DO THIS to start S.M.A.R.T. In 2025
How many times have you crafted a shiny New Year’s sales plan only to watch it fizzle out by the end of Q1?
Or maybe you’re coming back from the holiday break feeling overwhelmed about where to start. In this special New Year’s episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales, we’re breaking down how to create a SMART plan for 2025 that you can actually follow and achieve.
We reflect on what worked (and what didn’t) last year, explore the importance of focusing on revenue-driving activities, and discuss how to break your yearly goals into manageable, actionable steps. Join us as we sip champagne, reflect on the past year, and share proven strategies to make 2025 your most successful year yet. Cheers to setting—and smashing—your goals!
Episode Chapter Markers
00:06 - Cheers to a New Year and New Goals
06:06 - SMART Goal-Setting Framework
08:36 - Reverse Engineering Success
17:36 - Overcoming Fear with Feedback and Mentorship
20:06 - 80/20 Rule for Sales Success
28:06 - The Power of IPAs (Income-Producing Activities)
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Cheers to a New Year and New Goals - The hosts kick off the episode by toasting the successes of 2024 and discussing why New Year’s is the perfect time to reflect, reset, and plan strategically for the year ahead.
SMART Goal-Setting Framework - Learn the power of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) and how this proven framework ensures clarity and accountability in your planning.
Reverse Engineering Success - Discover how breaking down annual goals into quarterly, monthly, and weekly plans can simplify execution and keep you on track.
80/20 Rule for Sales Success - Focus on the 20% of your customers that drive 80% of your revenue while still planting seeds to grow new opportunities in your pipeline.
Overcoming Fear with Feedback and Mentorship - Address the fears and obstacles holding you back by seeking guidance from mentors, leadership, or peers to uncover blind spots and unlock growth.
The Power of IPAs (Income-Producing Activities) - Implement strategic and repeatable actions that maximize results—and yes, celebrate your wins with an IPA (or champagne)!
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
Cynthia Ficara:
“If you don’t have a plan, you don’t have a goal. You just have a wish.”
“Writing down a goal makes it 80% more likely to be achieved than one that’s just in your head.”
“Reverse engineering your goals is the secret to breaking them into achievable steps.”
“80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. Focus where it matters most.”
“Fear is false evidence appearing real. Address it, learn from it, and move forward.”
Anneliese Rhodes:
“Plan your work and work your plan. It’s not hard—you just have to start smart.”
“Be honest with yourself about what didn’t work last year, and commit to fixing it.”
“No doesn’t mean never—it just means not right now. Keep planting those seeds.”
“Celebrate the small wins. Those little victories are what keep you moving forward.”
“Nothing is unattainable when you have a clear plan and take it step by step.”
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A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all of you high performers out there. Thanks so much for listening to another episode of Secrets Medical Device Sales. We are so happy you guys continue to join us.
Cynthia Ficara: Actually, I'm going to have a new greeting. I'm going to say, Happy New Year! Woohoo! I'm so excited.
Yes. So, if any of you are watching us, I don't know if you can see because of these weird camera things. Ooh, what do you have in your hand, Lisa?
Anneliese Rhodes: I have a glass of champagne. How about you, Cindy? Well, mine's bubbly too, but I can't reach you. I'm going to try.
Cynthia Ficara: Ready? One, two, three. Cheers! This is cheers to having such a great year.
We have absolutely enjoyed coming to you all. And, as the girls of Grit, sharing with you our Christmas gift. stories, our vulnerabilities, our lessons, and we really hope you're taking home a lot of these things, making you better as we talk about this everyday excellence that all of you high performers can achieve.
And we believe it's the simple things. It's the baby steps. That's why we are drinking champagne on this Saturday afternoon to celebrate. Hey, it's five o'clock somewhere. That's
Anneliese Rhodes: right. Yes. We, you guys have been amazing. The things that you've written into us, you've stopped us in the hallways, you know, I mean, I swear every meeting we go to Cindy, people are like, Oh my gosh, you guys are the girls and grit.
We love your podcast. We love you guys so much. So thank you so much for all of your support. And we have a lot of exciting stuff coming up for the new year that we'll talk about very soon in this episode. and with that, of course, on new year's Eve, we are talking about. What Cindy, what are we talking about today?
Cheers to Reflection and New Beginnings
Cynthia Ficara: Oh, well, you know, New Year's Eve is a big, big day for many people. And on New Year's Eve, it's thinking about the old. you're getting ready, you're counting down to ring out the old. And it's that time where you reflect and you think of, What was good. And some people are really excited and other people like, dear God, let midnight hit and get this year over with.
And it's a fresh start, but there's no time better than the new year to think the same way about your business. it's just the perfect timing. And so I'm really excited. My favorite thing actually is to start looking backwards and then moving forward, because I truly believe that any goal that you set and anything that you do starts with where you were to got you where you are in the present to help you know where you need to go in the future. So of course, Lisa and I have a secret the way we think planning your new year's goals is the best way for your business and for you to have a healthy, healthy, happy, great new year.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes. And I can absolutely admit that I don't always follow this, Cindy.
And so, but will say this, I actually did this not that long ago to finish out this year. And it worked. Oh, tell me what, tell me what you did this year. Tell me what, let's, reflect. Let's take a minute. we're, you know, look, I'm not like you, Cindy, my office, like as I'm looking around my desk, it is a total wreck. What's the word? It's like, something chaos. Organized chaos. Organized chaos. Yes. Yes. Thank you. That's it. That's my brain too. yeah. So I have, stuff everywhere. You guys, I have papers and pens and like cards and notes and, but this year. I was able to grab an index card from my kid's science fair thing, and I sat one morning.
It was in, I don't know, it was a couple months ago, end of October, maybe early November, because we were closing out for December, and I wrote down all of my targets. And all the things I needed to close December off with hopefully a bang, or at least to hit my number. And it's not that I don't do that, Cindy, but I was really strategic this time in thinking about it, and planning it, and like every activity.
And then as I would do these activities, I'd check them off my list. And it worked! It surprisingly worked, and it wasn't that hard, you guys. It took me like 10 minutes to sit there and think about it. So that's what we're going to be talking
Cynthia Ficara: today. What I love about what you just said is you took a science index card, a science project index card.
Yeah. So you just told us and everybody listening how simple it is. You can literally take out a piece of paper and you can just write it down. And then there's an organized chaos, people that works. There's people like me that like it pretty. And I want to make a little Google doc and I want it colored, or I want to have a highlighter and I want to have a pen and it makes it all pretty, but it doesn't matter because the bottom line is that planning strategically, executing, Accountability.
All of that brings you to your goal. And you know what? I see people where I see people mess up so many times. I use the word mess up. What I mean is, I kind of feel like they're stagnant. And I see that because they don't have a plan. They have a wish. Oh, I want to do this. Oh yeah. Yeah. I want to get to president's club.
Oh my gosh. That's exciting. Where's president's club? Oh, I'd love to go. Well, are you doing for? Well, you know, got some of these accounts and I don't even know if people realize how much they don't even think about it. if president's club is a goal, it's okay. Now that's a goal. And I think you and I can kind of, maybe that's a good example we can use today.
If you want to kind of go through a good example of how we would plan, whether it's on an index card from a child science fair, or typed on a very, um, organized note. It doesn't matter. It's the thought that counts. So Lisa, every time we have a really good plan, we have a secret. So can you reveal this time for our new year's planning and goal setting, what is the secret to planning goals into the new year to be successful and achievable?
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh, I'm on the spot. Um, so, this is what I did. And it's all about being SMART. SMART as the acronym. And Cindy loves this acronym. This is like her favorite acronym. And she taught me it. So, what does SMART stand for? And you guys probably know about it, or heard it. And maybe even know it very well. But for those of you that don't, let's just talk quickly about what smart stands for.
The Power of SMART Goals
So the S is being specific. You must clearly understand what your goals are. You can't do the pie in the sky thing. You can't be like, Oh, I'm going to president's club and then have a No idea, anything about going to president's club, right? You need to be specific in that it needs to be measurable. When you set your goals, you got to be able to say, okay, if I have to hit 500, 000 in sales in this one bucket, I've got to be able to track that, how do I track that?
And you got to be able to break that down. So it's gotta be measurable. The next thing is. Again, it cannot be pie in the sky. It has to be achievable. The A is achievable. Don't make it so hard that you're never going to achieve it. What is the point of setting a goal if you're never going to hit it? Like can't even come close.
It just doesn't make any sense. and it actually like does the reverse I feel like, and it like makes you feel bad, right? And then you're like, well, screw it. I'm not even going to hit that goal. So why is it even there? the R, is relevant, making sure that you're aligning your goals with your objectives and values.
Don't make it so like, Oh, well, I'm going to do this with this physician, which makes no sense of how you're going to get your number. You got to make it relevant. And the last thing is time bound. And this is super key. And we talk about being timely a lot in medical devices. but you really have to hold yourself to a certain measurable time allotted goal.
And Cindy. you and I were talking offline a minute ago and you just did something like super easy for everybody to learn in terms of 52 weeks in a year. How do you break that down? So why don't you just talk about that? I mean, two seconds.
Cynthia Ficara: Yeah, actually, I'm so excited about the time bound part because it's once you get to the T in smart, that's when you realize, Ooh, because if you, and if you write it down, writing down a goal is 80 percent more likely to be achieved than something that's just in your hair.
So find an index card and write it down. And if it use 500, 000 by X amount. Then my true belief in any way of setting a goal is reverse engineering. And what I mean by that is going backwards. Go to the end. 500, 000. Okay. So if I'm doing 500, 000 by the end of the year, okay, I'm going to do easier math. I'm going to say 400, 000 by the end of the year.
Well, wait, just do that
Anneliese Rhodes: 52 weeks. Remember what you and I were just talking about. Oh, okay. But you got to have, so you got to start. My brain's already going forward. I'm like, okay. I'm over it
Cynthia Ficara: when we're gonna you gotta go here. So do you know that number 400, 000 for the year? So, okay, that's a big year.
So your next thing to do is break it down quarterly. There are 52 weeks in that year 40. So 400, weeks. Okay. Well, most sales, every sales company works in quarters. So if you do the math. 52 divided by four is 13 weeks. So now that becomes a hundred thousand dollars for trying to achieve in 13 weeks. Now, remember the whole year is a progression.
Okay. So if you start off on a good note and say you hit your a hundred thousand in that first quarter, now you only have to hit. 300 more thousand and three more quarters. If you start slow, and if you get a delayed start, and you make your 13 week quarter, say, an 11 or 10 week quarter. Now, you've got more work to do in less amount of time, and you may end the quarter at, um.
80, 000. And now you have three quarters that is 110, 000 each quarter. So that to me is detrimental. thing about the 13 week is this, there is no other time during the year, minus a long vacation if you're somebody that's, you know, Able to go to like Europe for three weeks that when you come back, it feels like you have to transplant everything you're doing and re get back into the work mode.
Reverse Engineering Success
If you take time off during the holidays, you're seeing family, you're exhausted, you're traveling and then say, January 2nd, you're back to work. Well, if you just wait till January 2nd, just start your work, then guess what? You're not going to be at a 13 week quarter because if you don't have meetings set, if you don't have things planned, it's going to take you two weeks to get the momentum.
So now you just set yourself up for a 11 week quarter versus 13. And as silly as that sounds, that's what I want you guys to take home about. we did an earlier episode in November and that was about planning for the holiday. And if you didn't listen to that, I would recommend go back and listen to that episode now or after you listen to this, so you can get you focused. So really being smart is always planning ahead. We get it, life happens, but now, okay, so instead of taking into this first week to just kind of start making a plan, we want to help you do it smart. So we're going to accelerate your time, not waste your time. And make it that much better.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. So let's dive in.
I mean, this is all really exciting stuff and I don't know about you, Cindy. And I'm sure, I know you're the same way I am. So for all of you out there, I would much rather, like, even if I'm thinking about work a little bit here and there during the holidays, it's keeping me kind of on point, you know what I mean?
Like, it's not like I'm like, Oh, I'll just throw it all to the wind and I'll come back in July the second or June, July, January the second or third. And. Everything's going to be great. It's not like that in most sales industries. It's definitely not like that in the medical device industry. So I feel like if you're doing this now, you actually probably should have been doing it a couple of weeks ago.
but do it tonight, you know, do it tomorrow morning, get on board now versus waiting until the holidays are over, you've taken down your Christmas decorations and the new year's decorations and the hangover has gone away and your brain is finally back to normal. You're probably a week already into that new year.
And like Cindy said, you're already a week behind. So let's dive in and talk about what does this look like? So first of all, you talked about, let's look back. Right. And I think that's really important is looking back. What worked, what didn't, how did you finish the year? And for those of you that don't have fiscal years that close in December, that's fine.
but how did you finish the year overall? How does this look like for you financially, for your sales, for, everything? And if it. wasn't spectacular and what you're doing is working, how are you going to fix it? Because I think it's really important. You got to learn from what worked and what didn't.
Cynthia Ficara: So thinking that, just to take it a step further, in your previous year, think of these in a couple different ways. Number one, think about the revenue that you achieved versus the targets that you set. So if it was maybe one bucket was that 400, 000 and maybe that one Bucket you hit, how many targets, like how many accounts, how many customers helped you get to that number?
Where did you fall short and breaking down? everybody has a comp plan that they work to and which one of your products drives the most revenue, which one has the most focus, all of these little tiny details in the past. Again, we are just right now analyzing our previous year. This will help us make a smart goal for 2025.
So again, just break down the sales. Take a look at how much you did in each product. Did you fall short? Did you not? And I think the part that we miss is really assessing the customers that we're targeting because while we may be very close with them for maybe one product, if we're leaning on them too much to do your everything, then just be real.
This is the time that you have to ask yourself the tough questions, ask yourself the questions that maybe you don't like the answers to. But if you're honest with yourself and just write it down, okay, maybe my really good friend doctor, I need to just focus on where he likes one of my products, but it looks like I'm going to have to go make some more friends.
I need some more help. That's a good point. You don't want to have to depend on one customer for everything because God forbid something happened there, you cannot depend on one person. And I like the fact that you're assessing them. I mean, There's a chance that maybe their practice changes.
You know what I mean? You were relying on them for two or three products and now their practice changes and you can only rely on them for one product. You already should have been, gardening, new upcoming customers. So I think you're right. looking at the customers, assessing them, identifying what did work well in terms of what you did.
Yeah. I mean, that's celebrating the little wins. I know. And you should. And have another glass of champagne. And, you know. Did you see me sip that? I did. I did. I'm quietly sipping mine. No, I'm kidding. I'm just celebrating success. I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm kidding. I'm totally kidding. But, do celebrate what works because You know, it works.
So let's continue that same path for sure. Don't just stop doing what was working. You obviously need to continue that, but you also need to look at where you need to improve and where maybe you weren't running on all cylinders and you kind of missed the bucket all completely. And maybe you just kind of ignored that product, for those of you that have hundreds of products in your bag.
And I know. A lot of you guys out there do, I know a lot of orthopedic reps have a bunch of products in their bag. I mean, I can't remember what my brother told me, but I think it's like over a hundred, which is nuts. Oh my goodness. I know, it's like nuts to me. And they sell them all. They sell them all. And they're expected to know everything about those products.
And that's amazing. But let's be honest. There's no way that you're giving every single product the exact same amount of attention. And maybe you're giving the high dollar products more attention than the low dollar products, but hey, if you do twice as much sales in the low dollar products. That equals a high dollar product.
So I think you need to look at where you didn't maybe hit the number that you should have, you know, and you miss the mark. and you need to notate that and write that down. and then I think you need to start identifying where you're going to plug those holes, who you're going to put in those,
Cynthia Ficara: I want to, before we move on, there was something you said.
And I think this is important when you are evaluating where it didn't work, where you fell short. I don't know about you, but there are times where I'm also blinded in this. Maybe I'm trying to deny some of this. I think this is a really important part of analyzing to reach out to either your mentor, honestly, your upper management to say,
Honest Assessment and Feedback
Anneliese Rhodes: yeah,
Cynthia Ficara: say, here's what I'm seeing.
Is there something I'm missing? and, you know, sometimes if you've got a good relationship with the leadership in your company, they may say, okay, I know you really think this is working and you want it to work maybe in your favorite account, but you're spending a lot of time and there's not a lot of ROI.
And sometimes having a mentor or feedback from a coworker or, management, they can help you see what you're trying to deny. And that's how you get clear. Because what's the point of looking back to the year if you fake the results? Oh, I think that was great. Anyway, that's not going to help you.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. And so, okay, side note, you think about that. I hope for you guys, you're going ding, ding, ding right now, take out your phone, put it in your calendar and set up a time to talk to your mentor or your manager and say, and be vulnerable with it and say, I need help in these areas. I didn't hit this area because that's part of this whole planning thing is Executing on it you can think about it all day long, but unless you put it into action, it's not going to help you. And that is including depending on others to help you see things that you may not see. I mean, I talked in another episode about making a mistake. And then I, when I finally talked to another rep about it months and months later, he was like, Oh, we all make that mistake.
If I had only reached out months and months and months before it would have saved me heartache. It would, it actually probably would have helped me. Get back in the good graces of the physician a lot sooner. So if you think about something right now, you guys write it down, put it in your phone, if you're like me, and put an alarm on it and make it happen.
False Evidence Appearing Real
Cynthia Ficara: And, something else about previous episodes, we've mentioned before, the acronym for fear, false evidence appearing real. I think this is also a good time to identify What is bringing you fear in your job? Because it seems to be the number one thing that holds us back. Whether it's, Ooh, I don't want to talk to that customer.
And then maybe you identify why, what is holding you back? Maybe you don't,have enough knowledge about what the customer needs. Again, in sales, one on one selling isn't just all about our products. It's about knowing the customer. Where we can impact them, how we can help improve for them.
So, if you really take enough time, this is how you be smart because your future smart goals as M a R T only really apply when you're smart enough to look back and identify. Where you're truly need to target and what it is that you need growth in if I'm afraid I'm saying that in quotation marks that maybe there's a certain, doctor that I have a tough time speaking to it's.
Talking to your mentors, talking to your coworkers, identify whatever that is holding you back and then get some coaching on it. Learn. Maybe if it is just, I need a little more knowledge or I need to, be more comfortable in front of this person or not worry about everything else in the room, whatever it is, whatever you're working on you personally, that's how it's going to make a difference.
So reach out. Then we can start our smart goals that truly gives us 13 solid weeks of doing great things. Exactly.
Anneliese Rhodes: All right. So the next real big thing that you guys need to be doing, you've done the reverse, you've looked back, you've identified all these things that we just talked about. Now it's focusing on your revenue driving activities for the new year.
Focus on Revenue-Driving Activities
Cynthia Ficara: And
Anneliese Rhodes: there is a lot said around that. But the truth is, what is that saying, Cindy? 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. Is that right? Yes. All right. Yes. It's our point.
Cynthia Ficara: Yes. Because yes, it's just coming from 20 percent and that I mean, you can't ignore the 80 percent of other things you're doing.
But if you take a true analysis and see where your revenue is coming from, it's crazy that it's usually about 20 percent of the customers that you see.
Anneliese Rhodes: I can say that for sure. The people that I spend the most time with are where all of my revenue is coming from. And, some can argue and say, Oh, that's a bad thing.
Some can argue and say, that's a great thing, but either way it is what it is. Right. I mean, it's, kind of the truth across the board. So. Let's identify them. Let's make sure that in your smart goals for the new year, you have that top 20 percent of those customers written down. And now you're going to dive into each of them on where they're helping contribute to that 80 percent of your revenue.
Who is driving what?
Cynthia Ficara: And you mentioned your brother, you talk about having a hundred products in orthopedic sales. If you're in orthopedic sales, this may be something you can really relate to. So if you've got a huge bag and 20 percent of your time is with these certain customers, it's going down the list of those other products.
What would align with which procedures these Well, they use these extra little screws and extra little things, but don't waste your time if they're not doing the procedure. So do your homework and figure out how to double down in that 20%. But now remember, anytime you're in sales, it's called, you know, filling the funnel and adding to it.
That's your 80%. So what hospital do you pass? on the way that's in that 80 percent bucket to get to the 20 percent bucket hospital. If you're driving past it, maybe not every time, but one out of three times, make a stop there. Start planting some seeds, start making some, I love it. Fill the pipeline, filling the pipeline, filling the pipeline.
Filling the Pipeline - Balancing the 80%
As my husband said to me the other night, it's filling the pipeline. getting more and more in. To be there for when one might fall out, you might have a really rough month. So now instead of a hundred thousand dollars in sales, like you talked about in the beginning, maybe you're only like 20, 000 in and you got two weeks to the end of the quarter.
That's a problem. You, if you filled your pipeline correctly, it may take you a little bit to get to that, but you're going to get to it. If you put it in your pipeline and you constantly are concentrating on it, It will happen. That's just the way it works. So what Cindy's talking about is so important.
Stop passing by those accounts that you're like, Oh, I'll never get the business in there. No, every once in a while, stop and like make a coffee appointment with the physician and maybe they tell you no, but no, doesn't mean forever. No, just means right. Not right now, but maybe on your way in Utah, you pass another doc and they're like, Hey, haven't seen you in a while, What you got that's new.
I mean, you never know, right? You never know. So I love what you're talking about. Don't just concentrate on that 20 percent that's bringing you the 80%. Also go towards that 80 percent that is bringing you 20 percent or less, right? Those docs that are not the low hanging fruit, they're way up high. Doesn't matter.
Put them in your pipeline. Start working on them.
Cynthia Ficara: this makes me so excited because it's what I love about medical device. There's so many opportunities and if anybody out there is thinking, oh, well, you know, I'm kind of saturated my territory. That is not true. And I don't believe you one minute, but let's be real.
Instead of being overwhelmed with all that you can do because there's opportunity everywhere, it's time to get focused. So let's reel it all back in and I've always believed in simplicities of threes. I believe three big goals for the year and then you break down three quarterly goals, three monthly goals, and three weekly goals together.
Get you to that target. That's the reverse engineering, the backwards thinking that I always kind of think about, but it's really good focus. If you have too many goals, it's just overwhelming. And it's really sticking to what you want and why. so I think what we can do is kind of do a quick example.
We mentioned like president's club, right? So just to kind of walk you through what this looks like. If you're planning to achieve President's Club next year, you have to look at number 1, read in your company. Every company will have criteria. It changes, you know, it may be percent to growth over quota.
It may be new accounts. It may be maintenance from something before. It may be growing, whatever it is. First, you got to do, you got to figure that out and do the math. Now take that equation, just like it's A plus B equals C, that's A. Now B, take a look at what your opportunity is, right? So which doctors will align with which products?
Do you have doctors that do these procedures? Are they where you go? Are they your 20 percent hospitals? Let's be real, think strategically when you're trying to make this plan. So start with your number one goal of Okay, I want to make president's club this year. And then the question you ask yourself is how do I do that?
And part of how do I do that is number one, I have to have the targets, right? I've got to know which doctors I'm going to. So I need to write down who they are and each quarter, what do I need to do with those targets in my sales to keep my trends to the numbers, whether it is percent growth, whether it is a total.
Thing in sales or launching something new. that's how you break it down. Having a big goal. each quarter, breaking that down even smaller. So 400, 000 is maybe what you have to sell to even qualify. Let's just pretend that's the criteria. And then that's a hundred thousand each quarter. Well, now, you know, you have 13 weeks and we all know you're listening to this and getting really excited.
So you're not going to have an 11 week Q1. If you start in January, you're going to have a 13 week Q1. Absolutely. Now, what do you do each week? And this part is up to you. How do you maintain that accountability? So maybe I say, Lisa, can you call me every Friday? See where I am. Can you take out index cards and write down, in these 13 weeks, there's 13 index cards.
Did I do week one? Well, if not, I've got to do twice as much work in week two. It's amazing when you see it written down.
Anneliese Rhodes: That's such a good point. And who doesn't love, who doesn't love crossing things off and throwing them away? I do. I love giving a big fricking check Mark and I'm like done,
And what you said is so right. So yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, however you need to break it down. But it's really important that you guys put those yearly goals on there and then get real specific with them. And like Cindy said, identify each customer and where that dollar revenue is going to come from.
And then what are you going to do activity wise? To drive that revenue. Are you gonna do lunches and dinners? Do they need to go to a training course? No, do you need to I don't know do another in service in the hospital on the product? Does it need to go before a value analysis committee? Okay, and in each of those scenarios What are the steps to get you there?
So if something has to go to value analysis, and value analysis meets every month, your first job is, when do they meet? Find the date. Okay. It's at the end of every month, on the last Tuesday of every month. Okay. Great. In January, if it's that, now you know you have four weeks to get it done. You need the doctors to sign off.
You need to get it in front of administration. You need to have whoever in contracting on your side, the pricing, all that, all together. And you probably need to do it a couple weeks prior to the meeting because then there might be a deadline for putting it on the, docket, right? So just that alone needs own index card or put it on the index card and make sure as you're doing each step you're checking them off. I know this sounds super elementary, but it's really funny when you actually do this kind of stuff. Not only, at least for me, like when I write things down, it's almost imprinted in my head.
And so when I go into an account and I'm like, I needed to get this, this, and this done, it'sI'm secretly checking things off as I'm getting them done. And it's amazing when you check them off, you're like, yes, it's a small win. And then you just move on. And nothing is unattainable as long as you're smart with your goals.
So that's, I think, what you're talking about,
Cynthia Ficara: Cindy. Oh, absolutely. you mentioned in services. You mentioned, where there are big events. All of those things I like to group in. This is really good to talk about in focusing. I like to group them, and I call them IPAs. Four. Oh, that's right.
IPAs - Income-Producing Activities
I love a beer. I love ipa. I know. Like I could just like drink one right now with the champagne because Totally. It might. It's Saturday. Totally thinking of alcohol right now. It sounds great. Oh my gosh. And you know, back to work after you do a good IPA for work, celebrate with a beer. Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Anneliese Rhodes: Absolutely. Anyhow, you here, Nevada is my favorite. Okay. Sorry, go ahead. I know.
Cynthia Ficara: I'm like, do do yourself a favor when you're analyzing. Last year we just mentioned. Talk about the things that worked, right? Well, if you wrote them down, there's probably some IPAs in there. Just steal from last year.
You know what works, do it again this year, plan it better. It's that simple. It's that simple. There's so much in front of you and what you already do. It's just a matter of writing it down and doing it. And when you make a plan, it is so much easier to execute it. Napoleon Hill said it.
It was like.
Anneliese Rhodes: I got it. I got it. I got it. It's plan your work and work your plan. Yes. That's it. That's the one I'm thinking of. Yeah. Yeah. Plan your work and then work the plan. Like it's not hard. It's just, you gotta do the planning and you gotta be smart with the planning like we're talking about and then you just work it.
And so what we're talking about right now is putting an action plan in place, right? Action plan in place. The things I just talked about, the things you just talked about, these are all actions.
What worked last year will work again this year, guaranteed, right? There's nothing wrong with repeating something over and over again.
Who cares? If it worked, do it again until it doesn't work. You know, and when it doesn't work, like we talked about, identifying what didn't work last year, don't do it again. Do something else. Be a little more creative. maybe go talk to a different doctor instead of the one that told you absolutely not, not today, never, whatever it was.
Maybe he's got a new partner that you can now incorporate into your plan. And you can, maybe have something in common with that physician. I mean, for all of you out there, Maybe they're golfers, maybe they're tennis players, maybe their wives are tennis, I don't know, but like, work the plan, your new plan, put it into action, and have good, like, really strategic, actionable steps that make
Cynthia Ficara: sense.
That is an excellent summary, and I saved the most important piece for the end. Every time we have conversations, a lot of times reveal the most at the beginning, and I really hope that you did pay attention as Lisa just kind of summarize our smart goals, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound, reverse engineer, yearly, monthly, quarterly, weekly, accountability.
80 20, but what does all this mean? What does all this come down to? And it comes down to your why. Why do you do what you do? And I want you guys to take this time, this new year, and really, really think about your why. if it's, I mean, I shared years ago, I love this.
The Power of “Why”
Anneliese Rhodes: I love that. I love that. Sorry. I just had to say that because you're so good at saying that.
Cynthia Ficara: You know, when I last year, my daughter finished college and it was all about paying for college and I had this motto, commission is tuition. Yeah. And yes. So it kind of drove me to pay for college, but let's really peel the layers back. I want all of you to just not say, like, just not have a why.
I want you to ask yourself, why is that your why? Meaning, how do you feel when that happens? So it's not just, I want to pay for their college. There's so much in that. I need to work hard so I can make money. This isn't just about the money that pays for their school. It's about giving them opportunity.
It's about seeing them thrive. It's about seeing them happy and watching them with the money that I make, roll into. Everything at their fingertips. And that is something that makes me feel good. And on the other hand, knowing that I won't be in debt and I can start saving for my retirement. And all of that is the, why there's layers and layers deeper to a Y.
And if you don't have deep layers to Y. It's not a good why pick a new one. So as, we got to close out this episode. I'm really excited that we get to share 2025 with you. And we want you to be smart about your planning and begin with your why. And we really hope that one of your why of listening to us is that we help you really highlight being high performers, help you become better high performers through everyday excellence.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes. And, Cindy, we should at least tell them a little bit about what we're Planning to do, which by the way, we need smart strategies for all of this. You life gets in the way, right? Like, jobs and family and all that kind of stuff. But, so you guys, obviously we're going to keep putting out great content.
and we so appreciate when y'all write into us and say, Hey, can you talk about this? Hey, I'd like to know about this. Hey, how do you handle this? Please continue with that. That we love a lot of. Where we go, and we love hearing that you guys that you enjoy it. So thank you. and our spotlight series, we're going to continue with that.
We've got some really cool speakers coming up this new year. We're super excited about it. But in addition, we are working on releasing some great content. Stuff to you guys in terms of teaching courses. And we are so excited because we think that, you know, look, this isn't an easy business and Cindy and I have been doing this for a really long time and we just want you guys to know that it doesn't have to be as hard as it was for us.
We want to make this so simple for you guys that everyday excellence like flows out of you. There's no need to fret. And worry about all the things that, we talk about. You don't have to do it as hard as you're doing it and worry so much. So Cindy and I are working on some really cool stuff to release next year.
And we're super excited about it. So keep, keep turning in.
Cynthia Ficara: So now she said that out loud, we will have to put a time bound. We have till 1231, 2025. So the countdown is on. I think we need to fill those 13 week obligations, 13 weeks at a time.
Anneliese Rhodes: Absolutely. But until then, happy new year to everyone listening.
Cheers to you, Cindy. Cheers to you, Lisa. Here's to a wonderful 2025 of lots of sales success and presidents clubs.
Cynthia Ficara: And cheers to all of our high performers and listeners. And we want you to write into us, tell us how you're doing. We want to hear about this new year. We want to make this new year, I don't know, 2025 just sounds monumental.
Sounds good. I don't know if it's because it's like quarter of a century a year, it's just a good year, but I feel good about this coming year. And I hope you all do too. And we want to be on this journey together for all of you to have a fabulous 2025. Happy new year.
Anneliese Rhodes: Happy New Year
Cynthia Ficara: How many times have you crafted a shiny New Year's sales plan only to watch it fizzle out by the end of Q1?
Anneliese Rhodes: Or maybe you're coming back from the holiday break feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start or how to even begin planning your New Year's goals. Tune in today as we reveal our secret to forming a simple, actionable, smart plan for your upcoming year.
