Every leader wants a motivated team member. But, we sometimes demotivate our team members by using the wrong incentive. In this post, I’m going to share with you how to set personal goals that motivate in a big way. As an example, I’m going to show you how I used one of Chris Loudermilk’s personal passions to motivate him towards a big goal.
1) Know your people
Chris has a love of rare whiskeys. He collects them in much the same way a wine connoisseur looks for a rare year. When he talks about a rare whiskey his eyes sparkle. But, there is one whiskey that takes him to another level. At the mention of this rarest of rare whiskeys, he is transported into a world of dreams and good feelings.
Van Winkle – Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Van Winkle may just be the finest Bourbon in the world. As a producer, the Van Winkle family releases their product once a year in small quantities. In order to purchase a bottle at retail, you have to win a lottery drawing. Even then, the odds are extremely against you. For perspective, the Austin market only received 6 total bottles last year. Yes, only 6 bottles per year for a market that extends over 3 million people. It’s popularity and extreme rareness has vastly inflated the sales price. A bottle that lists for $69.95 may sell for $1,000 and more.
Chris would gladly pay that price if he could find anyone willing to sell a bottle. But, finding a bottle is nearly impossible. Finding a bottle would require a fair amount of persistence and a whole lot of luck.
This creates my opportunity.
See, I know Chris. He is a go-getter and a fast-paced mover. He isn’t going to take the time looking. He is going to move on to other goals in life.
I, however, am patient.
I started looking for a bottle last year. It took 6 months for me to find one. The story of how I found that bottle is worth telling on its own. Yet, I’ll save it for another word adventure.
Once I had the bottle in hand, I knew I had an amazing personal incentive to motivate Chris to accomplish some big goals.
2) Establish the goal; then find an accelerator
One of Chris’s responsibilities is new client acquisition. He is often the first point of contact when a new lead comes into the company. At the beginning of the year, we set a goal to double the number of monthly clients we have as a company. So far, we are ahead of schedule.
Yet, I want to accelerate the pace of accomplishing our goal!
That’s where Van Winkle comes into the picture. I’m using this super rare bourbon as rocket fuel to get Chris to accelerate towards the goal.
Chris has a goal to convert 10 new monthly clients and 10 new CSR clients by December 15th. That’s 20 new clients in Net Total, which means if we lose a client, then he has to bring on one to make up for the loss.
When he does this, the bottle of Van Winkle is his to enjoy.
3) Share the goal, and make it public
I found the bottle of Van Winkle the week before Chris taught his Sales Series program. I knew this created a limited opportunity to supercharge the power of the Van Winkle as a motivator.
My plan was to wait until Chris was teaching the Goal Section of the program, and then take over the presentation. I would have him become the student as I taught the lesson in real life, and presented him with the bottle as a goal motivator.
It worked great! Chris got to be featured in a public way, and have the shared accountability of the entire class urging him on towards the goal. It was a lot of fun, and very effective.
You can actually watch the video here if you’d like.
Making the goal public is important and helpful. From my experience, a goal that is public creates accountability and momentum. It also aids itself in getting the work done.
I know a couple of things will happen from making this story public and sharing the goal.
- It will further motivate Chris.
- There will be people that will watch this and will want to help Chris.
Some of these people will be team members and clients, and some will be future clients that want to be part of our SET Family!
*Side Note: Not all goals are to be shared publicly. Motivation greatly depends on the person and the goal. A few of my goals don’t get shared publicly, because they are private. In addition, some people don’t do well in the public light but prefer a private source of accountability. The key here is to know your people, and motivate them accordingly.*
Chris is already responding to the challenge. On the day the challenge was presented, he signed a new client to a monthly account. The client happened to be in the class, and loved the challenge!
As a leader, I challenge you to find creative ways to motivate your team and produce big results. And I want to hear all about your results.
Motivating Your Team to Beat Goals
