If Not, Then Goal Setting

Goal setting is important. Well, that’s what I was told and I do agree. The problem is determining how to set your goals. If you meet your goals every day, they’re too easy. If you don’t meet them they’re too hard. So you can’t win, or can you!

When I became a stockbroker in 1985 I was 20 years old and gung ho (“Gung Ho” a great book by Ken Blanchard). I asked my manger what he thought I should set as my goals. “Bill, to make it in this business you need to open 2 accounts a day, every day!” So I had my goal and I started to hit the phones (Remind me to tell you about my first call) and I wasn’t leaving until I hit my goal, 2 new accounts.

Unfortunately, on some days I ran out of time zones. I would start on the east coast and call until 8 PM. Then move to the central time zone until it was 8 PM there. Then off to the west coast for two more hours of calling. My boss told me that Hawaii was out. I remember how it felt as I left the office without hitting my goal. My head was down and I was pissed. The next morning my first thought was, “shit, I missed my goal yesterday”. Not a good way to start the day. That feeling set the tone for the whole day. I hated the feeling of not meeting my goals. That is when I came up with “If not, then goal setting”.

I started by interviewing the top brokers in my office. The one and only question I asked was, “How do you open 2 accounts a day?” The answer was the same from each of them. “Bill, it’s a numbers game. If you make enough calls you end up opening enough accounts.” Well, how many is enough? After talking to a lot of very successful brokers I came up with a formula.

My goals then looked like this, 2 new accounts, if not then, 10 qualified prospects, if not then, 30 contacts, if not then 200 dials. If I met at least one of these goals everyday I new I would be successful. Never again did I leave the office mad about not reaching a goal. Never again did I start the day with a negative attitude because I missed a goal.

Every job has a formula. What the formula for your job? Find it and set your, “If not then” goals!