Limits, Quotas and Goals- One Step at a Time

The Bassmaster Classic has concluded and Texas angler Alton Jones is the winner. So what did this pro do to stay focused while pressure was mounting in the final day?


"Jones said he kept repeating out loud three mantras to himself all day: 1) Catch the next bass; 2) Make every cast count; and 3) Back to the basics. When he didn't get a bite in his first two areas, he tried to focus on just catching one, and not think about catching a limit."
- www.bassmaster.com

When I think about how much I need to sell annually (or monthly) to meet my personal goals or the company quotas expected of me it can seem daunting, just like it may feel to need a limit of bass on the last day of a tournament. But limits, quotas and goals are achieved one step at a time. Jones' mantras are a great reminder to us to stay focused when pressure is mounting. In our sales world we could rework the mantras:

1) Close the next prospect
2) Make every call count
3) Back to basics (applies the same to selling and bass fishing) ... focus on closing just one sale, and not all that you need to meet your goal.

Bass fishing, though more physical than most initially think, is primarily a mental game. In this case, Yogi, 100% of the game is half mental! The same goes for sales. It's easy for our minds to get cluttered with information or thoughts that interfere with our focus. That's when our mind starts telling us you can't catch that many bass today... how are you ever going to sell that much... too hard... too much... impossible.

We then have two options: Buy into the doubt, or ward it off with a mantra and get focused on accomplishing our goal.

So go out there and don't worry about catching five fish, just focus on catching the next one... you may end up with your limit and a $500,000.00 check at the end of the day! Congrats Alton!