Goal setting is generally accepted as good practice in sport.

Goal setting is also accepted as good practice in business too – especially in sales.

So, what is your accountancy firm’s lead generation goal for 2017? How many prospects do you want to meet with in 2017? What about your lead conversion goal?

And are you on target for quarter 1 (January to March)?

However, the question I really want you to answer is:

Is your lead generation goal ambitious enough?

Have you set a high enough lead generation (new prospect) goal? Is it 1 prospect meeting a month per partner or is it 2? Or is it as high as the top performing firm in our Marketing Audit for Accountants survey – 5 new prospect leads a month per partner. Perhaps it’s higher?

The reason for the question and the focus on ‘ambition’ is the impact it has on the way you think and the way you act. Modest goals will have you thinking modestly and acting modestly. Ambitious goals will have you thinking and acting in ambitious ways – if you take the ambitious goals seriously of course.

There is a difference between ‘ambitious’ and ‘ridiculous’. Goals set ‘out of the park’ can result in a goal being given lip service to because there’s no belief the goal can ever be achieved.

Only you can decide on what’s ‘ridiculous’, what’s ‘ambitious’ and what’s ‘modest’. ‘Ridiculous’ and ‘modest’ result in little progress – ‘modest’ goals lack energy and ‘ridiculous’ goals lack belief. Both result in failure.

Ambition, on the other hand, provides you a healthy middle ground in which you tap into the energy of goal setting with a sense of belief it’s possible.

So! What is your ambitious lead generation (new prospect) goal for the remainder of 2017 (11 months)? 5 leads a month per partner like the leading firm in our survey of 109 accounting firms (If you’d like a copy let us know)?

Our Marketing Audit for Accountants survey shows it’s possible to convert 5 new clients a month per partner (worth £200,000 in new revenue). What’s your ambitious new client goal?

And how do you respond emotionally to the three different goal-setting levels – ridiculous – ambitious – modest? What affect do ambitious goals have on the way you think and act?

IMPORTANT: If you want to get yourself a copy of the brilliantly received ‘Marketing Audit for Accountants’ survey which sign posts the successful marketing activity across 109 firms you can get your copy here.

For more blogs to help you start 2017 on the right foot see below: