We've talked about setting goals, and pursuing them hard.
Yet, we have not defined what a goal is, and that may be a good addition to the discussion.
Today's blog is about goals.
What exactly is a goal?
Is it financial, personal, emotional?
Is it defined towards your career, or your personal situation - or both?
My definition of a goal is:
A premeditated/intended outcome, that requires action and fulfills needs
If we break it down:
1) Pre-meditated/intended: You have to know what your goal is, before you can pursue it. It has to be defined prior to taking action. Or reversed, any action without a goal, doesn't necessary fulfill your needs in the long run, so by default that would be energy wasted. Think about your desires, dreams and wishes and visualize what you'd like to achieve. Ask yourself why you'd want to achieve that goal. Once you have determined your desire is worth pursuing, it is so much easier to do what it takes.
2) Outcome: The outcome can be visualized, rationalized, felt, seen, maybe even held or driven ;-). It can be a specific role within your job, a dream house, a job title, being a good parent, anything - but it has to be something you really want to come out as a result of your actions.
3) Requires action: We all dream, everyone has dreams.
The one distinguishing factor between the people attaining them or not is whether they are prepared to act on them, and do what it takes. It requires following the guideline, and not allowing yourself to be sidestepped or distracted. It requires saying 'no' to other temptations, not eating french fries, not buying something if you need the money for something else, not drinking that extra beer, or going out late. It may require putting in more energy, leaving earlier from home, or coming home later from work (depending on the goal) - I'm sure you can think of many more. The bottom line is: he who is not prepared to do, will not get.
4) Fulfills needs: You decide whether the needs you want to fulfill are personal, social, emotional, financial, directed towards your career, or a complete mix. The trick is to plan your actions so that the desired outcome is both attainable and attained. That is why it is so important to understand why you want to attain that specific goal - it tells your character, but it also sets your determination - which in turn is needed to find your inner strength and motivation to put in the energy when acting. Determine what needs your dreams would fulfill (and why) - if you want a wholistic goal, and you set a target on financial matters, you may end up being disappointed. But the reverse may be true also.
Everyone has dreams that can be viewed as goals. Sometimes the dream is too far out from attainable reality that it needs to have an 'intermediate' goal (a milestone). It keeps you motivated. Imagine a goal that is ten years out - you wouldn't want to be waiting for ten years to find some successes in your actions, would you? We have to have some fun doing it, and have to celebrate our successes getting there.
Share your dreams, set your actions, make yourself accountable for your actions, and go get 'em!
Good luck - and have some fun!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Why would you start with Stephen Covey's 5th habit, if there are 4 others to be read first?
Well...good question.
It appears to me that listening skills are easily overlooked in most sales trainings.
So - let's talk about that.
Salesmen pitching their value proposition in 45 seconds from the moment their prospect picks up the phone aren't the salesmen that will be successful in this era. In today's environment, it is increasingly more important to be a consultant to your customer than before. Without doubt, understanding your customer's problems, and solving their pain is the best road towards building a long-term mutually valuable relationship.
Seen in that light, asking the right questions, and listening to your customer are more important than pitching your value prop. The great thing is: you learn more about the customer, you receive information you didn't know perhaps, rather than shooting off a well-rehearsed pitch, that you've certainly heard yourself doing hundreds of times before.
Stephen Covey claims that communication is the most important skill in life.
I agree - in fact, by default communication is the only way to break solitude.
As a professional, as an individual, as a partner, a parent, in any environment really.
You spend years learning how to read and write, and years learning how to speak. but what about listening?
What training have you had that enables you to listen so you really, deeply understand another human being? Probably none, right? If you're like most people, you probably seek first to be understood; you want to get your point across.
And in doing so, you may ignore the other person completely, pretend that you're listening, selectively hear only certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely.
So why does this happen? Because most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. You listen to yourself as you prepare in your mind what you are going to say, the questions you are going to ask, etc. You filter everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame of reference. You check what you hear against your past experiences and see how it measures up. And consequently, you decide prematurely what the other person means before he/she finishes communicating. Do any of the following sound familiar? "Oh, I know just how you feel. I felt the same way." "I had that same thing happen to me." "Let me tell you what I did in a similar situation." Because you so often listen autobiographically, you tend to respond in one of four ways:
Evaluating: You judge and then either agree or disagree.
Probing: You ask questions from your own frame of reference.
Advising: You give counsel, advice, and solutions to problems.
Interpreting: You analyze others' motives and behaviors based on your own experiences.
Trying to relate or sympathize by drawing on your own experience isn't mal-intended, and in some cases another person specifically asks for help from your point of view or when there is already a very high level of trust in the relationship. However, listening to the person without bias, as difficult as it may sometimes be, is the only way to true understanding.
Are you listening?
Bueller... anyone?
Well...good question.
It appears to me that listening skills are easily overlooked in most sales trainings.
So - let's talk about that.
Salesmen pitching their value proposition in 45 seconds from the moment their prospect picks up the phone aren't the salesmen that will be successful in this era. In today's environment, it is increasingly more important to be a consultant to your customer than before. Without doubt, understanding your customer's problems, and solving their pain is the best road towards building a long-term mutually valuable relationship.
Seen in that light, asking the right questions, and listening to your customer are more important than pitching your value prop. The great thing is: you learn more about the customer, you receive information you didn't know perhaps, rather than shooting off a well-rehearsed pitch, that you've certainly heard yourself doing hundreds of times before.
Stephen Covey claims that communication is the most important skill in life.
I agree - in fact, by default communication is the only way to break solitude.
As a professional, as an individual, as a partner, a parent, in any environment really.
You spend years learning how to read and write, and years learning how to speak. but what about listening?
What training have you had that enables you to listen so you really, deeply understand another human being? Probably none, right? If you're like most people, you probably seek first to be understood; you want to get your point across.
And in doing so, you may ignore the other person completely, pretend that you're listening, selectively hear only certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely.
So why does this happen? Because most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. You listen to yourself as you prepare in your mind what you are going to say, the questions you are going to ask, etc. You filter everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame of reference. You check what you hear against your past experiences and see how it measures up. And consequently, you decide prematurely what the other person means before he/she finishes communicating. Do any of the following sound familiar? "Oh, I know just how you feel. I felt the same way." "I had that same thing happen to me." "Let me tell you what I did in a similar situation." Because you so often listen autobiographically, you tend to respond in one of four ways:
Evaluating: You judge and then either agree or disagree.
Probing: You ask questions from your own frame of reference.
Advising: You give counsel, advice, and solutions to problems.
Interpreting: You analyze others' motives and behaviors based on your own experiences.
Trying to relate or sympathize by drawing on your own experience isn't mal-intended, and in some cases another person specifically asks for help from your point of view or when there is already a very high level of trust in the relationship. However, listening to the person without bias, as difficult as it may sometimes be, is the only way to true understanding.
Are you listening?
Bueller... anyone?
Monday, July 21, 2008
Salesguru.nl - UPDATE
Your connection with Salesguru is much appreciated!
Since inception, I have received requests to connect on our LinkedIn Group from India to Canada (how did that happen?), and I am very excited (amazed?) to see that some enjoyed the blogs so far. Feel free to invite anyone you think may have an interest. The more the better.
The full-fledge website launch is still scheduled for Q4 this year. As mentioned before, the blog will be complemented with book reviews, a forum, and more exciting stuff for salesmen (m/f), and sales management.
One last comment: many thanks to you for telling others about salesguru.nl - the more people join, the more content we can publish, tailored to your wishes. Let me know what you like, and what you don't like, or what you think should be added to make the website more interesting and fun. Sales manager Jakob Thusgaard (jakob.thusgaard.com - also check out his training schedules if you like to exercise/athletics) posted an excerpt from one of the blogs, and it is very cool to see that he - as experienced as he is in sales management and motivational stuff - liked it too. Keep those coming! ;-)
More content later!
Since inception, I have received requests to connect on our LinkedIn Group from India to Canada (how did that happen?), and I am very excited (amazed?) to see that some enjoyed the blogs so far. Feel free to invite anyone you think may have an interest. The more the better.
The full-fledge website launch is still scheduled for Q4 this year. As mentioned before, the blog will be complemented with book reviews, a forum, and more exciting stuff for salesmen (m/f), and sales management.
One last comment: many thanks to you for telling others about salesguru.nl - the more people join, the more content we can publish, tailored to your wishes. Let me know what you like, and what you don't like, or what you think should be added to make the website more interesting and fun. Sales manager Jakob Thusgaard (jakob.thusgaard.com - also check out his training schedules if you like to exercise/athletics) posted an excerpt from one of the blogs, and it is very cool to see that he - as experienced as he is in sales management and motivational stuff - liked it too. Keep those coming! ;-)
More content later!
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