HOW TO SET CAREER OBJECTIVES & ACHIEVE CAREER GOALS

Many people find that the pressures of juggling with work, family and everyday life means that our career goals and career plans are more difficult to achieve than we had hoped. Well-intended resolutions such as setting up new career objectives are soon given up. However, when goals aren’t achieved many of us can feel useless and frustrated. This is particularly so if we are giving up on our career goals for a better job. This drains our energy and limits our potential. What I have observed, whilst working with organizations and people going through change is that everyone’s approach to handling change is very different to anyone else’s.
The key to greater success in setting career objectives is having a better understanding of where you’re regularly stuck, and apply new steps at these stages in the cycle to achieve what you truly want in your career. Have a look at the cycle of change. What stage are your career goals at?

Career Goal Awareness Stage

This is the starting point for any change or goal. First there is awareness of dissatisfaction or a new need in your life. Think about the simple need to have a drink. You might feel a little thirsty but can you ignore it? Perhaps for a while if you’re busy. Eventually though you get a headache and can’t concentrate until getting a drink becomes the most important thing you must do, until your thirst is quenched. It is the same with setting career objectives. The more dissatisfied you are in your current career and the stronger your need for change the more compelled you will be to act. You might feel that you want to a promotion or a more challenging job, but if you feel fairly comfortable where you are, there won’t be sufficient motivation to energize change and achieve a career goal.

1. Remove the career goal ‘shoulds’. Remove all the resolutions that are being driven by your family or friends. These are the sort of goals you feel you should be doing. For example, ‘I should get another job’. ‘I should get paid more for the job I do’. All these might be well-meaning goals but unless they are your goals then you’re not at the awareness stage of change with these goals. What this means is that any positive results are going to be very unlikely.

Career Goal Mobilization Stage

This is the stage where you feel the most excited and energized for what you are about to do, and you’ll be thinking about all your options and options and ideas. If you start off really excited about a new goal and then all that motivation and energy fizzles before you have made any real progress, the chances are you’re being over ambitious. Too much excitement can color our judgment on our choices and direction. Equally, if you’re one of those people who say ‘I don’t want to get too excited in case it doesn’t happen’, then you could be draining the energy from the project before you’ve had a chance to create it. You need to mobilize energy to create change.

2. Remove unrealistic career goal options. You can make progress if you’re making unrealistic demands on yourself. Break down your career goal into smaller steps which can be achieved more easily. This will help create more confidence and a belief that you can achieve what you really want to.

3. Find a career supporter. Try to find someone in your circle of contacts at home or at work who will support and encourage you in achieving your career goals. If not, join a related self-help group or find a career mentor who can help you to focus on the positive changes, however small. Their excitement can help you keep up your momentum.

Career Setting – Goal Action Stage

This is when you start to experiment with different types of actions to achieve your career goals. So many resolutions are lost at this stage when the reality of achieving the goal becomes clear. It is often much harder and takes longer to achieve than first thought. If you are getting stuck at this stage the chances are that you’re being too much of a perfectionist and expecting to get great results all the time. It’s easy then to feel demoralized and give up too soon. To achieve satisfaction requires lots of action!

4. Experiment & be flexible with your career goals. Be prepared to try many different ways to achieve your goals. Ask yourself how many different options can you try to make this happen. View these approaches as experiments to be carried out rather than solutions. Inevitably some approaches will work better than others. Thomas Edison, the renowned electric light inventor was supposedly asked by a New York Times Reporter, “How does it feel to fail seven hundred times”. He answered that “I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work.”

5. Face your career fears. Sometimes we give up very quickly not because our resolutions are really impossible to achieve but because we feel scared of trying to achieve them. It is easy to procrastinate and let day-to-day pressures get in the way of following our dreams. This is why some of the most fundamental life changes such as starting a new business or a new career are only made when change is forced upon us, such as following a divorce or redundancy.

6. Be kind to yourself. We are often harder on ourselves than we would be with our friends. Try and reframe your results so that there is no such thing a failure or mistake, just a need for new approaches. Okay, it can be scary but looking for failure is not going to help. For example, an unemployed man has applied unsuccessfully for over a hundred jobs! He now works actively as a volunteer three days a week, and has been on a training course to upgrade his skills. He could panic and give up. But his proactive approach means that he is increasing his chance of finding suitable paid work. It’s essential to find alternative options to improve your chances of success.

7. If it’s not working do something else. If something isn’t working there is a tendency to look for something or someone to blame. ‘I haven’t got the new job I wanted because of the children’. If you want to achieve something new in your life you will need to take responsibility for where you are, and then try to take some small steps to do something different.

Career Setting Satisfaction & Career Goal Celebration Stage

This is the stage when the project or goal is completed and satisfaction is reached. If you are the sort of person who has many half finished projects still open waiting to be completed then you probably feel that your career goals never get completed. However, you might have achieved more of your career goal than you think. Many of us have the tendency to look at what hasn’t been achieved rather than savoring the pleasure of what has. For example, ‘I’ve got a new job but at a lower salary than I wanted’ It is also very British to talk-down our achievements. None of us want to be seen to ‘be a show off’ but celebrations are good for our morale, confidence and give closure to projects which help us to achieve new dreams.

8. Appreciate completion of career goals. Appreciate how far you’ve come so far. It may not have been exactly what you had in mind when you started out, but good enough might be all that is needed now. It’s OK for your goal to change and develop over time.

9. Celebrate your career successes. A desire for perfectionism can get in the way of celebrating your achievements. Identify what you’ve achieved and find ways to celebrate your success regularly. A bottle of champagne, a meal out or a trip out can do wonders for your self-esteem and happiness. Go for it and enjoy.

WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP HAVE TO DO WITH SENSITIVITY? ANYTHING?

As a leader, you’ve probably heard lots of talk about empowering others. It’s a great concept, but when you get right down to it, there’s little evidence that it’s actually happening whenever it really is happening.
Even more important, there are times when the leader’s job is to, uh… y’know – LEAD. As a leader, you’re privy to a lot of facts and insights that your team just doesn’t have. Your job is to make judgment calls, and sometimes go against the grain. Sometimes your team may not understand why you’re making the calls you do.
The bottom line is that you need each other. The team needs the leader to point the way. The leader needs the team’s unique talents so that all of the various nuances of your collective project are handled thoroughly and efficiently. In order to get the team on board with your abundant wisdom, you’ll need to know when to coax and when to shove.
For all that, you’ll need to understand how you’re coming across to them. In other words, you’ll need to be sensitive to them and their perceptions.
Understanding how your actions influence the empowerment process will allow you to decide when coaxing is sufficient and when shoving is actually required. Combining these two ticklish prospects can often yield stellar results.

How To Be Sensitive Without Getting Stepped On

Empowering your workforce is not likely to happen all on its own. Everyone involved will need to apply some real effort. The result of this effort will create an environment where people have enough freedom and responsibility to act independently whenever they have to. At the same time, it should offer some firm guidelines, leaving room for your leadership.
A team that understands the rules has a better chance of winning the game. Their ability to do this comes through understanding your team’s needs and what’s required of them.
It means becoming sensitive to how they regard you. Your attitude towards their empowerment and your sensitivity to their perceptions will guide you. You’ll know just when it’s time to coax and when to shove.
Here’s an exercise you can do with your team, either as a group or in a one-on-one setting. It will help raise potentially difficult issues in a safe environment. You’ll emerge from it with a clear picture of how to proceed, what to keep, and which aspects of your style you need to improve.
The exercise highlights the aspects of your leadership style that are likely to enhance or limit your team’s ability to act independently. How much they can do on their own will have a direct impact on the degree of their empowerment as individuals within the team framework.
Start the session with a brief explanation of empowerment tailored to the your team’s unique circumstances. Either working in small groups or as individuals, ask your people to come up with answers to each of the following four questions. As an alternative, you can ask each person or group to answer just one of the questions in detail.
Here are the questions:

1. What do you need me to start doing as a leader?
2. What do you need me to stop doing?
3. What do you need me to do differently?
4. What do you need me to do more of?

Asking for a succinct, honest appraisal will help people feel they are able to air their views without restrictions. Your team’s responses will play a key role in how you approach empowerment in the future, so let them know you’re listening.
Give them time to consider their answers, and be on hand to respond to any questions they may have about the process. Make it clear to your team that all feedback is extremely useful to you and, ultimately, to them too. Say clearly when you expect to get their answers. Make sure you follow up at the right time; be consistent.

Where Can You Apply What You’ve Learned?

Applying the lessons you’ve learned from this exercise will not only benefit your team, it will also show your degree of sensitivity as a leader. In other words, showing that you know how to coax makes you more effective when it comes time to shove. Reinforcing your sensitivity to the team’s needs and perceptions can actually build the team bond.
When you start this exercise with your group, explain that you will be writing up these suggestions and providing everyone with the results. Then deliver what you promise. Show them what the results are, and demonstrate how their feedback will be applied. Also, come up with some concrete ways that you’ll get their input in the near future.
If there are areas where your leadership needs to diverge from the group’s consensus, you can always try reverting to the ol’ tried and true: Talk. Communication is the key to understanding; and understanding is the key to gaining their support.
By opening up to your team, you stand to gain their understanding – and their sensitivity. With their trust and support, that makes you an empowered leader.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

Every successful business leader has a clear answer to this
vital question:  Why are you building this company? Who
does it serve and what's your greater purpose? Answering
these questions costs you very little, and it can pay huge
dividends.
For some entrepreneurs, the primary purpose is simply to
create a business that can be sold. They have a talent for
seeing a need and designing systems to meet the need while
making a profit, and they love starting new businesses. 
Once the company is established, they often sell it and may
repeat the process over and over through the years. 
Most business owners, however, have some other purpose in
mind, and it is often deeply personal. Some want to build a
company they can pass on to their children. Others want to
see how large and profitable they can make it, and they
dream of a vast enterprise with thousands of employees.
Still others, want a business that expresses their values
or contributes to society in some way.
In coaching entrepreneurs, I am struck that it
does not seem to matter what the reason actually is. What
matters is the ability to keep it in sight at all times.
Knowing your personal vision, your purpose or mission, the
"reason why we do this", is absolutely critical.
The solution is simple:  Keep your eyes on the prize! Step
back, gain perspective, renew your commitment. Remember WHY
you are doing this! If you are clear enough about the
"why", you'll figure out the "how".

HOW TO CREATE YOUR IDEAL SELF AND LIFE

Did you know that your self-concept is made up of three part, each of which affect each of the others? Understanding these three parts enables you to put your hands on the keyboard of your own mental computer. Think about it. When you learn to take charge of the development of a new and positive self-concept of selling, you can then control your sales destiny for the rest of your career.

Determine Your Direction

The first part of the self-concept is the "self-ideal." Your self-ideal largely determines the direction in which you are going with your life. It guides the growth and evolution of your character and personality. Your self-ideal is a combination of all of the qualities and attributes of other people that you most admire. Your self-ideal is a description of the person you would very much like to be if you could embody the qualities that you most aspire to.

Strive Toward Excellence

Throughout your life, you have seen and read about the qualities of courage, confidence, compassion, love, fortitude, perseverance, patience, forgiveness and integrity. Over time, these qualities have instilled in you an ideal to which you aspire. You might not always live up to the very best that you know, but you are constantly striving to be a better person in light of those qualities that you value so highly. In fact, everything that you do on a day-to-day basis is affected by your comparing your activities with these ideal qualities and your striving to behave consistently with them.

Clarity is Essential

Successful salespeople have very clear ideals for themselves and their careers. Unsuccessful salespeople have fuzzy ideals. Successful salespeople are very clear about being excellent in every part of their work and their personal lives. Unsuccessful salespeople don't give the subject very much thought. One of the primary characteristics of successful men and women in every walk of life is that they have very clearly defined ideals and they are very aware of whether or not their current behaviours are consistent with their idealized behaviours.

Set Challenging Goals

Part of your ideals are your goals. As you set higher and more challenging goals, your self-ideal improves and crystallizes. When you set goals for the kind of person you want to be and the kind of life you want to live, your self-ideal rises and becomes a greater guiding and motivating force in your life.

Your Future is Unlimited

Perhaps the most important thing for you to realize is that whatever anyone else has done or become, you can do or become as well. Improvements in your self-ideal begin in your imagination, and in your imagination, there are no limits except the ones that you accept.

What is your ideal vision of the very best person you could possibly become? How would you behave each day if you were already that person? Asking yourself these questions and then living your life consistent with the answers is the first step to creating yourself in your ideal image.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, dream big dreams. Set big, exciting, challenging goals and ideals for yourself in every part of your life. Allow yourself to imagine a wonderful life ahead.

Second, think about how you would act if you were an outstanding person in every way. Then, practice being this person, as though you were acting a role in a play. You'll immediately notice a difference in your behavior.

YOUR TEAM FOR ACHIEVEMENT

The poet wrote that "no man is an island' and that is
certainly true for business people. By definition, business
flourishes in the "market-place," with vendors and
suppliers, staff and customers all swirling around! It's
how business gets done.
At the same time, however, too many business people feel
alone. In some micro-businesses, one person is quite
literally the owner, the manager, the staff, the janitor
and the bookkeeper. That can be lonely and inefficient.
Trying to work from home, or from a one-person office can
be distracting and (at times) depressing.
Even if you work with other people, however, too often the
feeling or sense is still that we are "all alone,"
especially if you are in a position of leadership.
One of the most valuable resources any entrepreneur,
professional or small business leader can have is a Master
Mind team of trusted colleagues who will listen and advise
you. Having a TEAM of people who will be honest with you,
who understand your challenges and will share their wisdom
can be a HUGE advantage!
If you don't have a "kitchen cabinet" or unofficial "board
of directors," get one!  That may sound strong or even
arrogant, but John Donne was right – none of us functions
at our best when we have to do it all ourselves. Get a
support team. Get advisors you trust, people who know and
understand your situation, people who do not compete with
you and who will not play games. Meet with them once a week
to take care of business, and help each other to be your
BEST.

LIFE'S BEST RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Here's a vital question: What is your most important
investment? What's the most important thing on your "to do"
list? Or to put it another way, what is the one thing you
absolutely, positively must do during your brief time on
this small planet?
That's not a trick question! But it does have a "tricky"
answer.
Most people answer with things like their spirituality,
their children or family, their career or health. If those
are your answers, you may want to think again.
All of those things are important! But I'm indebted to one
of my mentors, Thomas Leonard, for helping me dig deeper on
this one. Thomas argued that the most important thing in
life is "self-ishness."
Ordinarily, we associate selfishness with spoiled kids
fighting over toys in a sandbox and it's not a pretty
picture. Fortunately, that's not at all what Thomas had in
mind.
He pointed out that our first obligation is to figure out
who we are, what we want, and where we're going in life.
Until we discover our "Self," we are in a sense living
someone else's life!
And, here's a critical point. Figuring out who we are and
what we'll do with our life doesn't happen by accident!
Carl Jung said that most people don't figure this out until
after age forty! It takes a long time to grow up and take
care of life's essentials. As young adults most of us are
busy with school and work, starting and raising a family,
launching a career, and a thousand other things.
Fortunately, as adults we can make the decision to pause,
step back and ask the big questions. I find it incredibly
sad that so many people never face this essential
responsibility. It's no good living by someone else's rules
or following someone else's dream. Life is a gift, but to
make the most of it we must accept that "some assembly is
required" and make the effort to find our own way in this
world.
Thomas was right about the importance of being "self-ish."
But he was wrong about how we do it.
Thomas developed a theory he called "personal evolution"
and speculated that we could create a process of
"automatically" evolving into the person we want to become.
Frankly, as much as I admired him (he passed away several
years ago), I think he was wrong about this.
I think existing is easy and some of us virtually "paint by
the numbers" or "go through the motions" of living our
lives! Existence is (relatively) easy, but growth requires
hard work, and a plan.
I think the term "personal development" is a more accurate
description of how we develop a "life of one's own." I
think responsible adults take control of their own lives
because life expects us to learn and stretch. It expects us
to make choices, set a course, develop skills and work
hard. Life asks us to try things, make mistakes, and commit
to a path of growth and maturity. Anyone can grow old, but
growth only comes with effort and commitment.
So here's the challenge: Who are you striving to become? Do
you have a plan? Are you making the daily investment?
I don't think this has to be "hard" or expensive. In many
ways, it's very easy! Think about this--would you rather
live a life of distractions, obeying other people's rules,
and following someone else's script, or a life focused on
your own most important priorities? I think in many ways,
living a GREAT life is much easier than living an ordinary
life. Sure, it requires a few basic disciplines. It
requires hard choices and the integrity to stick with them.
But in many ways, a GREAT life is actually much easier and
infinitely more satisfying!
Here are four simple--not easy, but simple--steps:
1.  Get clear about who you are, what you value and where
you're going in life. Be very "self-ish" about this!
2.  Develop a plan. What do you need to change? What do you
need to learn? Who will you be five years from now, and how
will you make that happen? Take notes and write this stuff
down.
3.  Take action every day. It doesn't have to be dramatic
action, but every day, stick with it. Read. Talk with smart
people. Eliminate one or two distractions. Spend time on
things that make you proud, that stretch and strengthen
you.
4.  At least once a year, invest time (and a few dollars)
in your self! Get away for perspective. Get away to learn.
Get away to THINK! Get away to organize, plan and grow. Get
away so you can return home clear-headed, focused and
energized.

THE PURPOSE OF EVERY BUSINESS

I hear lots of discussion about purpose and mission
statements for business. Some tell me the purpose of any
business is to make a profit. Others focus on the quality
of the product or on teamwork and morale. Obviously, all of
that is wonderful and to some extent necessary. But it
misses the point.
The purpose of every business is to serve a satisfied
customer. Period.
In the end, satisfied customers create the profits.
Satisfied customers create repeat business, which is vastly
more profitable than finding a new customer for every
transaction. Satisfied customers allow for pride,
satisfaction and the constant improvement of our goods and
services. Only satisfied customers will ultimately keep the
doors open and allow the business to "work.”
Sure, a great marketing plan is desirable. Of course,
making a profit is necessary over time.
But in the end, only satisfied customers make everything
else possible.
So, what are your customers really looking for? What
benefit or convenience, what quality or experience is most
vital to them? Ask them! Let your customers tell you what
makes your business special. Let them tell you how and why
you stand out from your competition. Let them tell you why
they buy from you and keep coming back.
Too often, business leaders spend too much time examining
details when a simple lunch or phone call to your best
customers could tell you precisely how to grow the
business. In the end, systems and business plans, tools and
equipment are good, but only to the degree that your
customers are smiling. Everything else is detail.

THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO HAVE MORE MONEY

Have you ever heard the common catchphrase "The little things mean the most?" If so, then you might also be familiar with one of the greatest success principles of all is called the Law of Accumulation.
This law says that everything great and worthwhile in human life is an accumulation of hundreds and sometimes thousands of tiny efforts and sacrifices that nobody ever sees or appreciates.
It says that everything accumulates over time. That you have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.
It's like a snowball. A snowball starts very small, but it grows as it adds millions and millions of tiny snowflakes and continues to grow as it gathers momentum.

Learn What You Need To Learn

There are three areas where the law of accumulation is important. The first is in the area of knowledge. Your body of knowledge is a result of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small pieces of information.

Any person with a large knowledge base has spent thousands of hours building that knowledge base one piece at a time. And what you see when you meet the individual is an expert in his or her field, with that high level of knowledge that makes him very valuable in the marketplace.

Save Your Money

The second area where the Law of accumulation works is with regard to money. Every large fortune is an accumulation of hundreds and thousands of small amounts of money, and the place to start is to take any amount of money that you can right now and begin to save it.
When you begin to save money, it sets up a force field of energy and it triggers the law of attraction. As a result you begin to attract to you even more bits of money to add to your savings.

And I've spoken to many, many successful people and they've told me the same story. That as soon as you start to put savings aside, it starts to attract into your life and into your work all the money that you need to achieve your goals.
The reason why most people retire poor is they never put the initial savings aside to start with.

Get the Experience You Need

The third area where the law of accumulation applies is in the area of experience. You'll find that successful people in any field are those who have far more experience in that field than the average. And there is nothing that replaces experience. Whether it's in business or entrepreneurship or management or parenting or selling or anything else. Many people do not take the risks that are necessary to move out of their comfort zone because they're afraid it won't work out.

Everything Counts

But the fact is that until you move out of the comfort zone and get the experience from making the mistakes, it's not possible for you to grow and become capable of earning the kind of money that you desire.
Now here's the key to the law of accumulation. It says that everything counts. Everything that you do counts. The biggest mistake that people make is they think that only what they want to count, counts. That when you read a book, when you listen to an audio program, when you go to a course, when you go to bed early and you get up early and you work, it all counts. And it's all going on the plus side of your ledger.

Use Your Time Well

But when you watch television, waste time, hang out, fool around and so on, all of that counts, as well, and it's going on the negative side.
A person who has a great life, by the law of accumulation, is a person who's accumulated far more credits on the credit side than debits on the debit side. And here's an important point. If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it's moving you away from your goals. Nothing is neutral.
Everything that you're doing is either moving you toward the things that you want to accomplish in life, the person you want to be, the wealth you want to accumulate, or it's moving you away. Everything counts. The law of accumulation says that everything counts.

Action Exercises

First, begin today to build your knowledge base in the subject that can be most helpful to you in achieving financial independence. Whether it takes a week, a month or a year to become thoroughly knowledgeable, it doesn't matter. Just get started today.

Second, get as much experience as you can in your chosen field. Start a little earlier, work a little harder and stay a little later. Take risks and try every different way you can think of to achieve your goal. This experience is invaluable and it accumulates over time.

THE MIRACLE OF SMALL DIFFERENCES

How do we explain the fact that two equally talented people
sometimes produce dramatically different results?
Some people believe success is the result of talent or
education, or "being in the right place at the right time."
Some of us think it has to do with "who you know", or
(let's be honest) that luck plays a part.
Well, I don't think "luck" has much to do with it. Instead,
I believe that some people have learned to do the right
things, in the right way, at the right time, and attract
the things they want in life. To me, that is not luck! It
is a skill, and it can be learned.
A few years ago, I read that a small group of top sales
people in a large insurance company earned 54 times more
than the "average" salesperson in the same company. Think
of that--some people earned 54 times more per year than
their colleagues who were selling the same products for the
same company, with the same training. How could that be?
Were those top salespeople 54 times smarter or 54 times
more talented?  Would you argue they were 54 times luckier?
Of course not!
It turns out, the difference in income was almost entirely
the result of "small differences that made all the
difference."
Now, the top sales people DID make more calls per day--but
they did not make 54 times more calls, just a few extra
calls. The top people did return calls more promptly and
had slightly better phone skills. The top people read more,
and had a better understanding of their products, and were
perhaps better at communicating with prospects.
The essential piece, however, is that the things that
mattered were the ordinary, routine skills that every
salesperson has to master. It was the "little things" that
made all the difference!
If you watch the Olympics, the Super Bowl or NBA play-offs,
you see this principle in action. The winners are not
necessarily more talented, younger, stronger or richer.
Often the difference between winners and losers is a minor
slip, or a moment of distraction. The winners are not 54
times better, or even twice as good. The difference between
a gold medal and no medal is a tiny difference that makes
all the difference!
Winners work for perfection in the small things. They pay
more attention, they smile more, they read more, they get
up earlier and stay a bit later. They don't necessarily
work harder, but they do focus on quality, on performance,
on the "winning edge." So can you!
The keys to success are not talent or wealth or luck or
education. Someone once told me that winners are "ordinary
people, doing ordinary things, extraordinarily well." I
love that phrase and keep it on my desk every day. Today,
do the ordinary tasks and routines of your life with
extraordinary precision, with extraordinary energy, humor,
warmth and passion. These are the keys to long-term
success!

EFFECTIVE PROSPECTING: QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

 

Think about how many times since you began selling you heard someone say, “I wish I’d never closed that order.” And then consider how many times you’ve said it yourself.  Why does this happen? Because the sales professional allowed himself to believe that it’s quantity, not quality, that counts, and so ended up selling to a customer with a non-existent match to their product or service. Learn how creating an “Ideal Customer Profile” will help you separate your best prospects from the ones who will prove to be liabilities.
The Ideal Customer Profile’s aim is really twofold: to anticipate problems in your current customer base, and as a sorting device that will help you cut down on those prospects you probably shouldn’t be working with in the first place—leaving you with a shorter but real prospects’ list. Your own personal Ideal Customer Profile will be based on your current and past accounts; you can then use that profile to test the real prospects of a winning sale with all of your current sales objectives.

1. Create your Ideal Customer Profile. Make five columns with the following subheadings:
   1. Best Customers
   2. Characteristics of Best
   3. Ideal Customer Profile
   4. Characteristics of Worst
   5. Worst Customers
2. Identify your best customers. List your best current and past customers, not prospects—be sure to limit yourself to accounts where you’ve already done business. Concentrate on those accounts that have given you the maximum number of wins and minimal trouble.
3. Identify your worst customers. List your worst past and current customers. Concentrate on those accounts where either you or the customer—or both of you—have lost even though you’ve closed the order.
4. List best customer characteristics. List those characteristics that are common or unique to the “best customers” you’ve just identified.
5. List worst customer characteristics. List those characteristics that are common or unique to the “worst customers” you’ve just identified.
6. Create your Ideal Customer Profile. Study the lists you’ve just made of “best customer” and “worst customer” characteristics and distils out of those items a new list of characteristics you consider the most significant to put in your Ideal Customer Profile column. (Note: When assessing “worst” characteristics list, your takeaway will be the opposite of the significant items listed there, i.e., if a common characteristic of your “worst customers” is that they’re “unable to make decisions,” write in the ICP column something like, “Has a process for making buying decisions quickly.”) Then zero in on the five most significant characteristics. These five characteristics will form your Ideal Customer Profile.
7. Test your current accounts. Measure a current account you’re working on against each of your five ICP characteristics, asking yourself for each one, “How well does this particular customer match with this ideal characteristic”?

You now have a useful screening tool for both sorting your prospects and anticipating problems. Once you know how close (or not) a given account is to your Ideal Customer Profile, you’ll be in a better position to make a decision about how to improve your strategy for that account.

TARGETS AND BENCHMARKS

Almost every reader of  Impact knows the power of defining and
writing down your most important goals. In business,
however, I find that too many entrepreneurs fail to break
their goals into small enough chunks. They have 5-year
plans and yearly goals or objectives, but they don't break
them down into monthly targets, weekly projects and even
daily activities. 
As a wise man once told me, "A goal without a plan is just
a pipedream."
If your goals are important, get a calendar or a notebook,
and break them down into specific targets. An obvious
example is that if you wish to save $5000 this year, you
must commit to saving $417 each month. That means this
month. No exceptions.
When they start coaching, many of my clients have goals or
long-term objectives, but they haven't broken their goals
into small enough action steps. What does "customer care"
mean in terms of action this week? How will you attract new
clients this month? Who is responsible for the marketing
plan? What's the budget, and what are the expected results?
Without specific benchmarks along the way, we rarely reach
our long-term goals. Have the courage to examine your goals
in terms of daily, weekly and monthly activities, then hold
yourself accountable. Are you taking steps to market your
business? Is your level of customer satisfaction going up?
Are you cutting costs? Are you doing better work? How do
you measure your progress day by day?
The answers to these questions will determine whether or
not you reach your goals, and ultimately, whether or not
you create the business and the life you really want.

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A LIFE WELL LIVED

This week, a potential new client asked how I define
success. She was asking about my philosophy and priorities,
but we quickly started talking about how I measure "true
success." What are we trying to achieve? What does
happiness really look like?
Obviously, these are huge questions and the answers will be
different for each of us. I'm pretty sure the answers
change as we go through life. Success is very different for
a teenager than for a woman in her 80's. The trappings of
success may be different for different cultures, and even
men and women may measure a "great life" somewhat
differently.
But whatever our individual answers, I'm convinced that
clarity about how we measure success and defining the life
we truly want are two of the most important tasks for any
adult. Living according to someone else's definition of
success can lead to incredible tragedy. It abdicates our
unique gift as human beings to make our own decisions and
live our lives in our own way.
Peter Drucker observed that the ultimate failure is to do
very well "that which need not be done at all." Others have
noted that the worst failure is to struggle up the ladder
of success, only to reach the top and find it was leaning
against the wrong wall. Over 2500 years ago, Socrates said
that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
I'm not sure I would go that far--a life that is, so far,
unexamined, may awaken at any moment! Nevertheless, I think
it is useful to wake up, smell the roses, and make our own
decisions as early in life as possible.
To arrive at your own definition of success and set your
course in life, I often encourage clients to begin by
looking at some of life's "big pieces." Success and
happiness may be more than getting all the pieces in the
right place, but getting the big pieces right is a worthy
beginning.
I suggest the following for your consideration:

1.  Career or vocational success. Get very good at what you
do. Make your maximum contribution. Become an expert. Take
pride in your work and earn respect for your ability to
produce amazing results in record time. How do you define
success in your career?

2.  Money and finances. Money isn't everything, but it
beats being poor. In a world with so much wealth and so
many opportunities, managing money and saving for the
future, investing wisely, and enjoying the fruits of our
labor are a key component of living well. How do you define
success in financial terms?

3.  Health and well-being. Some illness or injury come to
each of us, but over time, taking care of our bodies,
eating well, getting plenty of rest and exercise seem to be
good things. Laughing seems to help. There is truth in the
old saying, "Use it or lose it." Move. Stretch. Dance.
Play. Take care of your body.

4.  Spirituality and faith. My grandmother taught me that,
"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for
anything." Figure out what you believe about life and
purpose, about the future and about the goodness (or
badness) of our fellow humans. What is life all about? Why
are you here?

5.  Fun and celebration. "All work and no play makes Jack
(and Jill) very dull." Some of us are so ambitious in terms
of work or money that we fail to relax and enjoy life. Ride
the roller-coasters. Explore mountain-tops. Play with
children. Make love. Be silly and try new stuff. If you
fall down, pick yourself up and try again. Enjoy ice cream.
With fudge and a cherry on top!

6.  Education and personal development. This week, Bill
Gates observed that one of his regrets is that for all his
wealth and achievement, he speaks only one language. Take
music lessons. Ready history. Travel widely. Try new foods,
new ideas, and new points of view. Stretch your brain as
well as your body.

You may have other big pieces. Or, you may feel some of my
suggestions don't work for you. Fine! But figure out the
building blocks of a great life, and pursue them. By the
end of 2015, you can have, do, or become just about
anything you truly want. You can learn a language, visit
China, fall in love, or start a business. What I encourage
you avoid is wasting time. Define the building blocks of a
great life and, day by day, focus on them. Make this your
year to achieve greatness.