The TOP 10% obsessively set goals…all over the place and for everything. Account goals, weekly meetings goals, RFP goals, KDM contact goals…time management goals (yup, those too). Goals are the ultimate drivers that push you forward….and measure your effort and skills.

Rev goals get set for you by management, but all other goals need to be set by you. On June 20, you were tasked with creating at least one account and skill goal for Q3, and because the end of the quarter is tomorrow, it’s time to review and set them in stone.

As your strategic account planning work has progressed in the last few weeks, so may your thinking about your account and skill goals.

With Q2 ending tomorrow, reviewing and completing your Q3 goals should be your focus. Whether your company runs a formal goal-setting program or not, you’ll want to think and do like the TOP 10% and run through quarterly goal exercises on your own.

Since you’ve been thinking about account and skill goals for the upcoming quarter, you’ll need to consider how you will measure your goal activities. A famous saying about goal-setting goes like this: "A goal without a deadline is just a dream." The following mantra is even more powerful, "Setting goals without installing a measurement protocol is just …well, it’s nothing." (It doesn’t have the same snap, does it? Hmm.)

While some are fans of the OKR system – Objectives, Key Activities, and Results – you learned on June 20 that the SMART criterion is easy to set up and a bit more guiding. As a refresher, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Of course, time is the easiest because you’ll set goals each quarter, so your deadline is built in.

Goal setting is not designed to be a negative experience; no goal gods are watching and wanting you to miss your goals. So while goals are designed to get you to stretch, push, and sweat a little in the process, they’re designed to be attainable.

You’ve already identified your account and skill goals for the upcoming quarter, so now it’s time to pressure test the goals by applying the SMART measurement filter.

Timely and thorough goal execution will thrust you into the TOP 10%, so complete your SMART work today by writing down specific answers for each goal against the SMART criteria. Again, the T for Time is easy (90 days, i.e., Q3), but pay special attention to the "M"…Measurement. What specifically are the criteria that will measure success for your goals? This section will take the most time to complete, so it’s smart to work on your goals over a few weeks.

Last week you started creating your Q3 goals – at least one account and one skill goal. Now that the rubber meets the road, you’ll lay your SMART measurement filter against your goals. As you may recall, these were the examples offered for account and skill goals: "Grow Acme Inc. by 20% YOY by upselling two extensions." and "Improve objection handling skills to better deal with ToughClient, LLC."

Open a sheet and title the doc "Q3 Goals." Write your goal across the top of the first tab (use a separate tab for each goal). Down column A, write your SMART labels: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Start with the easiest, fill in "Time" with the date September 30. (Hey, look at that, you’re on your way!)

Next, begin filling in column B with details against each of the other four sections of SMART on the respective lines. Setting up your SMART will take time and some edits to ensure it’s a tight measuring criterion.

Most importantly, go to your calendar and set up a calendar date with yourself for every other Friday at 4 pm. The title of that event should be "Q3 Goal Review." Those are the days when you’ll quietly review this sheet and see how you are progressing against each goal. This work can include recording success milestones and refined instructions on activity needs. You can use the C column of the sheet to post comments that direct to-do items and other notations.

Many sellers develop their goals and add their SMART measurement filter, but they wake up ten weeks down the line and panic because there are only two weeks until the quarter expires; they didn’t check on their progress along the way. The recipe for success followed b the TOP 10% is to hold yourself accountable for review and objective analysis every two weeks!