Hit Your End of Year Target!

It was a big deal for me to get my 200th?ride on my Peloton bike.

This milestone happened in a Saturday morning class at 9:30 am. But not just any Saturday morning class. This was a 60-minute live class (most classes are On-Demand) led by my absolute favorite trainer.

I was hoping for a live shout-out, but it never happened.

What did happen, however, is that I have over 200 Peloton rides in the books.

For this very important milestone to happen, I needed to make some sacrifices including doing multiple rides on certain days and adding those rides to my regular training regiment of boxing and weightlifting.

But that was the only way to hit my 200 ride target in that particular class.

All of this may seem a bit crazy, but when something is important to you, you’ll get it done.

It’s the same sort of thing when you register for a marathon, boxing match, or pie-eating contest. Your preparation and planning are important otherwise you won’t hit your target.

If you’re a sales professional, certainly if you’re a financial advisor, broker, agent, planner, or wholesaler, setting targets are important, especially at the end of the year.

Your target may be focused on a specific number of added clients or accounts. New assets. Moved assets. You could be looking to hire someone, fire someone, or even rehire that special someone.

Targets, routine, and measurement are powerful motivators.

Here are some great ways to hit those targets as you push for EOY.

Be Clear on the Actual Target

As a financial advisor, can you quantify the exact number of accounts, managed money, policies, clients, referrals, recruits (or maybe it’s pounds or calories) in a way that makes sense to others? Do you have an idea of what you need to do every single workday of the month to hit that number?

Communicate

I remember a scene in the movie?Up in the Air?when the George Clooney character had a targeted number of miles he wished to earn in air travel. When the Anna Kendrick character asked what the target is he responded with “I’d rather not say.” Her response was, “Is it a secret target?” If your target is a secret, it makes it that much more difficult to hit it.

Make a List

This is where the not-so-secret target comes into play! Who are the best people to speak with about your target? Probably your centers of influence. Make your list of Top 20 or so COIs and spend time meeting with them about your respective targets and how you might help one another achieve them.

Ask for Introductions

Be specific about your request. If you have a target market (selected industry, profession, market segment, niche, dynamic, demographic, company name, geography) it makes it easier to request a specific introduction. That said, be choosy about the introductions you’re interested in. The more specific you are the easier it will be. Remember, make sure you return the favor when it comes to introducing your COI’s to others in your network.

Schedule the Time

Post in your calendar the timeframes that you plan on sending emails and making phone calls to schedule meeting with your COIs and other key people. Often what gets scheduled gets done.

Plan Your Tomorrow Today

Let the last thing you do in your workday is plan for tomorrow. This way there are no surprises. What didn’t you get to today? Who do you need to follow up with? What meetings do you need to prepare for? How can tomorrow be better than today?

Having targets and measures in place is a great way to get motivated and stay focused. Imagine what would happen if you brought a more targeted approach into next year with a January target, February target, and so on.

Just imagine!

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