Don’t Make a Plan to Fail

I was reading a post the other day on LinkedIn from someone I know commenting on a book, The 10X Rule, by Grant Cardone. I want to let you know that I did not read the book, only the comments and reviews about it and my friends’ takes.

The Amazon summary said, “This book is great for entrepreneurs and sales teams” and “compels you to set targets that are 10 times what you think you want and then do 10 times what you think it will take to accomplish them.”

This all sounds good. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I always coached my sales team to plan to succeed, not plan to fail. This seems like a plan to fail. It is like setting your clock ahead 15 minutes to help you get up on time. You relax in the morning because you know you have a spare 15 built-in.

A plan to succeed is based on understanding your business and customers. In the glass business, we all have accounts that buy almost everything from us. In this case, your plan needs to be servicing and growing with the customer.

Then we have customers that are buying way below their potential from us. These are accounts that we need to plan to increase their business. Your strategy can include growing your product line or services. This will allow you to grow them both. Planning to expand your customer base or geographic area will also add to your growth.

The real key to success is taking the time and effort to plan and set realistic goals. In my old life, we always took time to check the plan. You want to make sure you’re on track. Adjust and get back on track if you get away from the plan.

Set an achievable goal. This will motivate you to reach it. We are about halfway through the year; this is a good time to ensure it is still a plan to succeed. It might also help to put in double the effort.