This is the third in a series of articles that break down the exact formula you need to smash sales targets… no matter if they’re your own, or your teams goals.

If you’ve been following the series (and you should be!… subscribe here) then you’ll be aware we’re building up an acronym of steps. So far we’ve got G (Great beliefs) and R (Reasons to act).

Read on to find out (and profit from) the next step:

Today we’re all about:

Outcome Clarity

This is a really simple one and you’ve probably heard it before.

In fact, Outcome Clarity is the featured topic of everyone’s favourite personal development movie The Secret.

When you have Outcome Clarity, you know what success looks like.

It’s more than that. You’ll know what it feels, smells and sounds like!

The best sales managers know how to incentivise their teams and themselves… and they know it isn’t always as simple as offering an extra percentage or two of commission.

A real world client of mine wanted to offer a luxury car as a bonus to the top performing sales rep. My advice was simple: Take the team to the car dealership for a test drive.

Once you feel the contours of the leather seats and hear the engine purr (or roar)…. you’ve got Outcome Clarity.

The icing on the cake would be to snap a picture of the sales person in the car while they’re test driving it.

Back in the office, pin the picture right above their workstation so everyday they see where they’re headed.

Another fantastic take on Outcome Clarity is from Jonathan Fields. He wrote an article a while back, about motivating his daughter to study (check it out here). It elegantly explains the principal of Outcome Clarity with the added bonus of Jonathan’s brilliant writing style.

When your goal isn’t a car or a test drive isn’t easy to find, you’ll need a practical tool for creating Outcome Clarity in your mind.

The tool is here, pre-packaged for your convenience:

(answer these questions on paper)

How do you know when you’ve really made the sale?

Where will you be when you get final, total confirmation of your success?

What will you be feeling at that moment?

What would you look like? What expression would you be wearing?

(then visualise)

Step into the vision and see things out of your own eyes. What does the future look like when you’ve succeeded (made the sale)?

Now step out of the image and imagine it as poster of you in that moment.

Hang the poster in your mind.

Make the poster bigger.

Turn up the colours so they’re brighter… just like you can on a TV screen.

If you’re not feeling excited about making sales, it’s because you haven’t found your moment of Outcome Clarity.

It’s less about the actual selling and more about the moment the sale becomes REAL to you (or your team).

For many people, this could be the moment where they spend their earnings… or when they win the bonus incentive (like the car).

For more analytical types, it could be at the end of the month when a report of sales statistics is produced and reviewed.

It differs from person to person, but there is one thing you can be totally sure of:

All sales people need Outcome Clarity

Just like Great Beliefs and Reasons to Act…. if you don’t add Outcome Clarity into the mix, you’re not going to get even halfway decent sales results.

Make the objective clear and be sure everyone on your team knows what success tastes like.

What does sales success look like to you? Let me know in the comment section below…

There is a simple technique for making more sales or growing your business. This technique is so simple, in fact, that it seems like a magic trick. There is a prize for people who read this post.

It isn’t magic.. and the psychology is simple. The problem is that 95% of small business owners (large corporates are guilty too!) don’t focus on understanding the psychology of their customers… so they miss the obvious stuff.

Reading this post (and taking the necessary simple action) will ensure your business never suffers from this common mistake…

The technique that makes all the difference is this:

Be totally clear and certain of the purpose of your business

That’s it!

“But Peter, I know the Purpose of my business already!”

… I hear you. And you’re wrong….

Actually, you may be partly right. I’m sure every entrepreneur knows the Purpose of their business for them or maybe even for the customer. But are you communicating that Purpose with total clarity?

Chances are that there could be improvements – and your ability to generate cold, hard cash will multiply exponentially if you really nail this.

The practical technique for communicating Purpose is a simple “fill-in-the-blank” exercise. It goes like this:

-> We help <insert highly specific target market>

->  do <whatever problem they’d love to be solving>

->  bigger/faster/better/easier/sexier <competitive difference>

->  even if <worst case scenario that would prevent a stranger buying from you>

It’s that simple.

As an example, try out my Purpose statement:

“I help entrepreneurs master the psychology and practical strategy that turns ideas into profitable business empires. Even if their idea is just a dream, they’re out to make their next ten million, or their anywhere in between.”

Having total clarity on Purpose changes everything. It effects every interaction with customers and makes every decision you make as boss easier.

The first person to reply in the comment section  to the question below wins a FREE Purpose brainstorm session, face-to-face with me (video conference if distance is a problem).

There are no wrong answers: What is the Purpose of your business?