Are you ready for 2007?

Most businesses will depend on the hope plan this year instead of planning and controlling what happens. You know how the hope plan goes: I hope it’s a good year. I hope we get more customers. I hope the phone rings. I hope more people move to our town. I hope the new product sells. I hope I make some money.

If you’re serious about planning for success this year and especially if you want to actually control your profitability this year, don’t just hope, make it happen instead. And for those of you who decide to make it happen, here are some tips on how to pull it off.

1. Track it. Most important, you have to figure out where you are actually at; and what you actually did last month, last quarter and last year. You need to know your averages and trends. In each category, you need your total for the year, your totals each month and your current average (current average = last 90 days) in examples below:

• Income
• Customer Retention
• Closing Ratio
• Selling/Variable Expenses
• Fixed Expenses
• Inventory
• Gross Profit

At a minimum you need to start with some basic tracking to get an idea of where you are at. Why is that important? Because not knowing your averages makes goal setting a crap shoot because you don’t have a baseline to start from. Without knowing exactly what you do now, you have no idea how to even duplicate your production/results from the last 12 months, much less how to improve it.

2. Set your goals for the year.

Key words in goal setting are realistic, achievable, specific, written and review.

If you sold 100 units last year, and your goal for this year is 200 is that realistic? Is it realistic for you to double your sales this year?

“Realistic” is critical and that’s where all these old sayings come from because it’s true that...

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’ll be right.” - Henry Ford
“When you can see it and believe it, you can achieve it.” - Napoleon Hill
“What you see is what you get!” - Unknown

To set a realistic goal, use your baseline (your current average) and go from there. The how you’ll reach your goal is the important part of goal setting. It’s the plan of action you’re going to follow. Your goals have to be written and they need to be specific about what your objectives are (your goals) and what your plan is to reach those goals.

A goal isn’t just what you’ll do. As J. Douglas Edwards said, it also has to include “the service you’ll render to achieve that goal”. You don’t just wish for more sales, there’s a payback, and that’s what you’ll change about your selling style, skills or activities to reach the goal.

“Review”: How often should you review your goals daily? Seriously, if you set a goal and read it at least once a day, don’t you think you’d stay more focused on it, believe it more and then be more likely to actually hit it? Of course you would. So make some cards with your goals on them. Put them everywhere you will see them. The more often you read your goals, the more likely you are to reach your goals.

Today’s business is filled with nothing but opportunity, especially right now while so many owners', managers' and companies attitudes are out of whack, so go for it this year. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish when you are prepared and have the right attitude.

And if you need help; we can teach you how to reach every goal and have a profitable year.

Almost everyone reading this will miss hitting goals just by a little bit, just because of something you haven’t been taught yet or a step you know you should take, and don’t. We can help.

Have a great year!

CJT