New Year's Resolutions Won't Help
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Happy New Year. |
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It’s that time again. Bally’s Health & Fitness will
bombard us with commercials featuring attractive actors with 1% body fat while
our holiday-enhanced rear ends sit on the couch. |
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Jenny Craig will give us hope that we can shed those
unwanted pounds…the same excess pounds we’ve been toting around since 1993. |
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The nice folks at Nicorette will try to convince
those of us who smoke that this time we really can kick the smoking habit (with
the help of nicotine substitute chewing gum, of course.) |
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These companies know that this is the time of year
for New Year’s Resolutions. People make pledges to get thinner, healthier,
smarter, better. Millions of salespeople across the globe may even make
resolutions to improve their sales performance. |
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Resolutions are worthless |
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Here’s my advice: Don’t make New Year’s resolutions.
They inevitably evolve into broken promises, pointless oaths and empty
declarations. I’m more surprised when I learn that someone actually kept a New
Year’s resolution than I am to learn that someone quit before January 31st.
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And, of course, when people abandon their
resolutions, it’s never their fault. Things got really busy at work. Family
demands were too consuming. There wasn’t enough money to pay the post-holiday
credit card bill AND buy the 12-month gym membership. |
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It seems to be acceptable to renege on a resolution.
Hogwash. |
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Self-commitments are priceless |
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I believe that the intentions behind New Year’s
resolutions are great. They’re all about self-improvement, and I’m a big fan of
self-improvement. The key to the whole self-improvement thing, though, is that
you actually have to improve. |
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You may want to improve. |
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You may intend to improve. |
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You may plan to improve. |
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But you will only improve as a person and as a
salesperson if you make a self-commitment to improve. A self-commitment is
different from an empty resolution in that it meets the following criteria: |
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1. |
Make S.M.A.R.T. Goals |
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There are a gazillion decoder rings for this
acronym. I like this one best: |
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Specific |
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Make sure you are explicitly clear about what you
are seeking to achieve. |
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Measurable |
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Have metrics in place to let you know without a
doubt that you’ve completed the goal. |
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Action-focused |
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Know what steps you have to take to achieve your
goal. |
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Realistic |
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Set a goal you can achieve instead of one that’s so
lofty it de-motivates you. |
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Time-bound |
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Make sure that you attach a deadline to all of your
goals. |
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2. |
Hold yourself accountable |
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Write down your self-commitments and put the list in
a place where you’ll see it frequently. Good locations include your planner,
near your phone or on the wall next to your calendar. Establish the mindset that
failure is not an option. |
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3. |
Engage others |
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Don’t tell everybody you know, but do share your
self-commitments with those colleagues who will help you achieve them. Those
people are often the ones who have a vested interest in your success and won’t
be so forgiving if you fail. They can also act as referees and blow the whistle
on you when you’re straying from your self-commitments. |
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4. |
Don’t just do it once a year |
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It doesn’t have to be early January for you to think
about self-improvement. Make it an ongoing habit to establish self-commitments
to improve your performance. |
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Self-commitments for salespeople |
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If you’re like most salespeople, you started this
week with $0 in year-to-date sales. There’s a long way to go before you hit that
big revenue target by December 31 So in order to improve your sales, you
must improve yourself through intelligent self-commitments. |
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Here are some self-commitments for
improvement-minded salespeople to consider: |
- Read two more books on the topic of selling
this year.
- Listen to two more self-improvement audio
programs this year. I highly recommend 15 Ways to Grow Your Sales
Tomorrow. (Okay, it’s my program, but I guarantee that the
information-packed two-audio CD program will help you increase your sales.)
You can get it at a discount right now.
More info...
- Make two more sales calls per week.
- This year, attend two more meetings for
associations in your industry.
- Identify a high-potential market niche that
you have yet to tap into. Then pursue it.
- Identify three skills that you need to enhance
in order to get where you want to be in five years. Map out a plan to enhance
those skills.
- Commit to changing behaviors that waste time
at work.
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It will be pretty hard to grow your sales in this
year if
you just do the same stuff you did last year. While your competitors are making
empty New Year’s resolutions, you have a golden opportunity to gain a
competitive advantage by making intelligent self-commitments and sticking to
them. |
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