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Jack Canfield’s Self-Improvement Plan
Performance and self-esteem expert Jack Canfield, best known as the author of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” inspirational books, built his career around three questions multimillionaire Clement W. Stone asked him in 1960 dur- ing a job interview: • Do you watch TV? • How many hours a day? • Will you give me one hour
of that time? ‘‘
We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all of the motives which produced them. FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
SELLING TIP The Quota
All salespeople must learn to live with some form of quota, whether the quota is in sales or earnings. Whether you aim for the quota, or try to better it, it will determine your success. For a moment, visualize a target for pistol shooting. It has an outer ring and a bull’s eye. If that outer ring is your quota, and that’s what you’re aiming for, then you just might miss the target completely. But if you aim for the bull’s eye (more than your quota), you will have a better chance of hitting the target somewhere. In any one month, if you achieve only 85% of your quota, then you have missed the target entirely. Aim-
ing at 100% (the quota) will always result in less than 100% because, sometimes, you’ll miss the target. If you aim at the bull’s eye (say, 125%), you give yourself a margin of safety. What if you’re out sick for a week, had a few bad days, or lost an order or an account? Instead of playing catch-up, you’ll still hit the mark. And if you have a month free of problems, you’ll be way ahead. The wonderful thing about sales is that there’s never a limit to what you can do. Assign your bull’s eye a percentage above quota and begin target prac- tice today. You’ll score way above the competition if you do.
– SELLING POWER EDITORS
Canfield suddenly “found” nine extra hours per week. Then he spent that found time by reading one self-improve- ment book each week on such topics as management, sales, marketing, psychology, and motivation. In 10 years he’d read 520 books, which Stone assured him would place him in the top 1% of information experts in a chosen field. “Most salespeople become
responsive. They talk to peo- ple, but they’re not focused on what they’re trying to create,” he noted.
Canfield practices an
organizational procedure he tags “the entrepreneurial time system” that divides days into three levels: free days, buffer days, and focus days. Success- ful people schedule 150 annual free days (weekends plus 46 extra days) to relax and create energy. Canfield assigns sup- port activities to his 80 buffer days. The remaining days he devotes to concentrating on specific projects that address his overall goals.
– JULIE STURGEON
SELLING POWER JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 5 © 2025 SELLING POWER
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