Thought Tweet #443 Written Goals don't just help you set your work-priorities, they help you define your personal Values.

The Thinking Behind The Tweet
Values, Purpose, Vision, Rules, & Goals are not discreet, stand-alone concepts. They are intertwined. For most People, they are iterative-too...gaining more clarity with time. When you boil business down, its essence is People, Process, & Situations. People come first. People bring with them 'Character'...which, for each person, is a summing up of his/her Values, Purpose, Vision, Rules, & Goals. 

I have been thinking a lot about Goals, specifically B2B Sales Goals.

Over the last few years, I have met with and talked with many people who have struggled with B2B Sales work and failed to meet their B2B Sales Goals.

I do not think it is a coincidence that these B2B Sales struggles are happening at the same time social media activity is expanding exponentially.

Clearly, there is either a cause-and-effect relationship between these two phenomena or both these phenomena are the effects of a common cause. Either way, it is not a coincidence that 20th Century B2B Sales methods are faltering and failing in the 21st Century.

The 21st Century is a time of unleashed creativity and unprecedented self-expression...captured in real time, worldwide, via 'social media'.

In contrast, 20th Century B2B Sales methods are, for the most part, laced with pedantic formula-driven thinking and action.

20th Century B2B Sales methods just don't work any more.

And, the 20th Century goal-setting methods linked to B2B Selling just don't work any more.

Carrot-and-stick approaches to Sales performance are doomed to fail. That's true. However, the matter is either much simpler or much more complex than the choice of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards for performance. 

Given the choice, and considering Ockham's Razor and other time-tested wisdom, let's choose - the matter is much simpler than the implications of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards. The matter is about relationships....interpersonal relationships between buyers and sellers.

B2B Sales, if they result in exchange of [more-or-less] equal value always involve real interpersonal relationships. The best of these real interpersonal relationships, the ones that sustain over time and allow both buyers and sellers to prosper, are broader than the product or service in the hands. They are also deeper than the product or service in the hands.

It is that simple.

Some business people Plan Their Work & Work Their Plan. These people feel most comfortable when they have spent the time to plan before they act. These people feel confident because their plan-then-work approach to business has been successful. They expect there is a good chance success will repeat itself.

Other business people Take Each Day As It Comes. These people feel comfortable about their abilities and see no need to spend much time planning. These people feel confident because their day-by-day approach to business has been successful. They expect there is a good chance success will repeat itself.

There is one more group of business people: people who are not particularly comfortable or confident. They, for one reason or another, receive no particular forward-guidance or positive-direction from their past experiences. They feel, at best, acceptance of today's business-at-hand. Similarly, they feel, at best, acceptance of the fact they will experience tomorrow's business-at-hand. They feel no particular need to plan. They obtain no particular gratification from work actions.

Self-development experts and business gurus teach support Plan Your Work & Work Your Plan. 

I am not aware of any business guru who teaches Take Each Day As It Comes.

I have written a number of articles on this topic...for example, Strategic Planning - Why Bother!

I know, and am fascinated by, a very-successful business leader who favours Take Each Day As It Comes.

I learn everything I can about planning.

Here are a few things I have learned:

• Napoleon Hill may have been the first to write the phrase "Plan the Work and Work the Plan"...in his classic self-development bestseller 'Think and Grow Rich' (1937).
• Experts have identified 'Plan' as distinct activity linked to the pre-frontal cortex of the human brain....Executive BrainSmarts.
• Planning provides an opportunity to think through the possible scenarios and possible actions before they are performed...optimizing the use of talents and skills...and developing a mindset that understands we are not limited to accepting circumstances and situations, to a degree we can create circumstances and situations.
• There are many ways to approach planning: if you want to inject some creativity then I recommend Edward de Bono...for example, Six Thinking Hats.

Footnote:

I just re-read Brain Tracy's 2003 book GOALS! [and I recommend this book]

In GOALS!, Brian Tracy provides the following answers to the question - Why Plan?

1. To Organize your thinking about the key issues.
2. To think through the Actions before you begin.
3. To allow thorough discussion in order to identify flaws and say What if?
4. To identify weaknesses
5. To identify Strengths and Opportunities
6. To focus time and money on those 1 or 2 vital things that are essential
7. To save Time, money, and Energy