Every Sales Plan Must Start with a Clear Vision
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in sales coaching, tags: sales coaching, sales plan, sales vision statementAt one point Microsoft created a vision stated simply as, “A computer on every desk.”
Notice how simple that statement is. That simple statement was both motivating and inspirational to Bill Gates AND his employees. It was personal. Every member of Microsoft from the lowliest employee to Bill Gates himself could easily extract exactly what accomplishing that would mean.
At the time Microsoft wasn’t the behemoth it is now. Microsoft like all large companies in the beginning was a small company. Small companies are just big companies waiting to happen after all.
If you read the vision statements of some of today’s big companies you’ll immediately notice a big difference. Quite often those vision statements are convoluted and incomprehensible. If you can’t understand it you certainly won’t gain either motivation or inspiration from it. Therefore it isn’t a vision it’s simply a wasted effort.
Interestingly enough the international conglomerate I worked for years ago put out incomprehensible vision statements every year. Today that company doesn’t even exist. Any wonder.
Your Vision is Like Your Own Green Arrow
Fidelity Financial Services has a commercial involving a conversation between a client and their advisor. During the conversation a green arrow pops up on the ground showing the client a clear pathway to the future they want. That’s what your vision needs to do for you.
Your vision statement should be short. Ideally it should be no more than 1-3 simple sentences. Save the big words and fancy terms because you don’t need them. This vision statement is for you and you alone.
You are investing the time to write a vision statement because this statement will serve as your guidepost to make sure you stay on the path following the green arrow you’re creating for yourself. When faced with a choice or decision you will remind yourself of your vision and evaluate how this decision aligns with your vision before taking action. I want to make another point about your vision statement.
As you think about your vision statement I want you to take your entire life into consideration. No one’s life is cleanly sliced between their personal life and the way they earn a living. So when you are thinking about your vision think about how you want your business to live.
What do you want your business to live like?
The vision you create for your business must respect both the personal side of your life, and the professional side of your life.
Okay, having said that let’s use our example from Microsoft to help you create your own vision statement. The criteria for a great vision statement is pretty simple. A good vision statement:
- Focuses on outcomes
- Inspires
- Creates an image
- Set a clear direction for action
- Is memorable and repeatable
A computer on every desk is definitely an outcome. You can count, track, and measure progress. Interestingly enough Microsoft did not include a count in their vision. Perhaps a count or a time frame for completion would have actually slowed or limited their success. On the one hand they couldn’t fail because there wasn’t a specific count. On the other hand they almost couldn’t help but succeed because there wasn’t a specific count.
No matter who you are or what business you are in there will be times when you need inspiration and motivation to do the things you have to do to succeed. Microsoft understood people had to buy computers if they were going to sell their software. They also understood people would not buy those computers unless their software made it easier for people to use computers and helped those people accomplish some form of work. Each person was inspired to contribute in some way to producing that software that could accomplish this task. The idea of simple to run software was their inspiration to act.
When you read or hear the words, “A computer on every desk” your brain actually creates an image of A desk with A computer sitting on that desk. Perhaps your mind sees your desk with your computer sitting on it. We as humans naturally think in images. Messages presented in a way that creates images are far more powerful.
When your brain sees the word kitchen your mind does NOT think k-i-t-c-h-e-n. No, your mind conjures up the image of A kitchen. Perhaps you see your kitchen, your Mothers kitchen, a picture of a kitchen you’ve seen in a magazine. The image is far more meaningful and inspirational than the word.
For every decision every person within Microsoft faced they could simply ask themselves, “Does this decision take me closer to putting a computer on every desk, or would it move me away from that objective?” If the vision is “A computer on every desk” each person, department, and the company as a whole can delineate the steps that would make that vision a reality. The vision sets the direction for all work, all decisions, and all actions.
It’s clear “A computer on every desk” is both memorable and repeatable. If you hadn’t heard it before I doubt you’ll ever forget it. You might wonder why memorable and repeatable is important if you’re the only one who knows what your vision statement is. The reason it’s important for your vision to be both memorable and repeatable is because you have to own your vision every waking hour of every waking day.
When you’re faced with an important decision you can’t stop and say, “Now wait a minute before I can make this decision I have to go dig up where I put that vision statement and make sure I’m on the right track.” Before every action you take you should be thinking this action is the next most important action I can take at this moment in time toward accomplishing my vision.
Get out your “Strategic Sales Master Plan” and start working on your first draft for your vision statement. Using the criteria above start jotting down some thoughts related to each criteria. Formulate your first sentences. Then go back and cut out all unnecessary words. Think of ways to state the same thing in simpler words. Keep working at it and on it until it becomes a statement you can own.
This statement should bring about strong feelings for you. It should mean a lot to you in terms of who you are, the kind of life you choose to live, your values and believes, and the business you want to create.
Coach Cheryl
photo credit: Hello Turkey Toe
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