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Set SMART Goals Now to Make 2025 Your Best Year Yet
WHAT do you WANT to achieve next year? WHAT matters so much that you're ready to set a strategy to, as my father used to say, “Make it Happen”?
Goals are the foundation of success, and writing them down as clear RESULTS is key. I recommend the S-M-A-R-T process because it’s simple, actionable, and effective:
- Specific: Be clear—no vague or ambiguous goals.
- Measurable: Use numbers or percentages to track progress.
- Attainable: Ensure it’s realistic within the timeframe.
- Relevant to YOU: Choo…
End the Year Strong: Evaluate, Adjust, and Set Goals for Sales Success
Yes, we’re talking about goals again. Why? Because setting, evaluating, and adjusting goals is the foundation of achieving consistent sales success.
In many showrooms, December is quieter, with customers, clients, and designers focused on holiday preparations. It’s the perfect time to reflect, evaluate, and analyze your performance over the past year. If you didn’t make time for this in November, now is the time to do it.
Action Steps to Evaluate Your Year
1️⃣ Review Key Metrics
Take a close l…
Goals Again
Yes. Goals again!
In most showrooms, December is rather quiet, with customers, clients and designers preparing for and celebrating the holidays. Prior to setting goals for the new year, December is a good month for evaluation and analysis if you didn’t do so in November. If not, see my November blogs for assistance.
Are you noticing any resistance to writing goals for next year? Do you have any sense that you don’t really need to do write goals? Perhaps you feel that you have figured out a p…
Differently
Differently? What?
We have looked at what to do more of, less of…and now differently.
Doing things differently is just that. If you have been ‘white-knuckle attached’ to using a paper
calendar and absolutely resisting using technology…it might finally be time to do things
differently.
Or you don’t want to make appointments with prospects you haven’t closed, preferring to follow
up in 2 days, because you think appointments are too pushy. Look at what it cost you in time and effectiveness.
C…
C…
Procrastination
As well as we can plan our time and be vigilant in protecting our time from being unnecessarily taken up by others, there is still a sneaky little gremlin called Procrastination.
Procrastination is sneaky because it looks like taking a break. It looks like being productive when we shift our attention to something that needs attention, but maybe not as much or not right now…especially if it is less important to achieving our goals than what we are currently working on.
It’s good to LOOK for…
Respecting Time by Making Appointments
As part of organizing actions in time, establish pre-arranged appointment times for when they work best for YOU (scheduled at lower opportunity times for other, harder-to-control actions). Use the repeat feature on your calendar so that you hold those times week after week. When you offer an appointment time that is agreed to, send a calendar invitation that can be accepted and ‘saved for this event only’ from the series…leaving that spot open next week at the same time. Increase the opportuni…
Organizing Actions in Time
“Time Management” is a misnomer because you cannot manage time. You can, however, manage ACTIONS in time.
Begin with your targets – what you WANT to accomplish. And working back from them, identify the actions that need to happen to achieve them. Start small and plan the actions at the best time to execute them and to achieve the result.
Plan a week at a time and support the week with a daily to-do list...but expand your perspective beyond one day…don’t rely on a daily list to manage a week …
Identifying Pitfalls and Traps
Are you good for the first three days into a new initiative and then start to slip?
When do you stop doing the actions that you committed to?
Do you start to tell yourself: “It’s not that bad” or “It’s not that important?”
Rather than avoiding these natural tendencies, include them in your goals. Consider them BEFORE they happen so that when they pop up, you will be prepared for them.
For example, if you know that you start the month strong, make your first week goals and miss your thi…
Practice – the rewards
I need to bring the topic back around to selling.
Ah, the practice of selling. It is a practice. There are so many elements: the practice of setting goals, the practice of connecting with strangers, the practice of asking discovery questions, the practice of presenting solutions to customer priorities, the practice of handling objections, the practice of asking for a commitment, the practice of being silent and still, the practice of follow up and outreach, the practice of organizing your bus…
Follow Up…enough to get a result?
As an industry, whether retail or trade home furnishings showrooms, we tend to be weak in follow-up. Not everyone, but as an industry, this is a shortcoming. Please consider that there is room for growth here.
Start by planning to schedule follow-up and outreach actions into your work week, not letting them fall into 'when you get to it' status. AND plan them at the best time to produce the desired action –to connect and to get a sale or an appointment.
Notice: When do you give up? When i…
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