JAN: Goal Setting for Sales Professionals

Okay. Okay. So welcome, everyone. Glad that you could make this. And as you probably so this is the first in our series for 2026 for the sales series.

And as you know, the sales series all have, a theme that correlates with the blogs and the posts during the month if you're following my newsletter or log on to actually read it. And not surprisingly, December and January are good goal topic months. So I'm going to assume, but I'd love to hear from you. I'm gonna assume that if you're here, there is some value to goals and writing them and following them and achieving them, that means something to you. So I'm gonna take that as a, as an opening.

So is there because we are gonna be talking about goals today, and I wanna hear from as many of you as possible, and I know that some people are on camera and some people aren't. But what is it about so that I can have it in my head. What is it about goals, talking about them, or what's the struggle that you might have with them? Whether it's how to write them, how to articulate them effectively, how to create a good strategy, what act like, whatever it is about goals, I would love to hear it. So you can either unmute yourself and just shout it out.

You could put it in the chat, whatever is most comfortable for you. So who wants to go first? Accountability. Accountability. Okay.

So what about it that that accountability is a built in feature? Hi, Erica. A built in feature of writing goals or how to elevate the level of accountability when you do write them or yes to both? Yes to both. Okay.

Mostly keeping accountability, like, staying at you've set the goal, it was important, and how sometimes it loses its importance over time and keeping yourself tied in and accountable to that goal. That's a good one. Thank you, Chris. You're welcome. Yeah.

Anyone else? Anything else about goals? Either Erica, do you have anything to ask? Or we have two Erica's. Sorry.

I'm late. I just hopped on. I didn't hear the question. So I'm So the question is, what is it about goals that has you hop on the call today? Or and you can say, I didn't even know the goals was the topic.

I just wanted to be on the call, which is a great answer as well. I knew goals was the topic. I'm excited to be on the call. No. We, it's a new year and kind of a I say this all the time, but a new fresh start for Garrison's, and so we are, like, hitting it hard.

Some of the things we started talking about last winter is what I'm doing right now, so here I am. Yay. Great. Great. Well, and the ads for Garrison's have been wonderful too.

I know Brian looks adorable as always as always. Yes. Excellent. And an and a new microphone. I mean, we're in the new era.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

We are blazing new trails for 2026. Right. Okay. Well, let's go then. So let's talk about them.

So wherever you are about goals is wherever you are. Nothing to defend, nothing to feel bad about, nothing nothing nothing about that. So, you may be here because you've written goals and they're not articulated quite the way you want them to be. Or you've written a goal, but you don't really know how to write a strategy. Or you've written a strategy, but you don't you don't really know what actions specifically are gonna get you to achieve that.

Or you don't know if your goal is big enough or anything about that. So let's go over some really simple stuff. And and I wasn't kidding when I said I tend to talk about goals in December actually, November, in December and January because it's still a little squishy and gray out there in terms of getting them articulated and, you know, up in front of you to remind you for of your actions for the day and the week. So when we write goals, in terms of the world of articulation so we want to have a goal that matters to us, first of all. If you have a goal that is anything less than, let's even say, burning, then find another goal because you're gonna have some obstacles that are gonna come up in the process of achieving that goal that are gonna knock you back in your boots.

And so you wanna have a goal that's got some staying power for you, that you want that you're gonna make you are willing to do uncomfortable things only because they're not familiar or foreign or out of your habit that that you're going to need to do in order to achieve it. That's just the facts of it. Because if you keep doing what you're doing, you're gonna get what you already have, if not less than, because everything around you has changed. Right? So when you pick a goal and I'm gonna use because most of most of the people on the call are in sales or sales management.

So most people are gonna have some sort of a revenue goal. And when you write your goals, I use the SMART structure, s m a r t. SMART s stands for specific. And I'm gonna make up a goal and say write $1,000,000 by 12/31/2026. So the specific part of that is write $1,000,000.

It's not write a lot. It's not do more. It's not beat last year. It's got a really specific number in there so that you know if you did it. So one of the criteria for goals, being a good goal, is that it's specific.

Two, m, measurable. Replace more, less, better, almost, at least with a number. It can be a number like an integer or it can be a percentage. You can say, increase revenue in 2026 by 22% over 2025. I'll get to whether that's attainable in a minute.

So but you want it to be specific and measurable. So if anywhere in anything you've written, there's more or less, better than, at least, any of those words, replace them with a number. Three. Attainable. So that's important.

You want to write a goal that challenges you but is not out of the realm. And it's and it's challenges you in a couple of ways. One is is that it challenges you to do it at all, and it challenges you to do it in the time allowed, which is what the t stands for. So specific, measurable, attainable. R is about relevant to you, that when you look at that goal in a larger context of what you're looking to create for 2026 or any year, it they align, and it matters to you.

It's not something that you're doing for someone else only, or we have to do this as part of our team, or my boss makes me. It's not in that world. It's in the world of, since I'm in charge of my life, this is what I wanna achieve by a particular time. Right? So specific, measurable, attainable, relevant to you, and time bound.

So you wanna put a date on it. So if you say write a million dollars as a salesperson, not a store, write a million dollars in January 2026, that might not be attainable for a person, but it might be attainable for a team. Right? So that really matters, that you want to write goals that are that that really that really are accurate. So that that whatever you're looking to achieve is doable.

Okay. So some of you, we have we have managers, sales managers, designers. We have we have a lot of different people on the on the on this call. So when you start looking at, creating that as salespeople, especially salespeople on commission, you wanna start thinking about that number in terms of what do I need to contribute to the team? What did I do last year?

What do I need to contribute to the team to keep my seat on the bench? And what do I need to make as a result of what I write? So with some of you that I've worked with, we work on those, what's the goal and what's the basement number. And so if you go back to the blogs, I have you do a couple of exercises of one, what do I need to what do I need to write for what I need to cover in my fixed and variable expenses every month as a salesperson? So what is that first of all, I need to know what that number is.

And then to start to calculate that number based on what do I need to bring home every month and add 25% to that for what do I need to gross every month. Excuse me. And then based on that, you wanna take that number and divide it by whatever your commission rate is, let's say 6%, to come up with what you need to write at 6% to make that gross number for what you need to bring home. All of this is being recorded, everything I just said, so it's not confusing. Because that's what I call your basement number.

Now you may have you may work on a team that as a salesperson, that to keep your seat on the team, let's say you need to write 50,000 in in revenue every month. That's the standard that keeps you in the building. But your basement goal is, say, 60 and 8,000 is what you need to write at 6% commission. Forget about protection, any other spiffs. 6% commission for what you need to bring home, right, is 68%.

But you might have a goal of 75 to $100,000 because that's the number in abundance of where you wanna live. Right? It's not just survival. It's actually abundance. So when you start to create that number, whatever that number is, calculate it.

Calculate it. Alright. One more thing about that. This is for both sales managers and for salespeople. Your showroom has seasonal numbers.

You have every month is equal to a percentage of 100. So, you know, in home furnishings and furniture, we may have January and February tend to be pretty good months, so that may be like a 10% month or an 11% month. So you wanna have a three year history, maybe five, but three years. It gets us beyond COVID. So a three year history of what each month means in a percentage to 100.

Because when you take your big number of, say, $1,000,000 for salesperson and you've got an 11% month for January, you need to write a $110,000. Now I know that if you wrote $84,000 every month, you're gonna make a million dollars a year. But January is a bigger month than that, and April is like a 7% month. So you're only gonna do 70,000. You're gonna, like, barely make what your breakeven is, right, what your basement is.

So you wanna calculate it so that your numbers always are an accurate reflection of what the history is so that they feel even more real to you. Because if you just did 84,000 every month, it just doesn't it doesn't it doesn't ring. The basement, that number doesn't change unless you change your fixed and variable expenses. That number doesn't change, but your goal is actually gonna change. So now you've got a twelve months that each have a a percentage to one to that equals a 100.

You're gonna have to fudge a little bit. That equals a 100. What you wanna look at next is you wanna look at your quarterly goals. You might have first quarter's 31%, quarter q two is 27%, 24%, so that each quarter has around 25%, but has a a a a percentage toward 100 as well. Because here's the deal.

You can miss a month in your goal, but you cannot miss a quarter. You cannot ever miss a quarter. Like, you cannot carry a deficit from one quarter to the next. Like, ever, never, never. So that's for Chris Cooley for accountability.

You can't ever do that. You just can't do that because it's just too hard to make it up. So one of the things that I like to do, I did it by accident one year and then I do it by intention every year since then is I don't may I don't use all twelve months. I use eleven months because I wanna make my goal my as I have a sales goal, I'm a salesperson just like you guys. I have to make my goal by the end of thank by after Thanksgiving because I don't wanna be thinking about it in December.

You know and I know that for most home furnishings retailers, December's not a month that you can rely on. Either it's a 6% month. Maybe you have a floor clearance between Christmas and New Year's, and so you might, like, get some juice with that. But it's not a month that you can rely on if you're if you're expecting to make a goal that you haven't made yet in December. So really try to get it all in by Thanksgiving.

Then you can spend December enjoying your friends and family, enjoying the holidays, reflecting on the first eleven months and what happened. What worked? What didn't work? What do I wanna do differently? How is my life changing how I wanna work?

So that as I look to the new year, how is that gonna be different for me? Because it's always different. As well as looking ahead, what has happened to the marketplace? What has happened to our business? What's happened to our competition?

Do I have more people or fewer people on the team? Like, what's happened? Right? I'm gonna be doing more house calls this year instead of relying on the door as much. Like, what has happened as you look forward?

So let's use December as the month to really reflect and to envision and then to start setting the numbers that are associated with that. Okay. So far so good? Okay. We got some head nodding on that.

That's a beautiful thing. Alright. Now you write the goal. You have a revenue goal. Say, I'm gonna keep it at write $1,000,000 in 2026.

That is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant to you, and time bound. Now what's gonna make it attainable is the next step, which is what's your strategy? And this is where I find aside from articulating in a way that really makes sense and meets those criteria, the second place that I find where salespeople miss their goal or managers, is that the strategy is insufficient for the goal that they've set. The strategy is insufficient. The goal is a million.

The strategy is $7.50. It's like you are never gonna write a million dollars with that strategy. So you wanna look at your strategy and ask yourself, how am I gonna write a million dollars? So for some people, let's say for salespeople. For salespeople, it might be, how am I gonna do it?

Excuse me. You might look at your business and say, I want to drive I'll say retail retail salespeople in a furniture store. I wanna drive 60% of my business with design projects this year. Okay? That's one.

Or you might say, I want to be converting, 30% of unsold opportunities to be back appointments. Or you might say, I wanna close 20% of first time sale of first time customers. But you wanna pick a way of working and a way of doing it that's gonna work for you. We might have some people on the call who, are sort of in their more senior years on the floor, and you have amassed a significant customer base. And so you might say, I am gonna cultivate 40% of my business myself from my database with social media posts, with outreach, with networking and prospecting through my database and in my marketplace.

I'm not gonna rely on the door. I'm not gonna rely on the door for more than that. Right? So when you look at it and that's where looking at your performance actually matters. That's what so you might say that.

I would say don't take more than three strategies. Because with that, you might say, well, then here's what I need to do. I need to increase my close ratio from 32% to, let's say, 43% by the end of the year. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna increase it by this much every quarter using the quarters as a milestone. I found this year I'm doing it this year in, like, health area that I'm finding milestones, like, a smaller amount, whether it's two to three months and making headway that is actually stickable, not just going back.

But I'm finding that that it works better for me than just looking at the end goal, but to have increments. So if you say I wanna go from, what did I say, 32 to 38 close ratio, that is increasing at one point over two months, which is great. Like, you're not adding asking to average 38% by the end of the year, but you wanna achieve 38% close ratio by the end of the year. Right? So if you say average sale or close ratio or or performance index revenue per opportunity and Dave and Corey and I have had this conversation that I like revenue per opportunity as a measure, and I like it as a measure especially for sales managers.

So I'm gonna talk to you for a minute. So if you're using that number, I would use that number too as a sales manager in establishing the strategy for the team by saying, you know, our our our revenue per opportunity right now is at eight fifty, and I want us to get to $9.75 by the end of the year. Now we know that revenue per opportunity is a combination of close ratio and average sale. You might have some people on your team that their average sale is really strong, but the close ratio is not, and some that are the other way. But as a manager, you wanna hit that number for you.

Now with your team members, they're gonna be going at it in whatever way they need to create a strategy based on their numbers. But your number of increasing it to where it needs to go, you'll still be good with that. So whether it's increasing a metric, whether it's increasing a way of doing business, that's what the strategy is for. And we don't have a million things. I would not exceed three in terms of your strategy.

So it might be close ratio, it might be average sale, and it might be a way of doing business, whether it's more house call business, closing more opportunities. Some of you might be using which, they they performance what's it called? It's called, productivity ratio that Dave McMahon came up with. It's a great thing because it's a great way of collecting more information. If you're on Trackwell AI, you've got this information.

So that this means you either close them, you schedule them, or you've got contact information. And I would set that number significantly because if not, then you've got people that come and go and nothing, nothing, nothing to show for it. Right? So when you start setting your goals, look at those elements as you put it together. So that's goal, strategy.

So your strategy, when you look at it and say, all right, if I do these, these are the things that if we increase our close ratio to this, if we increase our average sale to this, if we increase our outreach to x percent of our business or increase selling our intangibles from with from x to y, which is, selling protections, using financing, if we increase those, selling mattresses, you wanna just look at those. And if you add up your strategy, is it going to work if your traffic remains the same or doesn't go below 10% of what it currently is now? Will the numbers work? Because if not, you need to adjust your strategy so that it aligns with your goal. Got it?

Alright. Any questions about that? Sell a million or 10,000,000 if you're a store and then have a strategy that has metrics and performance in it or some way of achieving that number. Okay. Yes.

Corey. Caitlin. Hi. Caitlin. Caitlin.

Caitlin. To the outlet. Yes. Mhmm. So I used to be a hairstylist and own a salon, and I did hair for about ten years.

And I did social media. And then since I've been retired from doing hair for a couple years, I'm not on social media. So when you were bringing up the social media, I was wondering if in person or social media is better in your opinion. But in my opinion, I think meeting face to face with somebody and making that connection and handing out business cards, like, the old school way, is the best. And I was also asking how do I advertise on social media if it's, you know, for a furniture store?

So, like, do I take pictures of the furniture and then advertise the price and then try to reach out to people that, you know, might be interested? Or how do you go about doing that? Well, I think that there are a few things to do, and I don't think that so imagine that we're not choosing between one or the other, but we're doing as much as we can. And I would put that under outreach. That's outreach.

Outreach, whether it's networking, which is going within your group to have them refer you, prospecting, which is going in your group, in your day in your circle or your client base to have them buy from you, or whether it's using social media to be visible and relevant to the audience that you wanna do business with. Right? And and don't ever underestimate getting your name in the Yelp review so that when your customers do the review, put your name in it. Exactly. Right?

There's that. So so you wanna do all of it. And if you were to create a strategy, and this is a little out of my wheelhouse, but if you were to create a strategy for using social media, you wanna create a strategy and actually stick with it. It's probably the biggest thing, not just a little bit and then abandon it. But when you have it, you you're gonna have to do that every single week and measure it to see if it's actually working, to see what elements of whatever you're doing is getting you some return on it.

And if not, what you're expecting, what do you need to adjust that strategy? Okay. Okay? Okay. Did I answer that for you?

Yes. Okay. Thank you. Alright. So so now you wanna start thinking about actions.

And actions so as salespeople, they're selling actions. And they're often the things that either we do occasionally, or we think about doing and don't do, or we think about doing and aren't prepared to do. So you wanna look at as salespeople, I would suggest that when you look at those metrics, whether it's increase your close ratio or increase your average sale, that what are the biggest impact actions that you can actually take that are gonna increase those numbers? So I'm gonna put it out to some of you, and you can just, like, unmute yourself and answer. But if you were to think about what, as a salesperson, are your highest impact actions?

What are they? What gets you the most? Either gets you to close more people, close ratio, or close for bigger tickets, which is average sale? What are the high impact actions associated with improving those metrics? Follow ups?

Could you be more specific? Reaching out after the fact with contact information, giving them new promotional pricing. Okay. So is that an someone that you've seen in the store but didn't close? Yes, ma'am.

Okay. So let's say that's one. So closing unsold quotes, right, would be a way of so let's say one of your strategies is gonna be that you're looking to close unsold quotes on the phone. Right? They had to go home and measure.

They didn't they you know, things came up in conversations they didn't expect, and they had to think about it more than they thought they did, which, you know, you wanna think about that too in terms of cultivating confusion. But so you wanna look at it. And if we're if we're looking to do follow-up, then I would put a finer I would put a finer point on that. If you said as part of my your strategy that I want to increase my business by 25% over 2025 with outreach activities, and then start to list what those would be and how you're gonna execute them would be a wonderful strategy. Like saying, I am going to close 25% of unsold opportunities on the phone by appointment.

I am going to close 25% of my after delivery sales calls, period. And then when you look at that as a sub action, you can say, then I need to be sketching 50% of my opportunities so that I have sketches to call them with after delivery and say, you told me that you wanted to wait to have the sectional installed before you ordered the rug. Can you tell me how the rug that you have now looks with it? Because I can and I can send you some images to replace that one. It's that level of action that's gonna get the results you're looking for as well as articulating it well.

So so I would say that in terms of follow-up is put a finer point on it. Where do you want it to be? Do you want it to be cultivating your database for, new business? And that would mean through networking and prospecting. They buy from you or they refer to you.

That would mean, am I gonna be doing more after delivery phone calls as a sales call? And I've got a template for that. Most of you actually have that. And this is an area, I kid you not, I think as an industry, we so are horrible at this. We're so horrible.

If I were sales manager, I would send someone home. If they said I'm not gonna open a can of worms with an after delivery call, I would have them go home and think about whether they wanna work here. We gotta get rid of some of that language because that's like it it is just it doesn't help us. Because if we have an after delivery call as outreach and we expect that when we call them, they're gonna love everything and it's gonna be perfect, remember this. There's nothing to sell if they love everything.

We want to have to adjust the the room. We want to have to add some things. We don't want the tables that they have right now to look great with the new sectional. We don't want that rug to be perfect. We want other things to sell.

We have to change our perspective. Right? So I think that when we look at follow-up, I think it's a brilliant strategy. Now start putting a finer point on it. Closing unsold opportunities on the floor, confirming and having b back appointments, closing, closing on the phone in after delivery phone calls, reaching out on a regular basis with clients to expand their original sale.

It might be making a newsletter or doing social media posts that, again, keep you visible and relevant to your existing clients as well as to other people in your marketplace you might wanna do business with. I think that was a big answer to just follow-up, wasn't it? Right? Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Yeah. Did it help though? Absolutely. Okay. Well, that's good.

So alright. So the question is still is, what are the highest impact actions? And high impact actions, I'm gonna define those as they increase close ratio and average sale. So what are the tools we have in the toolbox that if we got better at these, they're gonna increase both close ratio and average sale? It's your favorite, sketching.

It is my favorite, sketching. Thank you, Corey. Yay to the Michael Allen Group. Exactly. So all this all the sales managers out there, again, you've heard me say this to you, but I'm a say it again.

Your salespeople are a reflection of you. Their sketching is representative of your relationship to sketching. So if they're not sketching, like, do something about it. Whether it's talking about it in the huddles, whether it's actually making sure that everyone has graph paper to start their day in the huddle. Whether it's in the huddle, you have your five pieces of graph paper and you say, I'm gonna be coming around to to check with you throughout the day.

If I notice you're not sketching, I'm just gonna hand you a piece of graph paper, and all you need to do is say thank you. Right? That's what we're gonna do. That's what it looks like when a sales manager's committed to sketching. What are their actions to support the sales team?

And I'm not a fan of collecting sketches, but I am a fan of when you have your one on one meetings with them, have them bring all their sketches since the last time you met. And then put them all on the desk and say, what do you notice? And let them answer. What do they notice about the sketches that they are doing? Are there things that are consistent?

Are there things that never happened? Are the notes pretty good, but the sketch is a little weak? Is the sketch really great, but there's no information on the bottom of the page? What are you noticing about the sketches? Because a collection of sketches is very telling.

Right? So yay yay yay, Corey. Sketching is one. Sketching increases both close ratio and average sale. It is the best tool in the toolbox.

And for coaches, it's your best coaching tool because it's an action that you can look at and read and coach from as to what created the information that's on there. And if they're at 20% sketches and they wanna get to 50% sketches, how do they what do they need to do in the conversation or preparation to improve that? I would suggest one thing that most salespeople who aren't sketching 50% are sketching in reaction to a customer concern versus sketching as an initiating action by saying, what can you tell me about the room that you're working with the way it is now? That's what I wanna understand so that I can help you with this together. And start there.

Not when they say, I don't know if it's gonna fit. Say, well, what let's sketch it out and see if it works. Sketch the room the way it is and work from there. Then they never have to go home and measure because furniture standard sizes, you already know whether it's gonna fit or not. Alright.

What other tools do you have? And I say this because the tools matter. Because the tools are gonna be related to your actions when you put your strategy together. So what are the tools do we have? Corey's going for two.

House calls. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's say make it appointments. Yeah.

Let's gain a whole new relationship with appointments. Because when we look at it, be back appointment, 67% close ratio, twice your average sale. House call appointments close at the first presentation, 90% close ratio, four times your average sale. So when you look at good tools in the toolbox, appointments. I think if you sold on the phone, if the customer only had to go home and measure, and you scheduled the phone appointment to follow-up, you're gonna close that.

It's gotta be 50% closed. Right? So she's right. She's got she's two for two right now. So appointments and sketching are two of them.

What other tools do you have in your toolbox that you want to increase your skill at? Because they increase both there are two more. They increase both close ratio and average sale. This is for the retail salespeople and managers. The ability to connect with your guests?

Well, you know, I think the ability to connect with the guest is I think it's a really great answer, Erica. And I think that the ability to connect with the guest, if you're using TrackWell AI to measure that, right, if we really looked at that now I'm kinda guessing on this. This is more instinct than than data. But I think if we were to look at the number of people that say I'm just browsing that they never connected with, we're probably less than 25%. Would you agree?

Yeah. I think that's fair. Yeah. So then let's look at the 75% that we did connect with that we're not closing more than 30% of those. And I think when it comes that's one of the reasons that people don't sketch is that they say, I don't think I had enough of a connection with them to start sketching, so I didn't.

Instead of looking at it as you only need them to barely tolerate you to say, what can you tell me about the room the way it is? And I'm gonna take some notes so I can get it all down. That person's gonna talk to you. And all that we want is we want them to like us enough to answer our questions, not to come for Thanksgiving dinner. So I think that we need to reset our measure of how much do they need to like us in order for them to tell us stuff.

Yeah. Now if they do need to have some sort of a connection with us in order to make an appointment with us, though, that's really critical. Sure. Well, and, also, the point of connection also is key to engaging it all and being able to, have them even respond to any of your questions. So So if I were a sales manager with that, I would probably be be leaning into DISC.

And Sure. Because if I if I if I'm a steady and I'm looking to connect with a compliant and I'm using my sense of comfort with a compliant who won't even look at me, and that's completely fine with them. If they're still okay with everything that's going on, and I think I don't have enough of a connection, you do for them. Mhmm. They don't want more of a connection with you.

Right? So what am I measuring that with? So I would probably go there with that. With is DISC a part of our culture so that we're talking about our own development beyond what we're naturally wired to do, what we needed to do to adapt to different people. It's on the on the sheet with the graph paper and the stuff on top.

Disc is there. Is that getting used? That would be a good I would ask that. Because as a sales manager, I think one of my favorites in terms of skill drills is at the front door. If we could get really good at the front door, you're right.

Life would really be different. Mhmm. We'd at least eliminate I couldn't go beyond x because I couldn't connect with them. We'd at least eliminate that. Yeah.

Yeah. Which would be a lot. Mhmm. Mhmm. Especially for some people.

Yeah. Right? Not for Evan. Like, Evan is our star. I know.

Right? I know. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Thank you. You're welcome. So here's what we've got. Right? We've got sketching.

We have appointments. We have two more, and I'm gonna give them to you. You want to get What? Did she get your Go. Go.

Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

Go Financing and Exactly. Financing. Yay for Michael Allen. So financing. So next month, this topic is gonna be selling intangibles.

So come back for that next month. But financing, to build a different relationship with financing as a tool is critical. And to look at the reasons that it's not being used to its fullest extent and the stories that go along with them. Like, our clients have enough. They don't need to use financing, which is no.

So I'm gonna give you the last one because I just came up with the last one in the last six months, and that's mattresses. And this is for the retail stores. It's like, we gotta we gotta be we gotta be selling mattresses. So math because mattresses We were gonna say Jody. Pardon?

We were gonna say mattresses. Oh my god, you guys. I didn't even give you a chance. Shame on me. Alright.

We'll give you credit for it anyway, though. Right? So and you had a doubt as one of your goals this year, so that's yay yay yay for you. Alright. So, when you look at Trackwell AI's monthly recaps, I think that they're so close ratio on mattresses is higher than, in in furniture.

An average sale right now is about neck and neck. Right? Because there's not, like, cheap mattresses anymore. So I think that I've been thinking about this a lot lately because, especially with getting new people up and running really quickly. And I just wonder if we should really teach them how to sell mattresses because it's a it's a small product frame.

And I don't mean that physically, but it's a small perspective. It's one kind of product, maybe with adjustable bases and pillows and stuff, but you're really in one mindset. And I think that if we help new people focus on mattresses, and I'm not right about this. It's just a hypothesis. I think if we help them get good at selling mattresses, they could always go there.

They'd always be the go to person for it. But they'd learn better selling skills because I think that, and Erica with Garrisons, we certainly learned this, that selling mattresses and selling furniture like, seller's schedule is great with furniture, but you really have to amend it in selling mattresses. So you learn another way of selling. So I just encourage us with new people, maybe. Let's get them trained to sell mattresses because we get three ways.

And I don't think it let's just say you took alright. So let's do this. Let's say one of the things you took on is that you wanna get your mattress percentage from nine to 13% by the end of the year. So that's one point a quarter. Right?

Where are the three air what are the three opportunities that you can start coaching as a sales manager? What are the three opportunities for selling mattresses as a sales manager? I'll give you the first one. Customer came in looking for a mattress. Right?

So you've got one kind of person. Is the customer that came in looking for a mattress? Are we selling them? We have two other kinds of of mattress customers, which are Oh, people looking at bedroom? Exactly.

Oh my god. They are so on top of it. Exactly. People that are buying beds, what is our attachment rate of mattresses to bedroom sales? And then the third one, Jimmy the Mattress Siegel from Alpert's Furniture, now Raymore and Flanagan, asking people, how'd you sleep last night?

No matter what, you're selling them. How did you sleep last night? So that we can start having people thinking about and buying mattresses that never even thought about it. And I don't know that we're any of these things as sales managers, these are things we really need to take on as a business plan with a strategy for achievement that you can measure. What's the action I'm taking?

What's the result on their end? What's the number that it's actually hitting? What kind of an impact in return is that doing? Whether it's training and coaching and skill drills and posting performance and talking about it in the huddles. As sales managers, what are the actions that you're taking around any of these to actually impact the outcome?

So we've got goal, strategy, and then actions. And those actions, like, if you say one of the actions that we're gonna take that the sales peep one of my goals is the salespeople are gonna get to 50% sketches by the end of the year. 50%. And then what are your actions as a sales manager to see that that actually happens? And what are the salespeople's actions as salespeople to see that that actually happens?

Right? Okay. So goal, strategy, actions. And the actions always begin with a verb, and you wanna be able to count that you're doing it. Like, how frequently am I doing that?

How often am I doing that? When am I doing that? What is that action producing? And and when it comes to actions and this was in a I don't know, a blog couple of months ago that when it comes to actions, we wanna check the quantity of actions we're taking. Am I doing enough?

And we wanna check the quality of action. Is the method that I'm using and the way I'm doing it going to produce the result that I'm looking for? Right? So in measuring actions, the quality and the quantity of the action is what we're looking for. Like, did they do enough sketches?

And when I look at the sketches that they did, how much of it got filled in and how much and did they do it with the customer, or did they do it after the customer left so that we don't have to talk about this anymore? Right? So what really happened? Okay. So goals, strategy, actions.

And then the last last two things that are that you wanna look at are why do I wanna do this? And you wanna make for some of you, if you're dominant or influence, you're probably gonna want to achieve it because you like to achieve things, get things, have things. So you'll have a motivation toward getting something. Write it down, whatever that is, what you wanna get or give yourself or have as a result of achieving your goal. And if you're a steady or compliant, you might have what's called away from motivation, which is you might wanna avoid things or not have things happen.

So if that's the case, then use that. What matters is that it motivates you because you wanna be able to look at whatever that motivation is when you don't wanna do it. And then you don't wanna do it. And, and ask yourself, like and just remind yourself of why you're doing this, whether it's looking at pictures of your children or looking at a villa in Italy that you wanna go to on vacation. Whatever it is that you want, you wanna do it.

But one of the things that I find with motivation, this came up with a team the other day, is that and you'll get this when I say it, is that you want your goals to be big enough that are gonna cause you to have different actions. If they're not, it's what I call a 5%. I wanna lose five five pounds. You know, if you don't start losing any weight, you're gonna just say forget about it. It's only five pounds.

I'll live with it. It's not that bad. I'm doing alright in other things. Right? So you don't want your goals to be so small that you talk yourself out of them when things get a little difficult.

So watch that for motivation. And then the last thing I encourage you to look at for the year is what are the skills that you wanna develop in 2026 to help twenty twenty six goals be achieved and your work and your effort to be effective and efficient? It's easier to do. It takes less time. It's got a bigger result.

So what skills? It's you know, whether it's selling skills, communication, technology, organization, time management. What are some of the areas that you might wanna develop? Because if they were if you were operating at a higher level with them, then you might be able to achieve your goals a little bit easier. Okay.

So altogether. So goal, strategy, actions, motivation for achievement, and skill development. Right? So so if you need a worksheet for that, I have one, but you've got those five things. You don't need one, but I'm happy to send one if you need one.

I'm also happy if you wanted to, like, send me your goals. And I'll say, make that more specific. Put a number in there. You can do more here. Try this.

Send them to me. I'm happy to look at them and say and offer you something, another way of looking at it that might be helpful. You don't have to, but just know that it's out there and it's available. Okay. Oh my goodness.

It's $3.51 here. What else about any of this can I answer for you? What questions do you have about any of this? Because I know that we've got people from trade showrooms. We've got some designers on the call.

We've got all sorts of folks on the call, which is wonderful. Any questions that you have about goal setting, the structure, the actions to for execution, the as Chris Cooley said, the accountability that if you put all that stuff down, you want your goals to be able to drop them into your calendar, drop the actions into your calendar at the best time to achieve the result of that action. It's not about filling up your calendar, but start using your calendar as a structure for fulfillment and put the actions that you're committed to as part of your strategy in your calendar. Right? Block out 10 spots a week for appointments on the phone, in the store, in their home, off-site, all that.

Okay. What questions do you have so that I can stop talking? What questions do you have? Any? I don't see any in the chat either.

Okay. So as I said, feel free. If you wanna send them, do that. If you need a a road map or that form that I just outlined, reach out and ask me for it. I'm happy to send it to you.

If you want another set of eyes to look at the goals that you've set for, adjustment, feel free to do that. But I would say this, it's the twenty first of the month. Do not let January end without your goals being achieved. Yeah. Erica, I will send that to you.

Anyone else? Okay. So then that that I wanna thank you all for being here. This has been really great. Thank you, Laura, for staying for the whole thing.

Thank all of you for being here. I hope this was helpful. Yes. In the in clearing up anything about goals. But now it's all on you to take the action to make it all matter.

That's what matters. So don't let January end without your goals being in a frame so that you can plan your time according to them. That would be wonderful. Okay. Alright.

I'm gonna see some of you soon. I'll see some of you next month. Thank you, Michael. It was really great. I will send with you too.

Alright, everyone. Go send something. See you Friday. Thanks. See you then.

Okay. Bye.

THE MONTHLY Sales Skills SERIES

Course Content

2026

JAN: Goal Setting for Sales Professionals

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