12/2/2024-How are your Q4 skills goals?

Revenue goals are foundational to what drives you daily. (Yup…check!) But it’s the skill dev goals you set for yourself each quarter that drive your growth and development as a sales pro.

Ayn’s quote suggests she was a badass goal setter, eh?

With your turkey hangover far in the rear-view mirror, put your badassery face back on and assess your Q4 NON-revenue goals. These are your skill and account goals.

So…how is it going this quarter?

Crushing your Q4 rev goal might mean you’re doing good with your specific account goals, but maybe you’re behind on your skill goals. Of course, that’s fine because revenue is UP! But you don’t want to ignore working on your skill goals because you’ll need ’em in Q1.

Today is the first business day of the last month of the fourth quarter (follow?), which means you have enough data to appraise your Q4 revenue, account, and skill goals.

While it’s harder to quantify how you improved your listening or objection handling in one short 90-day period, it is essential to grade Q4 selling situations that required strong skill execution.

Were your prioritized Q4 selling skills "about the same" or "better" this quarter?

There are a few more weeks to work on ’em!

There is the goal you chase each quarter with $s attached (a.k.a. your "quota"), and then there are other goals.

Those other goals are what you need to be consumed with because they drive the behaviors that get you to your quota! You need to set goals for specific accounts and skill goals, too.

So, assuming you did this for Q4, appraise your performance today, and determine which skills you want to work on next year. Appraising your Q4 goals will give you insights on what to work on next year. Here’s a partial list (all are covered by MySalesDay routinely):
+ Prospecting
+ Objection Handling
+ Negotiating
+ Qualifying
+ Presenting
+ Listening
+ Probing (questions)
+ Email Best Practices

The list goes on, and all of them matter. But you won’t get anywhere unless you set and measure goals every quarter. That starts with writing them down.

Achievement measurement criteria for a skill like "objection handling might look like this:
1. Create a list of anticipated objections ACME will have for my proposal.
2. Role-play the conversation dealing with the objection with teammates.
3. Observe and gauge the reaction from ACME client by their willingness to collaborate regarding the objection/challenge.
4. Use specific qualifying questions with ACME KDMs to understand how proposed solutions moved them past their objections.

If you actually do* the work listed by those four criteria, you’ll be on your way toward learning how your efforts correlate with results and skill growth.

In this helpful video, Jay Shetty references a study of goal-setting habits among Harvard MBA students that asked, "Why do 3% of Harvard MBAs make ten times as much as the other 97% combined?"

Of course, the answer centers on goal setting!

You have some pretty significant ’25 rev goals; to hit them, you’ll need to focus on growing your selling skills. Jay helps you sharpen your thinking around your goal-setting skills.