Here is my “2012 Goals + Prospects” Worksheet

Hi, I'm Deidre. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a web copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning as I go (with Marketing Mentor as my guide).

Recently, I shared what I accomplished in 2011. Want to know what I didn’t accomplish? Well, here it goes…

I did not meet 2+ prospect per week (even though I had a starburst on my wall). I did not meet anywhere close to 2+ prospects per week.

This was possibly my most important marketing task last year—and I didn’t do it.

Why?

Because I slacked. I lied to myself. I was a truth-stretcher.

The word, “meet,” was too vague. I justified this to myself by saying, “Sure, I met 2 people this week.” I didn’t track who I met, so it was easy to tally them favorably in my head.

Here’s the dilly. Vague goals don’t work. If there is room to “stretch the truth,” I will. Most of what I accomplished last year was clear-cut. The things I slacked on were greyer.

For 2012, my goals are black and white. First, if I do only one thing this year, it will be this:

Introduce myself to 5 new prospects per week.

The method doesn’t matter. It can be through email, phone, in-person or carrier pigeon. But I will track these people that I introduce myself to.

The simple fact is: My business will not grow unless people know about me.

I can’t rely on my meta tags. I can’t rely on word of mouth. The best way to meet new people is to simply say hello. This year, I’m getting serious about saying hello! (I’ve already said hello to 15 people this month.)

My specific goals for 2012 are:

• Meet the magic number every month
• Send my un-newsletter every month
• Introduce myself to 5 new prospects per week

I also want to track:

• How many projects I have each month
• The average invoice size per project
• How many prospects become clients
• Who I added to my email list (Marketing Mentor loves Emma for email marketing and offers a 20% partner discount!) 

To do this, I created a worksheet.

It’s super simple, but maybe it can help you too? 

Download my "2012 Goals + Prospects" worksheet here.

I’ve used formulas, so that when you update the prospect worksheet, it automatically updates the “Goals” worksheet with names, and denotes which prospects turned into clients, tallying each month.

What is the one thing you’re doing this year?

Comments

[Jackson Foster]

Deidre:

Loved your e-newsletter this morning. Great advice and tips. I equally share your frustration as my own marketing efforts have fallen short, many times last year. Your advice for being less vague and more specific has hit home for both marketing endeavors and managing my daily schedule.

I'm also working on a more serious effort to develop methods for connecting and reaching out. I was particularly inspired by Ilise's pep talk to develop contacts through Linkedin. Just the last couple of days it has opened up a couple of doors for me.

Not sure if this is totally accurate, but I wonder if the lack of self-confidence is at the heart of our (creative-types) hesitancy to reach out for business.

Your specific goals described and your enthusiasm will go a long way towards overcoming your obstacles, and hopefully, help others in overcoming theirs.

Best regards,

Jackson Foster
The I.D.Entity
Brand identity and design strategists

[Pam]

Deidre, I love your ideas about tracking prospects and thanks so much for sharing your tracking sheet!