The ABCS of Accountability

Has anyone ever told you that you were going to be held accountable for doing what you say you’re going to do? Sometimes people have an innate fear of having their feet held to the fire.

Being accountable to someone you respect does come with a certain element of pressure to perform and to execute, but I’d venture to say that’s a good thing. Entrepreneurs, business owners and salespeople may be self-starters, but like anyone else trying to achieve great things, they need someone to keep them honest, responsible, motivated and on track.

Last week, we explored the importance of accountability in theory. Today, I’d like to explore accountability in practice.

Let’s say, for instance, that you’d like to increase your sales quota this year but are having a challenging time maintaining the motivation necessary to increase your clientele and your profits. How can you use accountability as a tool to help you achieve your goals?

Here’s what you do…

The first step is to record all the sales activities that you need to do on a daily and weekly basis to reach your specific goal. Having a goal is important, but unless you identify and break down the action steps necessary to make the goal a reality, then the goal is just a fading dream.

Do you need to make prospecting calls to collect hot leads? Do you need to arrange phone appointments to qualify those leads? Do you need to make closing calls during which you address possible objections? Every activity that you need to do should be recorded on paper to make them more concrete.

The next critical step is to take those activities and quantify them. To ensure that you stay on track, you need to know what “on track” means. The key is to be specific about what you want to accomplish on a daily and weekly basis. What is the minimum number of complimentary sales calls you will make per day? How many new leads will you produce per day? How many sales will you make per day? By establishing a benchmark, you have something to measure up against to ensure that you haven’t lost steam or fallen off track.

The third step is where it all comes together. Choose an accountability partner you respect to keep you honest. An accountability partner is an individual you meet with regularly to reflect on your progress and ensure that you’re on track to accomplish what you committed yourself to do.

If you find that you keep falling short of meeting your benchmarks, it would be advantageous to work with a business coach with expertise at ensuring that you follow through on your action plan. The right business coach will help you create a plan if you don’t already have one, identify realistic benchmarks and challenge you to reach your goals on a consistent basis.

As the business development and sales strategist at Celeste Giordano Coaching, I work regularly with clients on mastering accountability. We meet once a week via a phone call on Monday, during which we review the goals for the week. On Thursdays we have a second call to review progress made, and make any necessary changes to overcome challenges that presented themselves. Busy business owners, entrepreneurs and salespeople often find that knowing they have to report to someone about their progress is the push that they need to reach their daily quotas.

On an accountability call, clients need to explain why they did – or didn’t – complete the clearly defined tasks which they set out to execute. I motivate my clients to push themselves just a little harder to stay on track, stay focussed and develop the tools necessary to succeed in reaching their objectives and mastering sales in 2015.

To recap, if you want to double-plus your income, take action in executing this three step plan:

1. Identify your goals and the actions that you’ll need to to achieve them
2. Quantify your goals with specific benchmarks
3. Choose a business mentor to hold you accountable.

Because I work closely with my clients and monitor their progress via weekly accountability calls, I only work with a select number of clients at any given time. Email me today at mailto:celeste@celestegiordano.com to reserve your slot and make accountability the driving force that helps you achieve or exceed your goals in 2015!

Remember, if you execute your specific action plan and are accountable to sticking to it, the sales WILL follow!

Now the only question that remains is: Are you ready to rev your sales engines?