In 1848, a man by the name of Phineas Cage, an employee of the Rutland Railroad, caught in an unexpected blast, also found himself in an unexpected predicament.  The blast had hurled a 3 foot 6 inch steel rod that entered Phineas’ left check bone past his frontal lobe and through the top of his skull.  Phineas was able to stand up, brush himself off and insist on walking under his own power to see the doctor who then proceeded to remove the rod with no noticeable affect.  One could only imagine the sheer horror or amazement of onlookers as they saw the rod protruding from both ends his skull as he walked down the road.

Many neurologists believed up until the late 1800s that the frontal lobe was merely a piece of useless gray matter taking up valuable cognitive real estate. A Portuguese physician by the name of Antonio Egas Moniz, who was treating highly neurotic patients, felt the need to explore the gray area a little more.  Moniz heard about a new procedure called a Frontal Lobotomy which had shown results in calming patients who were otherwise neurotic.  The procedure involved destroying certain areas of the frontal lobe that reduced anxiety and depression.   But it also had an after effect.  Although persons with a frontal lobotomy could think clearly, what they could not do was plan for the future.  They could not follow through on a sequence of action steps. The removal of the lobe had made it very difficult for them to plan ahead or think several steps ahead into the future.

These findings made sense; think about it.  People are anxious when they think about an uncertain future.  One way to remove the anxiety would be to remove the ability to think about the future.  The same can be said about depression.  People tend to get depressed when we can’t envision a bright future.  By eliminating those future thoughts, you also eliminate or minimize the depression.

Now, what does all this have to do with sales and success?  Everything!

Salespeople feel anxious when they can’t see how their going to meet their sales quota.  They get depressed when they think about the prospect of how much work and effort it's going to take to achieve their desired level of success.  Now a lot of this anxiety and depression can be cured.  No!  Not with a frontal lobotomy!

Salespeople who don’t plan their week will feel anxious as each week brings them one step closer to the end of the quarter.  Each week that goes by without the desired results will increase the salesperson’s anxiety by acknowledging quietly to themselves that, as they look forward, there’s no way they can meet their sales quota.

If you're a salesperson, you need to be able to answer the following questions without hesitation if you truly understand your business:

• How much do you have to sell in 3 months to hit your quota?  
• How much do you have to sell per day? 
• What’s your average sale? 
• What is your closing ratio?  
• How many people do I have to ‘touch’ a day to insure I meet my goal? 

This is the type of forward thinking that successful salespeople have.  Here’s an example of the detail that you are required to know off the top of your head if your really do understand your business:

• How much do you have to sell?  $90,000
• Divided by 3 months = $30,000
• Divided by the number of working days ($30,000 / 63):  $476 per day.  This is how much you have to sell per day.
• What’s your average sale: $250.   This would mean that you’d to make two sales a day to hit your target quota of $90,000 in three months.
• Lets say you have to talk to or contact 5 people in order to make 2 sales, that tells you that your sales close ratio is 40%  (2 sales / 5 people). 

This is just one of many ways to analyze how well you’re performing against your sales plan.  By continuously measuring your performance against a set of metrics or goals, you’ll be able to tell what areas may need some improvement.   This type of thinking requires planning; setting up the calls or meetings and following through on client requests.  Create for yourself a worksheet that includes the following information:

What’s your 90 day quota: _________

What’s your average sale: _______ 

What’s your close ratio: ________

How many people do you have to see each day (or week):  _____ 

Not thinking about the above in my opinion is the same as having a frontal lobotomy.  If you can’t see beyond the present, then you’ll never escape the anxiety (and maybe depression) associated with not being a successful salesperson.  To be the best in your field you have to constantly keep thinking about the future and how best to outsell your peers and competition.