HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE THE GOAL YOU DIDN’T SET?

With 2024 just around the corner, everyone is thinking about their goals—including me.

In fact, my last article talked all about setting effective sales goals for yourself. But any time I talk about setting goals with salespeople, there’s a common objection that comes up:

“But Mike, I don’t set my sales goals. My manager does.”

The underlying message here is clear. The real question they’re getting at is, “How do I achieve a goal I didn’t set?” Admittedly, it can feel easier to meet a goal you set for yourself. If I decide I want to lose ten pounds by June, I have only myself to congratulate—or blame—for the outcome.

So let’s dive into what kind of mindset and actions you need to take when you don’t get to set your own goals.

RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

First off, let’s recognize it’s not always a bad thing for your goals to be set by someone else. If you know you can comfortably close five accounts a month and always set your goal at five, then you’ve got no real reason to push yourself for improvement. But when your boss comes in and says, “Your goal this month is eight accounts,” well, now you’ve got some extra motivation!

It’s good to have a challenge you can rise to. Every successful athlete does this, too. A weightlifter would never get very far if they only lifted a weight they knew they could do easily. Instead, they add more reps to their routine, or they add weight onto the bar, pushing themselves to do more.

It’s no different in sales. Instead of seeing the sales goal as a mandate sent out to punish you, see it as an occasion to grow. Don’t even worry about competing against others on the team—compete against yourself. Always push to do better than you did before. Even if you miss the mark, you’ll have learned some valuable lessons along the way.

FOCUS ON YOUR PORTION

The problem is when a sales manager is issuing a sales goal as part of the larger corporate initiative. Sometimes this can feel unrealistic, depending on how detached they are from the day-to-day work. Mandating a 40% increase in sales during your slowest month can crush anyone’s spirits!

In my own experience, sales managers don’t always do a great job of defining your part as an individual. Their job is to focus on the big picture, after all. Which means it becomes your job to take the larger, corporate goal and focus on your portion.

Recently, one of my coaching clients had this happen to him. His sales manager came into a meeting and said, “I need six deals a week” to a team of four people.

When we talked it over, his confusion was whether he should go for one deal or two—after all, six divided by four comes out to 1.25. We focused on breaking it up into achievable goals, or what I like to call a “Workable Win Scenario.” After all, you can’t get to two deals if you haven’t closed the first.

So I told him to focus on just one deal for the time being.

Not six.

Not two.

Not 1.25.

One.

“That’s your portion and the only part you can control,” I said.

So he broke the goal down into manageable actions he could take each day with several prospects in his pipeline. Towards the end of the week, he called me and said, “I closed three accounts!”

When you choose to focus on little things, big things can happen.

KEEP PUSHING

Just because someone has set a goal for you doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to set your own goal, too. This is a simple, yet often overlooked idea.

In the same situation described above, we celebrated his big win, but then I asked, “What are you going to do next?”

“What do you mean?” he asked. He was perplexed—after all, he had already surpassed his portion of the goal!

“Well, the week’s not done,” I said. “Go get one more.”

“Oh, okay!” he said, understanding. By the time Monday rolled back around, he had closed another account to add to his total, bringing it to four.

When other people set our goals, it’s easy to think we can kick back and relax once we’ve met the goal. But this is faulty thinking. Instead, it’s better to not stagnate, to keep pushing, to strike while the iron’s hot.

This thinking applies when you’re behind the goal, too. When your manager has set a goal of ten accounts for the month, and you’re sitting at five with only a couple days left, it’s easy to think, “Well, this month’s a goner—I’ll just try again next month.”

Instead, you should keep pushing regardless of when the month ends. If you can pick up one more account before the end of the month, then you’re at least that much closer to the goal that was set. You haven’t lost anything. Worst case scenario, you get new leads into your pipeline for next month to go better.

But neither can happen if you don’t keep pushing. Remember, you can’t control what comes out of your pipeline, but you can control what goes in. Don’t let an arbitrary limit like a month’s end distract you from being productive every day.

PERSONALIZE THE GOAL

At some point in your life, someone else is going to set a goal for you. Whether it’s a sales manager, your significant other, or your doctor—it’s bound to happen. And it can make you feel powerless when someone else sets a goal for you.

The best way to regain some control is to set a personal goal for yourself. If your sales manager says they need five new accounts from you this month, then set your own goal at two a week. Give yourself the extra motivation to push and drive. Never be satisfied with the goal that was set for you.

Or figure out a prize for yourself. What are you going to do with that extra commission you earn? Or how will you reward yourself outside of your pay? It doesn’t have to be anything big at all—but if your manager isn’t dangling any carrot for you to achieve your goal, then find your own carrot. Maybe it’s a night out or a new pair of shoes. Whatever helps you keep pushing.

The more personal you can make the goal, the more control you will feel over it. The more control you feel, the more likely you are to achieve it because now it’s not the company’s goal—it’s yours.

Ultimately, this is all about mindset and how you perceive the goals that are set for you. But every action you take starts in your mind. If you can shift your mindset around the goal set for you, then you can shift your actions for achieving it.

Which of these ideas resonates with you the most? Which ones have you already tried? I’d love to hear what works for you!