Set SMART Goals
SMART Goals - Each and every goal that is jointly agreed to with the customer needs to be SMART
- Specific - Do you know exactly what the goal is?
- Measurable - How will you know when the goal is complete?
- Achievable - Is it possible to achieve this in the time frame defined?
- Realistic - Is the goal attainable?
- Time bound - What is the time frame to achieve the goal?
Here are a few examples of how to take generic goals and turn them into SMART goals:
Generic goal: Improve Marketing Performance
Slightly more specific goal: Improve online conversions
SMART Goal: Improve online conversions from promotions by 3% in 6 months
Generic goal: Increase lead volume
Slightly more specific goal: Increase inbound lead volume
SMART Goal: Increase inbound lead volume from social channels by 2% in 3 months
Generic goal: Improve time to value
Slightly more specific goal: Reduce the time for a new customer to get on-boarded
SMART Goal: Reduce the new customer on-boarding time by 10% in 6 months.
Knowing When and How to Say No
When saying No to a customer or a colleague, have you ever felt any of the following?
- I feel like I let them down because I don’t have time to invest into what they asked for
- I’m not flexible
- I’m difficult to work with
- I’m swamped
- I don’t have the bandwidth to take care of this ask in a timely manner
When a customer or a colleague says No to you, have you ever felt any of the following?
- They don’t have the bandwidth or resources to meet the request
- They are at capacity
- I should have thought more about my ask. Maybe what I asked was not in line with their goals.
- They are busy or have other priorities
- I need to be more creative around what I asked
- I have to think of plan B
Sometimes, it can feel completely reasonable for someone else to say No to you, but completely unreasonable for you to say No to someone else. Have you ever wondered why that is?
The reason is that we have beliefs that live inside of each of us which predetermines how we feel in certain situations. Beliefs are just statements that we don’t question. Most beliefs are learned over time as the result of our experiences and we inherited many of them from those we are closest to throughout our personal and professional life.
Have you ever done something in exactly the same way as a previous manager did it? Chances are, you inherited a belief from them about how to handle this situation because you saw it was effective or because you were trying to model their behavior. From that point on, that’s your belief about how to handle that particular situation.
The statements above represent beliefs about what it means to say No. In order to be more effective in serving the customer, you are going to need to examine the beliefs you hold about saying No and re-define a new belief. We can do this by defining what it actually means to say No.
Old belief - Saying No means
- I’m disappointing someone
- I’m difficult to work with
- I’m not flexible
New belief - Saying No means
- I made a decision - you make decisions all day long, this is just another decision.
- I chose what to prioritize - you are the only one responsible for delivering to your customers.
- I am in control - you are the only one who knows how to best use your time
Notice how different those two beliefs are. The old belief is a victim while the new belief is empowered. Say the new belief out loud and write it down any time you are facing a decision where you need to say No.
If you’re not sure where you should be saying No, remember that saying no is important to do any time you will risk delivering on what you already committed to. This is simply a mindset shift that is orchestrated around a new belief which can have a profound impact on your focus and ability to execute.