“Whether you think you can or if you think you can’t then you are right.” – Henry Ford
Do you accomplish your goals in life? Do you struggle to achieve all of them and procrastinate instead? Perhaps you wrote them all down and followed the rule that they should be SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound but after that filed them away.
I have been in sales management for the longest time and so setting sales targets is a way of life. We give targets to ourselves and the sales force and monitor them each day. I have been intrigued at why other sales people achieve their targets all the time and some not at all. Is there a secret formula to achieve success? To persist and persevere with a goal until it is achieved in the end?
Yes, I believe so. This article is about the secret formula to gain clarity in your goals and do it at the speed of sound … in other words, it is your sub-conscious that takes over and so you do it automatically day in and day out.
Do you want to automatically do your goals even without consciously thinking about it? That would be powerful stuff, don’t you think?
Amazing Results - Embedding Your Goal to Your Sub-Conscious
Last year between March and April, I taught this principle of setting sales goals and embedding it into your sub-conscious so that it becomes automatic. About 150 financial advisers a major insurance company were trained in batches of 50.
The results after only 10 months were astounding.
• 80% of the 150 financial advisers achieved the coveted MDRT – Million Dollar Round Table Club for the year
• Each one earned at least Php 2.6 million in commissions or Php 217,000 per month. That’s the salary of a CEO!
• Almost Php 1 billion of insurance coverage was generated by these financial advisers who learned this simple technique.
Sure Goals & True Belief
Sure goal is the process of formulating a clear objective in the form of an action command prior and installing the goal not only in our conscious mind but also our sub-conscious mind.
Now, what happens if we choose our state and make use both our conscious and sub-conscious mind to have a sure goal and true belief to achieve our targets? Here are some testimonies from sales people who used the technique of having sure goals and true belief.
“Sure, goal and true belief definitely helps me become more confident. As I stepped into the office of my account, I told my inner self of what I want for that day to happen, and guess what, I got a YES from my account that she will hit their target for this month.” -- Mike L., Sales Representative
“On our first topic: Sure Goals & True Belief, it helped me easily cascade the promo deal to my customers. Before attending this seminar, I just casually inform my customers of their target and how much they will earn. Last Monday, I continued to inform my other customers regarding the deal, this time I apply the “Sure Goals & True Belief”. I made sure that I start with a verb then the object. I noticed that it had an impact as compared to my usual conversation with my customers. Their target stuck in their mind and became interested to know more about the deal.” -- Joanne, Sales Representative
Many of our sales people confessed that they often meet the customer with a vague objective. The standard objective is “sell products or the customer will order”. Even worst, sometimes the first thought is negative such as “surely this customer will not buy a new product” or “I’m lucky to sell more” or “the customer will get angry”. This half-thought goal or negative thoughts leads to a low confidence level and negative body language naturally leads to lower sales. The sale is lost even before it began!
On the other hand, we have found top sales people who have clear goals that are “wired into their brains” and every fiber of their body is focused on the goal. Their posture, tone of voice and way of thinking is alert and flexible to sell a product.
You will be 4 – 5xs more successful in selling if you use this technique of sure goals and true belief because your belief in yourself resonates to the customer. It builds trust and a sale can only happen if the customer trusts you.
Many sales people are inconsistent in having a sure goal and installing a true belief therefore are clueless on why sometimes they are successful and sometimes they fail. Our examples from Mike and Joanne shared that they were like that but when they practiced this technique, they were amazed at how they became more aggressive, intense in looking for solutions, listening to the customer and creatively finding ways to make a sale by simply setting a sure goal and making it a true belief.
How to make Sure Goals
Our brain is wired to have clear goals and targets. Ask yourself a simple question: “What do I want the customer to do for me?”
Then, answer this question with a clear ACTION COMMAND. An action command is an instruction that you want to give the customer and the best format is:
ACTION COMMAND = VERB + OBJECT
1.Ideally 2-3 words only
2. Starts with a verb then the object
3. It is an active statement rather than passive
4. It is specific and measurable. (Many errors occur here and salespeople fail to be specific so take good care.)
Examples of clear action commands:
- Sell Php 100,000 insurance to 10 prospects
- Sign the contract now
- Pay A/R of Php 20,000.
Now that you have a sure goal, you may not realize it but there is a process of enflaming our total psychological and physical juice to be in total true belief that we will achieve that goal. This exercise is based on the principle that communication; both internally and externally is only 7% by words, 38% by tonality and 55% by physiology.
With this knowledge, what do you think will happen if we only use our inner voice to tell us that we want to achieve a certain goal? Yes, it will also register in our minds, but what if you use tonality and body movements to communicate that same message to your mind and visualize as if you already achieved the goal!
The other critical principle is that our subconscious mind learns by what it sees, hears, feels and metaphorically. We therefore need to engage all our senses if we want to embed a goal in our subconscious.
The impact is revolutionary because we install the command using all our senses and activates our subconscious mind to use both left and right brain to command our whole body to achieve the goal.
How to Install a True Belief?
In NLP, it’s called future pacing. We imagine vividly in pictures, sounds, and feeling and when possible taste and smell that we have achieved that goal. These are the steps:
1. Imagine in your mind’s eye that you have achieved that target. See the customers face saying yes and smiling. Here his voice and hear yourself congratulating yourself too.
2. Now, think about the action command you made and tell yourself you can do this.
3. Finally, with a loud voice and simultaneously pointing your finger in front of you, shout out the action command as if the customer was right in front of you.
This simple process will communicate clearly to all parts of your brain, both left and right brain your desire to achieve that goal. You will be amazed at how the brain will work and even improvise and generate new ideas that help you achieve that target.
Your whole body and being will also be synchronized, and the customer will sense this aura of enthusiasm and desire for you to give a good service to him. Let’s read the sharing of Ramon after he used this simple technique.
“It’s Monday! I must set SURE GOALS and TRUE BELIEFS before going to the field. By looking at the mirror, I repeated the LINES the lines that I will use: “GRAB (PROMO TARGET) OPPORTUNITY!” Then barroom! I even heard the excited sound of my motorcycle going to my first call …. Owner- Frank. “A blessed day to all!” I greeted his employees ... now facing Frank, he asked …” O Ramon, what’s up? With my full confidence and modulated voice, I answered pointing my forefinger to him, “GRAB YOUR 70K OPPORTUNITY!!!” Looking at my eyes, he smiled and replied, “Ummm ok yah! Why? Is there a promo and my target is 9M? YEESSS!!! (Doing my ANCHORING!) I got his approval of hitting the promo target this month, so I proceed on cascading other promos from flyer A. Closing the good deals, I said goodbye to Frank, so I can go to my next call ... Owner- Mario.”
“After my 10 kilometers drive…. Screeeetch!!! The break of positive transaction again that I expect (TRUE BELIEF). Knock, knock!!! “hello … come in!” reply from Mario inside his office. “Ramon, good day to you!” he greeted me. “Looks like you have good news to me! (My aura was infectious.) Standing in front of Mario, I tapped his table to make medium sound, then uttered, “GET YOUR 150K OPPORTUNITY THIS MONTH! Excitedly, Mario replied, “Really! How?” Then explanations followed.”
“NLP changed my whole being! This is the first time for me to experience that I will just wait for the end of the month and I am sure to HIT MY TARGET because four out of four of my customer have committed my promo target this month.” -- Ramon L. Sales Representative
Ramon went on to achieve 105% of his target. It was a first for him after months of being below target
Personal Goals
Action command is not limited to sales objectives. We can use it for our personal objectives to achieve daily task and short-term goals.
Do you want to be consistent on your exercise schedules? Maybe you want to drink more water each day or eat more vegetables. You may also want to read more books for personal development or gain more friends as an objective. All you need to do is set-up a personal action command or sure goal and make it a true belief and you will be amazed at how this simple step will push your whole body and motivation to achieve those goals. Some examples of personal action commands are:
Eat vegetables every morning
Exercise every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6am
Pray every for 15 minutes at 6 am everyday
For medium term personal goals on 1. Health 2. Family 3. Wealth, 4. Business/Career, 5. Personal Development 6. Relationships 7. Community, I have found that we need to go beyond the conscious ways of thinking of our goals. We need to pump prime our subconscious to reveal what is DEEPER and WITHIN us and FILTER out the noise to determine the CORE WORDS and INTENTIONS behind the medium-term goals we have. How do we do this?
WRITE AT THE SPEED OF SOUND – WATSOS!
1. Write you conscious medium-term goal for each of the seven categories
2. Take a sheet of paper. (I like a yellow pad.)
3. Look at your goal and CONTINUOUSLY WRITE DOWN ALL YOUR THOUGHTS about that goal. Ask yourself what the INTENTION behind this goal is and How it motivates me. Who I’m I?
4. Keep writing at the SPEED of YOUR THOUGHTS and do not stop to edit or think until you finish till the bottom of the page
5. Review what you wrote and circle the sentences or group words you like and resonate with you.
6. Summarize it.
7. Pin it and read it daily. Notice how it will energize you to move forward with your goal.
Here is a sample summary after using WHATSOS on what I wrote about my goal of scaling-up our business.
“The business grows because of its care, love and compassion for others. The business expands from customers who are just happy, and they get the results promised.
A business filled with friendships, prayer and honesty. There is freedom of expression within and initiatives to help others more; full of learning and contribution to others.
A business that can be replicated across easily, so others can benefit also. It is franchised and expands across Asia and then the Americas and Europe.
I am the mentor and coach. I express my creativity in design of training courses that are cutting edge and helpful.” – Jojo Apolo
Here is another sample summary after using WHATSOS, on what I wrote about my goal for my advocacy for Drug Rehabilitation.
“I will be the spark and catalyst for this change. The spark for the future and hope of others. The continuous downslide is over and now there is a reversal in society, a new beginning transpires.
There is hope in the world for this generation and its future because the new heavens and new earth is dawning. A miracle in the making that transcends my time for the next generation will survive, thrive, and be caring, loving and peaceful again.
It is the shot heard around the world. The candle lit in the dark that leads to more candles and a blazing fire that is brighter than the sun.” – Jojo Apolo
In both summaries, I was pleasantly surprised at how rich the language was and how deeper it described the goal. The first half of what I wrote was shallow and then the last half is where the real motivations and intentions came about.
Go on and do this too and notice the change in your life.
Learn more from Jojo Apolo in our upcoming Performance Leadership Workshop on 27 Feb to 01 March and 8-10 October in Singapore or 01-03 July in KL, Malaysia. While, we are running Leapfrog Your Business & Yourself Seminar on March 7-9 and June 7-9 in Manila, Philippines or November 1-3 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Both courses include NLP Basic Practitioners Certification Course.
About the Author Jojo Apolo. Asia’s Revenue Breakthrough Leader. Author. Public Speaker. NLP Master Trainer. His passion is to help people and businesses get what they want by teaching Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). He managed major FMCG companies in Indonesia and start-ups in the brink to become profitable. He developed the New Breakthrough Selling Advantage for Sales Professionals using NLP that has resulted in doubling a business from USD 500 million to USD 1 billion in 3 years. He established a 500,000 direct outlet coverage via 300 distribution networks with real-time sales & stock systems. He pioneered the use of IPAD’s for salesmen, use creative “Quantum Sales” games and established same-day delivery service guarantees for pharma products. He has given numerous seminars on sales, personal & spiritual development in Southeast Asia. He is a certified Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP from the National Federation of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, USA and the American Union of NLP, USA, Certified NLP Practitioner Trainer of NLP Academy, UK under John Grinder co-creator of NLP. He spearheads the REFORM program for Drug Rehabilitation across the Philippines in cooperation with the Department of Health and numerous religious organizations. He is the author of the book “Be Free from Painful Memories and Traumas in 30 minutes, 7-Step New Breakthrough Selling Advantage, i-Thrive: 7 Keys to a Fruitful Life and co-author with Dr. Romy Paredes of Awaken the Doctor in You.