring.

Now that you know the characteristics that separate goal achievers from those who set goals that they never achieve, lets take a look at a surprisingly simple technique that anyone can use to achieve all of their goals.  If you weren’t born with the characteristics of the natural goal achievers, don’t worry, this technique will make you every bit as effect in achieving your sales goals.  It just takes a little time and effort.

How Anyone Can Achieve Their Sales Goals

First, we are going to set a goal, but a little bit differently then you may be used to.  For natural goal achievers the method is not very important, but for the vast majority of us setting goals in the way I’m going to teach you will allow you to gain the advantages of natural goal achievers.

For this goal setting exercise you will need a pen and paper.

1.  Start with what you want to achieve.

I want to earn $200,000 in the next 12 months

2.  Now imagine the moment that you achieve it.  Close your eyes and see yourself at the very moment that it becomes a reality.  Picture it like a movie scene complete with sights, sounds, and emotions.  Really immerse yourself in the scene; see the people, notice how you feel, think the thoughts you would have in that moment about yourself and the people in your life.

We need to do this because your mind works in sensory impressions, not words.  Just think of the last newspaper you read:  You can remember the pictures, but can you see what the words are?

3.  Write down that scene in 6 to 10 sentences.  Keep in mind that your goal setting scene can be a little vague.  This just allows room for your mind to fill in the details with an outcome even better than you imagined and doesn’t limit you to only one possible version of success.

I’m sitting at my desk at the end of June, 2012 looking at my commission statement for the last 12 months.  At the bottom of the page is printed the figure $200,000 which represents my commissions over that period of time.  I set the paper down, lean back in my chair, and reflect on all the hard work and smart decisions that brought me to this point.  I smile and put my hands behind my head, allowing myself a well deserved moment of complete relaxation and enjoyment of my accomplishment.  I think of my family and the opportunities and lifestyle I can now provide for them.  I look forward being even more successful in the year to come.

Once you have written out the first draft continue to revise it until it sounds just right.

4.  Now I’m going to ask you to do something with your written goal scene.  But, before I do I want to ask you to pay careful attention to your reaction to what I am telling you.

Write out your goal scene 100 times.

What was your reaction?

If you are like most people, your reaction was something along the lines of, “One hundred times! That will take forever! Are you kidding me?”

That you had this reaction indicates to your subconscious mind that the effort required to realize the goal is not worth the effort, and that it is not really that important.  This is the thinking that has likely held you back from achieving your sales goals in the past and the exact opposite of the thought characteristics of goal achievers.

This is not to say that if you have these though patterns you are not successful and have not achieved things in your life, just that those achievement came harder than they had to and fell short of what you could have made possible in your life without them.  Fortunately you can reverse these patterns by writing your goals scene 100 times.

Why This Will Make Your Sales Goals a Reality

Writing out your sales goals scene 100 times will give you the advantages that natural goal achievers already have:  The ability to convince their subconscious mind of the reality of the goal before it manifests, and the ability to prioritize the focus on the goal above all other things.

Because it is a scene rather than a traditional statement of intent your mind can see it happening and believe that it is real because it has all the details of something that really happens to you.  When it is believed absolutely by the subconscious, your mind will generate the motivation and actions to make the belief a reality.

The repetition makes the goal a priority because each time you write your scene it creates an impression on your mind.  After 100 repetitions it becomes the dominate impression, which tells your mind that it is more important than anything else.  This gives your sales goals the primary focus and constant attention from your mind that is needed to achieve it.

If you are still thinking something like, will 50 repetitions work or maybe I can just read it 100 times, you have already limited your outcome.  Fortunately you can turn yourself boldly in the direction of your goals by committing to this practice and sending a message of high achievement directly into you mind where it will fuel the achievements you always dreamed of.