Settle inner conflicts to achieve your goals

The following is based on one of The Covenant Group’s clients. All of the names and telling details have been changed.

By Norm Trainor Founder and CEO of The Covenant Group. 

Sometimes self-reflection will show you have a fear of success.

Robert Dale had been a financial advisor for more than a decade and had built a solid practice. However, at the end of last year, Robert began to feel something was missing. He had no trouble getting introductions and developing new business. But he felt he was doing the same kinds of deals again and again, with the same kinds of clients. He was growing bored and, even worse; his revenue seemed to have plateaued.

Although Robert was generating almost $500,000 a year in commissions, he wanted to begin selling much larger and more lucrative cases to the business owner/manager market. In the coming year Robert aggressively targeted to do 1 million dollars in commissions. He truly believed he could do it. Unfortunately, Robert’s million-dollar plan had a tragic flaw.

When I met Robert in July of his “million-dollar year” he was discouraged. To date, he had only done $390,000, a great year by most standards, but not on track to meet his goal. He was frustrated because his target seemed to be floating further and further away. He was losing momentum and his enthusiasm was ebbing.

I had seen advisors in Robert’s situation before. In my years of training salespeople, I’ve learned that as many as 9 out of 10 advisors, no matter how successful, feel they can do much better than they are. Many of them think they aren’t succeeding because of external circumstances, such as a struggling economy, or too much competition. However, most of the time, their problem lies inside them, not outside. The real reason they are not successful is that they are not clear about what they want.

We needed to identify what Robert was doing wrong. I knew he had to look inside and find the problem that kept him from doing the things necessary to reach 1 million dollars. How was he sabotaging his efforts?

We began our investigation by looking at his million-dollar target for the year. One million dollars over twelve months was a clear target, but I didn’t think it was useful for planning purposes. It was too large, too far away and didn’t drive his daily behaviour. There were no actionable plans for months, weeks, and days. He had no milestones and no way of knowing if he was on track or not. Robert needed a plan.

The first thing we did was break down his million-dollar target into monthly milestones. Robert did the math with me and realized that to reach a million he needed to generate $610,000 in five months —$120,000 per month. However, he was currently averaging only $55,000 in commissions a month. At his current rate of production, he would make $665,000 this year, well short of his goal. He needed to shake things up. Especially since, historically, September to December were not his best months.

We laid Robert’s numbers aside and I asked him what kind of cases he was doing. He told me he had been working on some large deals, but nothing had closed. I asked why. With a discouraged look, he said he couldn’t give them enough time. Again, I wanted to know why. Robert grimaced. He just couldn’t work any more hours he told me. He was so busy with smaller cases that he had no time for the big ones that were more speculative. He was prospecting and closing constantly, but beginning to feel like he was running on a treadmill.

I agreed his current behaviour wasn’t getting him to his goal. In fact, that behaviour was counter-productive. The time he spent closing small cases reduced the amount of time he had left for big deals. With each small case closed, he slipped further and further away from his target. I asked him why he chose to work on those small deals rather than the big ones.

“They’re easier,” he said quickly. He told me he was more confident doing small deals because he had been doing them for more than ten years. The big cases were complicated and involved difficult prospects — millionaires.

I pointed out that he planned to be a millionaire by December 31. That made him pause. “Do you believe you belong in their company or deserve their respect?” I asked him. “If you believe you deserve their business, you are also saying you see yourself as their equal.”

Robert was silent, reflecting on his feelings about his prospects.

I explained to Robert that there are various reasons why someone might fall short of their goals. Sometimes it is because they don’t have a plan, or are not following a plan, or simply don’t know what they should be doing — the situation Robert had put himself in by creating a vague million-dollar goal. Other times their shortfall results from an inner conflict. Even though someone might think they want to be successful, there may be something in their subconscious that is getting in the way. They may harbor a fear of failure or even a fear of success. Inner conflict can be a serious roadblock to success. You must be able to focus all your energies on achieving your goals of success. In order to realize his potential, he had to resolve any inner conflicts he might have.

“You need to close those deals to become a millionaire,” I told him. “You need to have the confidence to work with those high net worth prospects in order to join their financial circle. If you don’t think you’re good enough, you’ll always sabotage your efforts with those people and never make your target. You can do well, but you’ll always be a step down from them.”

Robert’s eyebrows raised. He saw I was right. “I want to be successful, but don’t have the confidence to work with successful people, “ he said. I nodded and let the realization sink in.

We discussed how to bolster his confidence with wealthy prospects then re-examined his plan for his million-dollar year. To get back on track he needed to close some of his big cases quickly in order to shelter himself against his lean months in the Fall. Based on potential deals he had in the works, he targeted to do $250,000 in August. If he met that milestone, he needed to do $90,000 per month thereafter to reach his million-dollar target — a number he felt he could achieve if he worked the high net worth market successfully.

Robert left my office with renewed purpose. He had 30 days to make $250,000, but he had a much clearer intention and greater determination to make the big deals that would make it possible.

Five weeks later, Robert’s numbers were in. On the 10th of September, he called to tell me the news and I was blown away. Not only had Robert met his August target, but he had obliterated it. Rather than just making his $250,000, his targeted plan and newfound confidence enabled him to do $700,000 in August. He’d closed his biggest single deal, worth $550,000, two weeks after we’d spoken, and rolled through the rest of the month on a high, closing prospect after prospect. I was amazed at his breakthrough. He’d met his yearly target already and as a result, was now a millionaire himself.

Lessons Learned

• Although the numbers involved in this case study are large — a million-dollar year and $250,000 month — the principles that allowed Robert to meet and exceed those targets can help anyone reach their own goals. Whether you want to generate $10,000 or $10,000,000 you need to clarify your intentions.
• Robert was falling short of his million-dollar target because it was too vague and didn’t give him enough direction on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis. As he found out, a plan is only useful when it informs your decisions and directs your behaviours consistently towards a specific goal.
• And, not only was Robert’s plan vague, but he had an inner conflict with selling to wealthy individuals. He was comfortable selling to his natural market or peer group. He didn’t perceive people at his own level as threats and had little trouble dealing with them on equal footing. However, he grew anxious around high net worth prospects, doubting himself to the point where he avoided meeting with them. His inner conflict held him back and as a result, he was unable to make them clients.
• In your own career, no matter what income level you are at, you need to clarify your intention. Creating a detailed plan for achieving your goal and then looking inward to remove any obstacles will clear the way for your own breakthrough.

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The Covenant Group is referred to by many as the place entrepreneurs go to become Business Builders. They are considered to be thought leaders and have authored the best-selling books, The 8 Best Practices of High- Performing Salespeople, The Entrepreneurial Journey, and The Business Builder.