MISTAKE #42: You’re swinging too hard

You’ve certainly heard how Babe Ruth may be one of the all-time home run kings, but he also leads the American League in striking out five times.  He is remembered for the 714 home runs he has, not the 1330 times he struck out.

 You’ve probably also heard the golf expression “Drive for show.  Putt for dough.” This saying was coined by Bobby Locke in reference to the fact that fans might be more impressed with 350-yard drives, but consistently making putts is more likely to win tournaments.

A lot of the clients I work with have very ambitious sales goals.  They are presumably set high to drive excitement (a retailer is a lot more interested in a $50 million opportunity than a $500,000 opportunity), motivate performance at a higher level, and make the business look better on paper.

And sometimes they are set simply due to very poor volume forecasting based on formulas that are too rudimentary and assumptions that are grossly inflated.

WHEN THE GOAL IS THE SOURCE OF FAILURE

While I’m all for setting goals that seem to be slightly out of reach yet possible, I believe failure often comes from establishing goals that prompt bad behavior.  I’ve seen this in my own life:

I’ve injured myself in an ill-fated pursuit of a 20-minute 5K.

I walked away from opportunities I felt were too small that might have eventually gotten me right where I wanted to go.

I’ve lost money on risky investments hoping for quick, unrealistic returns.

In a similar manner, I’ve worked with clients that have a great product with a solid value proposition, but a misguided “more is always better” mentality causes them to swing for the fences only to strike out when all they needed was to get on base. 

I’ve seen clients get greedy when it comes to the cost they present the retailer or the premium everyday price they want to sell at that isn’t justified.

I’ve seen a product with great velocity in 500 stores (ones with traits that fit its buyer profile) try to expand distribution too quickly to 2500 stores that didn’t fit their profile.

I’ve seen a company fail to steal distribution and premium shelf space from the market leader when they should have gone after a weaker product on a lower shelf. 

These clients fell short because their ambition exceeded their ability.  And that ambition caused them to take a higher-risk, higher-reward approach.  Because the second place is the first loser in retail, many of those products fell to zero sales versus just being 70% or 80% of their goal.

BE REALISTIC TO WIN 

There must be 100 different incentives for pursuing overly ambitious or inflated goals, with greed certainly not being the least likely cause.

A greater goal often comes with a greater consequence if it is not reached.  Businesses can get in a lot of trouble when resourcing and budgets and expectations were built on these ambitions that are never realized.

Is your organization at risk of getting caught in this trap?  Do you feel uneasy about the numbers you’re attaching to your new product?  Would you be better off with a launch plan that focused on delivering $5 million in year one and then growing that to $10 million in year two versus trying to reach an unrealistic $10 million in year one in a manner that could jeopardize still being around to have sales in year 2?

Or do you need year one to hit a certain number and are looking for some help getting there?

Know if you need the home run or just need to get on base.  And act accordingly.