12-Month Goals – Setting goals is necessary because it sets the stage for what needs to happen over the next 12 months.  Having set goals makes it easier to take action steps that support your goals. It forces you to make choices about what work should and should not be.

Make sure your goals are specific and measurable, and make sure they have a deadline.  Develop 90-day plans with day-by-day action steps that support your annual goals.  Then, make sure you have blocked out time each day to complete the tasks.  If you follow your plan without cheating, success will be yours.

Manage Your Time – Now that you have goals, you must manage your time properly in order to be able to complete everything.  The 6 keys to effectively managing time are: attitude, goal setting/planning, prioritizing, scheduling, managing interruptions, and delegation.

If you have a firm grip on these 6 strategies and you are blocking time for necessary activities, delegating what you don’t do well or can pay someone else to do, and managing interruptions all while remembering to plan each day – your income will soar.  Guaranteed.

Be Organized – Are you organized?  Do you know where everything is?  Do you have files set up where all of your paperwork is kept?  Are there folders in your desktop?  Do you know what needs to happen everyday without giving it too much thought?

Whoever tells you in spite of the mess on their desk they know where everything is – don’t believe it!  IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!  Don’t fall into this trap – take the time needed to get and stay organized once and for all.  In order to stay organized, new habits need to be created – start today!

Cold Calls (YIKES!) – I often write about other and probably better methods, but nothing replaces old-fashioned cold calling no matter what type of business you have.  Have a script ready before making any calls – tweak it when needed.  Choose a specific number of calls to make each day and stick to it.  Begin with between 5 and 10, thus creating a habit.  Refer to various sources for gathering names to call, directories, online searches and of course your own personal database.

Knock on doors; knock on every door within the competing area of your property.  Leave a brochure and business card.  Be friendly and professional.

Add each name to your personal database and keep track of whom you called, and the result.

Develop a Tickler System – The only way to keep track of what needs to happen and when is to have a tickler system set up.  A what, you ask?  A tickler system is a system that keeps track of what follow-up is required and when.

You probably have something already on your phone or computer that does a great job of reminding you – but if not – do it manually – it’s easy!

Have Meetings – A client of mine tells me his number ” 1″ goal is meetings.  He knows that if he is able to have a face-to-face with a prospect he has a high probability of at least getting to the next step of turning a prospect into a client.

“Meetings” come in all different shapes and sizes.  We are no longer bound by the stereotypes of yesteryear.  A meeting can be the result of a conversation in a networking group, at a school event with other parents, at the gym while working out.  Anywhere you have a conversation that results in an opportunity to do business together.

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