Visualizing Your Goal: It’s Key to Successful Selling
by Scott Koepf /This is the first in a series of monthly columns on sales
Let’s ‘start at the very beginning’
Now is a good time to start a new adventure by setting a new goal, making a life change or pursuing an achievement.
Sometimes the hardest part of taking this adventure is the decision to take the first step. In the words of Zig Ziglar, “You don’t have to be great to start, you have to start to be great!”
To tie in the title of this article, we need to know where to start—or more specifically—how to start. If you know me or have heard me speak, then you know I have a love of musical theatre.
My passion is shared by all of my girls (my bride and three daughters). My oldest daughter has played Maria in “The Sound of Music.” So pull on your lederhosen and I will pull out my guitar and we can “start at the very beginning” because it is “a very good place to start!” . . .
But keep the end in mind
In his extraordinary book “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People,” Steven Covey said, “Start with the end in mind.” This is where or how to start — at the end. In other words, we need to have a very specific vision of where we want to go or what we want to have or what we want to achieve.
While it’s been said in different ways and could be taken to an extreme, this concept of starting with the end in mind has been used in sports for years.
Called visualizing, it simply means that you should see yourself having reached your goal. This may be easier to express in the sports world than the business world.
For example, if the “end” for me is to play par golf, I can visualize each shot I make and see exactly how I need to play. Note that’s not just visualizing the sinking of the last putt on the 18th green with wild celebration. Instead, I need to visualize every shot on every hole; not only that but how I will stand, swing and hit the ball.
Visualizing success
In our business lives then, we need to visualize the successful end we desire as well as every step we need to take to get there.
Setting a goal of selling $1 million in vacations in the next 12 months sounds great but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
What else do you need to ‘see’ to get you to that goal? What does your marketing plan look like, how do you ideally interact with each customer, and which suppliers will support you and therefore deserve your support?
Strategies and tactics
The answers to these key questions can be called the strategies and tactics of the larger goal.
But first, you need to be completely focused on the end and that means you need to have the answer to the ultimate business question before you start: “Why should I do business with you?”
Working in travel or having traveled yourself, are not good enough reasons for customers to buy from you. The answer needs to be specific enough to set you apart from everyone else.
This will require some real soul searching and hard work to find your individual passion.
Using the golf analogy for travel, if my putt on the 18th hole is my $1 million in sales, then I know that I have to practice, focus and dedicate months (for golf, in my case, it would be years) to this goal.
Gaining expertise
One way to achieve your goal is to become an expert at something specific. And that doesn’t mean just travel because that makes you the same as thousands of other travel agents.
Many in our industry suggest specializing in a destination like Europe, Hawaii or Mexico, or in a product type like cruises, tours or all-inclusives. Those can be effective ways to set you apart.
I believe, however, that this approach is passé. Instead I recommend specializing in people! Not just people in general, but people who have a common interest or passion — hopefully, one that you share.
Here are some examples of unique visualizations: “I am the top travel advisor for avid golfers,” “I am the expert on travel for historians,” “I am the travel planner for needle point enthusiasts,” “I am the best travel agent for people with large, offshore bank accounts.”
While all of these are effective, I did include the last one to make a point. While those people exist, they are probably quite hard to find.
The ‘findable’ audience
So it’s important to know that your audience is findable and that they even want to be found. Also, visualize yourself talking with these customers because if the conversation is very short, then they are not the right customers for you.
When you can answer the ‘why’ someone should do business with you, you have also created the ‘who’ you can visualize working with. I would love to know what your end visualization is.
Please send it to me at scott.koepf@avoyatravel.com. Once you have the end in mind, you can move to the next part of the new beginning, which will be just like Maria as she sings “I Have Confidence...”
Scott Koepf, CTC, MCC, senior vice president of sales for Avoya Travel, is an industry veteran known for his retail travel sales acumen. Koepf brings sales techniques to life through referencing his other passion, musical theatre. As both a performer and a salesman, he’ll provide sales techniques and insights to help travel professionals grow their business.