I own a franchised retail store and I recently set a goal to become the number one store in California. I worked like crazy with my staff to boost sales and tried out all kinds of new and creative ideas. Everything worked. More sales. New customers. Higher ticket prices. It was one of the best weeks we ever had. Then we got our ranking.
Number two.
Another location with a larger geographic territory beat us by about seven orders. It was a real let down.
Looking back I realize I set myself up for disappointment with a bad goal. As a motivational speaker for years, I’ve discussed the importance of specific, measurable and – most importantly – controllable goals. Being number one can be measured, but it’s not completely within my control. I have no influence over another store’s sales performance. It’s sort of like competitive gymnastics. The competition is not direct, and participants are scored independently of one another (theoretically).
Would I have been better off being ranked number one with 15% less sales? I should have taken my own advice. Rather than shoot for ranking, a better goal would have been to target a specific sales number. Whether it ranks me number one or 101 makes no difference. A goal should serve to guide my behavior and determine the necessary effort. We need ask ourselves what do we need within our power to feel successful.
Benching marking against others is useful to determine what’s possible. But comparison as a form of evaluation does not tell us the whole story.
Lesson learned (or re-learned).
Related posts:
- Motivational Speaker Asks, “Are Your Pursuing Golden Goals or Plastic Trophies?”
- Motivational Speaker Asks: Can One Bad Apple Spoil The Bunch?
- Encouraging Ongoing Improvement
- Practice Being Uncomfortable
- How To Give A Good Compliment
