Grant Leboff: Nicola, one of the things that's interesting in your book is you talk about the importance of setting goals. I think for most people setting professional goals if they're selling makes sense. But you also talk about the importance of setting personal goals, which might surprise people. So can you explain why you think that's important?
Nicola Cook: When I left the very last job that I had and I started my own business, the then chairman of that company gave me a copy of a very famous business book and inside it he wrote three words, 'focus, focus, focus!' and at the time I didn't really understand what that meant, but now having run businesses for many, many years now, the importance of that statement can make or break you and your business.
We have a finite amount of time and a finite amount of resource and our results are directly proportional to how well we use our time and resources to achieve our objectives. So without goals, it's far too easy to get sidetracked and to waste time and to start spending time and energy and money on, projects or on things that you really are a distraction.
So one of the ways to have to overcome that is to have very, very, very clear goals as to why you are achieving and moving in that particular direction. And the reason why people don't like setting goals is one, sometimes they might think it's a bit presumptuous to have kind of.... I'm a big believer in the vision board. In my, in my house and my family. We do this as a family exercise every two or three years. We normally do it round about Christmas time and we set our goals as a family. We have a big massive picture collage that the kids get involved in and it's got everything on it from holidays that we want to go on, upgrades to our house or to the house that we want to move to, that kind of thing. And then a big chunk of it, I also put my business goals up there in picture format, as in, what do I want to achieve with my customers? And there's also some financial goals there, because I know that helps me achieve all of the family lifestyle goals that I want to have. And it's right by the kettle in the kitchen, actually, so every time I go have a cup of tea and I'll put the kettle on it's like, Oh yeah, that's right! It just keeps you focused on a day to day basis to make sure that you are using your resources in the best possible way.
And from a business perspective, once you start to create a collective and you start to have a team of people, unless you as the leader start to give that company direction and you've got a clear understanding of the customer that you serve, the offer that you have and the value that that delivers, and how you are going to expect people to achieve that, you will end up with a herd of kittens. You'll just be micromanaging people and it gets very, very, very tiring.
In business I have this thing that I call the 'Friday afternoon test', which is, it's 10 to five on a Friday, somebody on their desk has three really important tasks to finish. They only have time to finish one, there's nobody else to delegate the other two to, and they have to make a decision, is the parameter of that. And if it's Friday and it's 10 to five, which one are they going to choose? Are they going to choose the one that's the easiest or speak to the customer who's the nicest or the one that's the customer that shouting the loudest or are they going to do the task and complete the task that is on track, that's helping you move towards the direction and the goals of that company?
Unless you are clear with that communication in that direction, then you'll end up with.... people will always take the course of least resistance and they'll do the easiest thing and the weekend on that task, which may not be the one that drives the deepest profits into the company. So that's why you should have them, is for focus.
The reasons why people don't like setting them as they think, what if we don't achieve them? What if we set up a standard and we set a benchmark and then we don't get there? And my answer is that is, that's OK, because the reality is you will have definitely got further on that journey than you would have if you hadn't have set them in the first place. So it's OK to set goals and then in three years time or five years time, decide that that's not what you want anymore, either personally or professionally. That's fine. But by having them in the first place, it keeps you focused.
Grant Leboff: You talk about Business goals, but also in the book, you talk about the importance of personal goals in a professional setting. So why are the personal goals so important?
Nicola Cook: It's to keep you motivated on a day to day basis. Because let's face it, some of us are in jobs and in roles and have companies that we're passionate about them every single day and we get up and the minute our eyes are awake, that's it, we can't wait to start our next working day. But the reality is that life's not like that and you have up days, good days and you have down days and you also have days where things don't go your way or that big deal that you were waiting to come in and somebody has said 'yes' to you but then for whatever reason it fails at the very last moment. And if you don't have your personal goals in the professional context, you'll want to throw the towel in and you'll want to kick up a fuss and have a sulk and not get back up there and keep going. And one of the key distinguishing factors of successful people, as opposed to mediocre sales people, is how tenacious they are and how well they pick themselves back up again and fight the next fight, so to speak. And without something motivating you and meaningful to you to make you want to do that, this is not the profession for you.
