| As a fanatical fan of the National Football League, | | | | the end of the day, it is goal planning that |
| I watched the HOF (Hall-Of-Fame) inductions for | | | | conditioned and drove him to greatness. Emmitt's |
| 2010' last weekend. Interesting enough, Emmitt | | | | commitment to goals and need to plan guided him |
| Smith's speech (pun not intended) really caught | | | | to the HOF as one of the best in the world at his |
| my attention. For starters, he memorized the | | | | craft. |
| entire dialogue, all twenty minutes... impressive. | | | | What drives you to get up each and every day |
| What was more moving - what seized my | | | | and be the best you can be at your profession? |
| attention - was when he shared with the audience | | | | What motivates you to be courageous and push |
| how he went about doing his job; reaching for | | | | for more in a field (sales) where we face |
| stars and working towards being the best in the | | | | rejection 95% of the time? The answer is goals - |
| world. Emmitt has goals. | | | | both personal and professional. As I explain to my |
| Mr. Smith enlightened the 10,000 people in the | | | | clients when conducting a sales training seminar, |
| audience (as well as millions of viewers on | | | | sales training class or professional sales coaching |
| television) that as a youngster, dating all the way | | | | session, if you don't have written goals the tasks |
| back to his high school days, goals were the | | | | in front of you can be daunting and it is a |
| driver of his success. He explained "there was a | | | | challenge to expect and receive real change in |
| difference from having a dream and merely a | | | | performance. Sales training is central. Having sales |
| vision," furthermore, that specific steps needed to | | | | leadership to reinforce our growth is also essential. |
| be put into place to accomplish and sustain that | | | | But as Mr. Smith stated, "being consistent" is even |
| vision. Emmitt explained "it is only a dream until | | | | more critical; goals fuel our desires and help us hit |
| you write it down; then it becomes a goal." Make | | | | targets. |
| no mistake, his goals were gigantic and quoting | | | | Emmitt Smith was not the biggest running back in |
| Jim Collins, they were certainly BHAGS (big hairy | | | | the league and he certainly was not the fastest. |
| audacious goals). | | | | That did not stop him; Emmitt wanted to be |
| I then started to ask myself: Why do so many | | | | great, so he wrote down his goals and committed |
| people in business (especially salespeople and | | | | himself to executing a rather lofty game-plan. As |
| business owners) decline to write down their | | | | I write this article, Mr. Smith is now in the National |
| goals? As we all know, the game of sales (and | | | | Football League Hall-of-fame, one of the |
| business) is not a race, it's a marathon. As Emmitt | | | | mammoth goals he wrote down as teenager. |
| Smith shared, "you need consistency" - it is a vital | | | | OK, enough about Emmitt Smith, let's talk about |
| piece of the success game plan. Sure, Mr. Smith | | | | you. |
| was very talented and he played on some of the | | | | What are your big goals? |
| greatest football teams in league history. But at | | | | |