It’s that time of year. Time for setting budgets and goals for 2020.
Let’s start with the difference between budgets and goals. Budgets are what you think you will do for sales in 2020. Goals are what you want. There’s a huge difference between what you think and what you want!
The budgeting process is fairly easy. You did this much last year, and you plan on or think you can do this much next year. OK, there’s a little more to it than that, but in a nutshell, that is budgeting.
Goal setting should be much more in-depth on a professional AND personal level.
Setting goals is the time when you reflect on what you accomplished last year and what you want to accomplish next year. Goals are more than just your sales and money. Equally important, or even more so, goals should be about what you want and how you will grow professionally, and what you want personally for yourself and your family.
Goals are the fuel for your fire!
While statistics vary, most professionals agree that by committing your goals to paper, you increase your chances of reaching them by 42%.
Here are some things to include in your goal-setting process:
· List 5 new clients you want to have on the air by July 1st (the number of accounts/clients can vary)
· List 10 clients that you want to increase in 2020 by July 1st
· List 10 clients that you want to add/upsell, i.e. add a station, add digital, add streaming, etc.
· List 5 things you accomplished in 2019 that you are most proud of
· List 5 areas of the sales process you need to improve on in 2020, i.e. prospecting, upselling, CNAs, etc.
· List 5 things you will do to help improve yourself, i.e. read books, attend seminars, be more organized, become healthier, affirmations, etc.
· List 5 things you want to accomplish for your family in 2020, i.e. new home, car, vacation, savings account, reduce debt, motorcycle, healthier lifestyle, etc.
By consciously thinking about what you want to achieve and then writing it down, you will be on the path to achieving your goals.
Many people have been quoted as saying, “Goals not written down are just dreams”. While there is nothing wrong with dreaming, you’re much more likely to fulfill your goals than you are your dreams!
What do YOU want in 2020? Write ’em down!!
It happens nearly every day. You meet someone for the first time and the common question asked is, “What do you do for a living?”
How do you reply?
Do you offer the common boring response, “I sell advertising”, or, “I sell advertising for (your station/group name)”? Or, do you give a much more profound, creative, and exciting answer?
We are in a creative profession so start with a creative response to this mundane question. While this little reply (your “elevator speech”) isn’t necessarily going to make or break you, it can mean the world of difference in how the person asking perceives you. We only get so many chances to tell the world what we do, and this is one of those opportunities. Be prepared to take advantage of it!
So, what do you do?
As a media rep, I would say, “I work with small to medium-sized businesses helping them create strategies and ideas so they get a better return on their advertising dollar”.
As a manager, it would be something like, “I manage a group of media reps and help train them, give them ideas, and keep them motivated so they can, in turn, help their clients get a better return on their advertising dollar”.
As a media and sales consultant, I say, “We work with small to medium-sized media markets, mostly radio, helping train their managers and media reps so they can help their clients get a better return on their advertising dollar. In return, they ultimately generate more local revenue”.
Each of these statements is just the beginning of the conversation and hopefully it leads to more discussion.
Whether a sales rep or a manager, draft a short, creative statement that you are comfortable with, that will make the person asking the question say, “Wow, that’s interesting!”
Write it down, memorize it, and be prepared to use it the next time someone asks, “What do you do?”
