Five days left in April.  Have you made your revenue goal?   What about your goals for # of  new customers, collections, production,  web traffic,  articles posted, etc?

If you haven’t made all of them…or if you aren’t on track to achieve each one during the next five days…what are you doing about it?

It’s been my experience that most managers and teams and individuals often give up or stop way too soon.   “Why bother?…we’ll just start fresh next month.”  Usually they’ve bought into an excuse for performance – some sort of interference like:   “The economy really hit us this month”  or “Traffic was really down”.

I’ve certainly done it many times.    But I’ve learned that if we don’t push to the finish line, we  de-value the importance of achieving goals and diminish our team’s commitment to them.   To put it another way – our goals become a joke.  And yes – that has a negative impact on morale and productivity.

So – c’mon.  April is not over yet.  And maybe there is no wind.  But we could get there if we row.

How?  First – post our  Quote of the Week:  No wind? on your computer screen and other prominent places.    Then – here are 10 more tips for rowing to goal.  The items in orange are things to do internally (with  your team) . The items in black are things to do externally (with your customers).

1. Define the goals. How much is needed per day, per hour, per person to get to goal?   Be sure to build in a fudge factor.
2. Gather your team and share the above goals in a serious but positive way.  Better yet – get them involved in the calculations and strategies.
3. Monitor  progress. Do this with a chart or graph that everyone involved can see.  It can be like a United Way thermometer or similar with a twist.
4. Celebrate progress. Gather everyone at the end of the day.  This doesn’t have to be a formal meeting.  Just gather round.  Share progress and victories.  Get someone to fill in the chart (in #3).
5. Call your customers to check in…just to see how things are going…to find out about upcoming promotions or projects or challenges.
6. Remind customers by e-mail or Facebook or Twitter, etc that there are only 5 days left in National Car Care Month or Gardening Month or Stress Awareness Month or whatever ties into your line of products and services.  See additional ideas in 10 April-Only Marketing Ideas.
7. Act boldly!  Take your product to your customer.   Like the car salesman who took fleets of new cars to a nearby upscale club…offering test drives to members as they came off the golf course.  Or the car wash company that did the same…allowing golfers to get their cars cleaned while golfing.  Or like Susan who  had been trying to get several of us to her store to try on clothes.  We had all been travelling so much that we hadn’t had time.  So she came to our office with a rolling rack of clothes in just the right sizes and styles.   Detailed story in Act Boldly section of 4 Musts for Managing Tough Times.
8. Have a contest. The first person to bring back a sale.  Every person who brings in $500 in accounts receivables.  Every person who makes 10 widgets.  Whatever it is that will get you closer to goal.  The prizes can be anything.   They can be tickets to an event.  The right to park in the front space.   Coffee delivered to the person’s desk for the next three days.   Or a gold star.
9. Have a party. If you have a large volume of work to do.  Perhaps a grueling task.  Something that’s hard to make time for.  But it’s a necessary part of getting to your goal(s).  Gather a group and call it a party.  Perhaps it’s a Collections Call Party or a Prospecting Party or a File Cleaning Party or a Label Sticking Party or a Customer Survey Party.   Make it fun.  Put on music (unless it’s a calling party).  Serve refreshments.  Maybe peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in honor of PB&J Sandwich Month.  Measure and celebrate progress.  Show great appreciation for participation.
10. Evaluate. Review final results.  If you didn’t get all the way to goal, did you get farther along than you would have without this final push?  Evaluate strategies and actions for the entire month of April.  What worked well?  What didn’t?  What can you do in May to get farther along so that you don’t have to row as hard?  Or maybe not even row at all?  For best results on this, get input from your team.  And from your coach.

Other Resources to Help You Get 2 Goal:

• Quote of the Week: No Wind?
• Brainteaser of the Week #26
• Are your goals a joke?
• Movie of the Week – Row, row, but watch where you go!

copyright 2010 – Business Class Inc