John is a new client who wrote the following post about what he learned about himself in the first few weeks and how that has been impacting his sales performance.

"I started sales coaching two weeks ago. I managed to not do the VERY FIRST homework assignment. Why? I said I didn’t want to make excuses, but I knew what they were in my head, and I ended up bringing them up.

• It's End of Month
• I have too much work
• Life is unfair

When pushed harder I started to think of the real reasons:

• I don’t manage time well
• I don’t prioritize
• I procrastinate all the time

My coach was referred me back to my OMG assessment. I figured it had to do with Procrastination.  I forgot to read the damn page again, until 2 calls later when I was complaining about my end of month push. At that I was reminded “Remember page 8?” I froze, thinking that I was about to get quizzed.

Wrong. My coach pointed out the relation between page 8 and my procrastination, and it wasn’t as a linear relationship as I thought.

You have personal and meaningful goals= Fine.

You don’t have a plan nor a tracking system for reaching those goals.

Without a plan, you can’t know what to do, therefore you procrastinate.

The reason I was procrastinating had nothing to do with lack of interest, but rather, it had to do with the lack of a plan."

The Hidden Reason Why Many Don't Have Their Own Plan

You might be wondering why someone like John who is motivated, committed, coachable and who takes responsibility for their own outcomes would resist or ignore writing a plan- even knowing that those who do are significantly more likely to accomplish them.

The reason is simple- they don't believe it's possible. They have a negative outlook, or voice that they listen to that says; "Hmmm, no- that's not likely to happen. What makes you think you can do that?" Why is that? Because instead of focusing on how to make something happen, they become obsessed with the 'what-ifs'. 

The Impact That Individual Action Plans Have on Company Revenue

We discussed the impact this has on revenue on yesterday's #livesaleslab. One attendee who manages a team asked, "At the beginning of every month I tell my team that if they focus on their quota, they are focusing on the wrong thing- they should be focused on how to help the buyer." This is important to the manager because they know that if the salespeople only focus on their quota, they will try to sell anyone anything- just to make the quota. That doesn't create a great buying experience and is more likely to lead to customer attrition or churn.

And she is right- salespeople who don't have a personal plan that identifies the disciplines they need to do to reach their goals and a daily tracking system (not the CRM!) to measure their daily actions become inconsistent.

Which means that towards the end of the month they start to panic and get emotionally involved.

An emotionally involved salesperson makes a lot of mistakes.

They can't build trust and value with the buyer because they don't ask questions in a way that reflects the buyer's decision making process. That means lost revenue because forecasted deals take longer, are discounted, or don't happen at all. 

Don't be like 80-90% of the salespeople out there. Be like John, use the customizable goal setting worksheets and resources to figure out your personal sales plan.