STEP 3: MEASURE PROGRESS
Hello and Happy New Year! The holiday season has come and gone and here we all are, back in the swing of things! If you’re new to our blog, welcome, we’re glad you found us! For those of you who are loyal readers, a warm welcome back to you as well. Our mission at Orange Leaf Consulting is to help our followers and our clients grow their business. (And ideally, turn some of you followers into clients as well!) We are humbled and grateful for all of the positive feedback we receive, which by no means suggests that we get enough, so keep your comments and suggestions coming! For those who have been following along, we have been sharing our 3-step series on planning for success in the New Year. In this final chapter, we will talk about measuring the success that you have had and making edits to your plan so that you are ready to roll for the rest of 2013!
MOVE FORWARD BY LOOKING BEHIND
By now, you should have your 2013 goals written down, your target list of which clients and which targets are going to help you achieve them, and your tactical “to do” list designed to systematically help you execute on making progress. And I’m sure you have already started working on your action items, right? Now, we need to see what is working and what is not. One of the things that so many of my clients fail to do, is to do some Monday morning quarterbacking. Analyzing what you have done to figure out what worked (so you can do more of it) and what didn’t,in case you need to make a change in your strategy or plan. So, look at your action items. Which ones did you NOT complete? What got in the way? Be honest with yourself on this one…are these action items that you are afraid of? Do you need help? Do you need to learn a new skill? Do you need a coach? Better to figure out those things NOW versus 6 months from now!
WHAT’S WORKING?
Have you taken an honest look at your progress?If so, it’s time to examine what worked. Were you really successful at getting referrals? If so-do more of that! Were you great at getting presentations and then working the room? If so-do more of that. This is an essential step of the planning process that often gets overlooked. Someone I admire once said, “we become strangely loyal to daily acts of trivia”, meaning, we tend to do what “we always do” whether or not it’s producing a desired result. For success, it’s critical to know what works for you and what isn’t working for you in order to spend your time more wisely.
RETURN ON TIME INVESTMENT RULES!
Have you ever thought about the phrase, “spend your time”? What if you really did invest actual money, your own personal money, in each and every daily sales activity, would you change anything? Have you looked at your return on time invested lately? It’s easy to do…start with making a list of all of the sales activities you spend your time on. Now draw a line vertically down the page and on the right hand side indicate how many closed sales (or how much revenue) you have gotten from each of them. Once you have completed this analysis, it might be time to let go of some of those duties or habits that are no longer serving you. Times change, and things that netter a return even 6-12 months ago might no longer be relevant. Remember time really is money!
MAKE ADJUSTMENTS
Once you’ve identified your high return activities, and those that are no longer serving you, it’s time to make adjustments in your plan. Go back and revise your plan to do more of some things, and less of others in accordance with your return on time invested analysis. And voila! you are ready to kickstart the new year!
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Go to your calendar right now, and create quarterly appointments with yourself, I call them “time blocks,” to do this analysis. Do this each quarter throughout 2013 and you will remain on track to hit your goals!! Wishing you all the best for a successful and rewarding 2013, and remember…
GROW BIG OR GO HOME!