A Secondary Sales Goal

Good morning!

On my Apple Watch, there is a fitness app which consists of three rings. Each ring is a goal. There's one for a 30-minute workout, one for burning 750 cal, and one for standing and moving a minimum of 12 hours in a day. Complete all three and you have, in Apple-speak, "Closed your rings."

My wife Allison and I have been on a fitness kick since just before Christmas. She gave me a book called, Younger Next Year (by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge). It didn't exactly break any new ground, but it did light a fire under us. In January, for example, I closed all three rings a total of 23 days. Doing the math, that is 74% of the time. It’s easily the most exercise I have done in my entire life.

I got thinking about this as it relates to sales and, specifically, why people struggle to reach their activity goals. My expectation for exercise is not to be perfect. I don't need to close my rings for 28 days in February. My goal is to be successful 74% of the time, or 21 days.

Think about this as a relates to sales. Suppose you had a sales activity goal of making seven calls a day. It would be great if you could do that every day, but what are your chances of being perfect? Personally, I think you're setting yourself up for failure. Here's a different idea…

Have a secondary goal, one that represents how often you will be successful. Take my 74% as an example. Now, your aim is to make seven sales calls a day three out of four days (roughly 74% of the time). Similar to exercise, missing a day does not end your streak. So long as you are making those calls three out of four days, you are still on track.

This exercise regimen has taught me two very valuable lessons. This is the first. Next week, I will reveal the second.

For now, come up with a minimum number of sales calls you plan to make, and then decide the percentage of time you hope to be successful at hitting that goal.

By closing your "sales ring" three out of four days at say seven calls a day, you just made 104 sales calls in February.

Now, we might just call you, "Sales – buff”

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