Edition 345 – Targeted Rewards
I recently did something for myself and my business which was a fascinating study on setting rewards and goals, then committing them to your subconscious.
As we stepped into the new financial year, I set myself new revenue targets based around:
- Winning new clients.
- Winning new projects from existing clients.
Whilst I’ve budgeted for years and set revenue targets previously, this year I did it differently.
Firstly, it’s separate to the budget. It’s contained in a standalone document that details:
- Potential new work based on what I know now, but has not yet come to fruition – High Certainty.
- Potential new work that could arise in the next 12 months – Low Certainty
- An achievable target for “new stuff” that I don’t know about yet – No Certainty.
- A target for revenue based on the services I currently offer and the clients, potential and new, that may require those services – Ambitious Certainty.
Secondly, whilst revenue is important to any business, it’s not the great motivator for most business owners. Over the years of being in business for myself and working with a wide range of small and family business owners and managers, I’ve found that what motivates most of us is a reward. A gift to ourselves as a result of achieving something in life is the carrot that traditionally tempts us to chase down a goal.
To break this down further, I set myself 4 goals – one for achieving each 25% target level. So, as the revenue target increased, the reward at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the revenue target cascaded upwards – not in terms of what it was worth in dollar terms, but what it was worth to me in terms of “that would be really nice”!
Whilst some of the rewards are more private than I’d ordinarily share to my weekly readers, I’m happy to divulge that if we achieve our 100% target, Trish & I will be cruising the Caribbean in December 2023, something we’ve done before and would love to do again.
When I shared my plan with my international mentoring group recently, one of my colleagues told us of his passion for collecting watches to the point where he advised that, when he took on a brand new client, he rewarded himself with the purchase of a new watch. I have to say, I’m looking forward to stopping by his place in Florida at some stage and taking a look at that watch collection!
By setting the revenue targets and the associated rewards, it has helped to provide me with laser focus in terms of:
- How I can better look after my own clients.
- How I have products and services that I’ve developed over time and, for some reason that escapes me, haven’t made them available to my clients.
- How I can build revenue for my business.
- How I can expand my reach.
If nothing else, the whole exercise has been eye opening in terms of goal setting and the power of the subconscious mind.
This Week’s Tip
” The same goes for your team. If you set goals for your team and if they achieve them,
what’s the reward for them over and above their ordinary salary?”