Why You Need to Become Obsessed With Process Goals (Money Monday)

Ben Hogan, who was arguably the greatest ball striker the game of golf has ever known, taught that if you wanted to improve your swing you should focus on the cause rather than the result. This was good advice for golfers and brilliant advice for sales professionals. Because in sales, if you want to sell more it pays to become obsessed over your behaviors, techniques and processes rather than your outcomes. Most Sellers Obsess Over Outcomes Most salespeople are focused on winning or losing individual deals. They get emotionally wrapped up in every prospect, every conversation, every close attempt. When they win, they're on top of the world. When they lose, they're devastated. But top performers? They think completely differently. They're not obsessed with any single deal. They're obsessed with the process that creates consistent results over time. This mindset shift is the difference between feast-or-famine selling and predictable, sustainable success. The Downside of Outcome Based Sales Goals Here's what happens when you're obsessed with outcomes instead of process: Every deal, every month, every quarter becomes life or death. You put all your emotional energy into individual prospects and hitting numbers, which clouds your judgment and makes you act desperate. You take rejection personally. When someone says no, it's not just a business decision – it feels like a personal attack on your worth as a salesperson. You make poor decisions under pressure. When you need a deal to close to hit your number, you start discounting too early, chasing bad prospects, or making promises you can't keep. Your performance becomes inconsistent. You have great months followed by terrible months because you're riding the emotional roller coaster of individual wins and losses. You burn out faster. The constant emotional highs and lows are exhausting and unsustainable. Shift to Process Goals Process goals are different. They focus on the activities and behaviors you can directly control, not the outcomes that depend on factors outside your influence. Instead of "I need to close three deals this month," a process goal is "I will make 50 prospecting calls every day." Instead of "I have to win the Johnson account," it's "I will have four meaningful touch points with stakeholders at Johnson this week." Instead of "I need to hit 120% of quota," it's "I will follow my proven sales methodology on every single opportunity." Process goals put you in control. You can't control whether a prospect buys, but you can control how many prospects you contact, how well you qualify them, and how consistently you follow your process. Why Top Performers Love Process Goals Create predictable results. When you focus on the right activities consistently, the outcomes take care of themselves. It's like compound interest – small, consistent actions create massive results over time. Reduce emotional volatility. You're not devastated by individual losses because you know that if you stick to your process, the wins will come. Improve decision-making. When you're not desperate for any particular deal, you make better strategic decisions about where to invest your time and energy. Build confidence. Every day you hit your process goals, you build momentum and confidence, regardless of whether deals close that day. Create sustainable habits. Process goals turn success behaviors into automatic habits rather than things you do when you feel motivated. The Mathematics of Sales Process Goals Here's why process goals work: Sales is a numbers game, but most people focus on the wrong numbers. Average performers focus on: How many deals they close The size of individual deals Their closing percentage on active opportunities Top performers focus on: How many new prospects they contact daily How many discovery calls they conduct weekly How many proposals they deliver monthly How consistently they follow up with existing prospects The difference is control. You can't control whether someone buys today, but you can control how many people you talk to today. Examples of Effective Sales Process Goals Notice how none of these process goals depend on prospects saying yes. They're all activities you can control through discipline and effort. Daily Process Goals: Make 30 prospecting calls before 10 AM Send 15 personalized LinkedIn messages Follow up with 10 existing prospects Update CRM for every interaction Weekly Process Goals: Conduct 8 discovery calls Deliver 3 proposals or presentations Schedule 5 demos or next-step meetings Have 2 conversations with existing customers Monthly Process Goals: Add 50 new qualified prospects to pipeline Complete needs analysis on 20 opportunities Present to 10 decision-making teams Ask for referrals from 15 customers Leveraging the Compound Effect When you focus on process goals consistently, something magical happens: the compound effect kicks in. If you make 30 prospecting calls every day, that's 150 calls per week, 600 per month, 7,200 per