The second step of the plan is to project where you want to be in 2023! The destination is target, this plan is going to be focused on how you go from where you are to where you want to go; the destination is what happens if it all goes according to the plan!

In order to do it, we must define it! Success isn’t the same for everyone. You have choices on what to do, how to do it, and whom to do it with! Results matter! The key questions for the DESTINATION STAGE are:

• What do the numbers look like?
• Is it dollar volume or is it deals?
• In either case, what are those numbers?
• Was my conversion rate (opportunity to closing) something I am happy with? If you don’t know it, you need to begin tracking it!
• Where are the opportunities coming from? Once again, if you aren’t tracking, you are just guessing!
• What is the pull through rates from each source of business?
• Who are the referral partners sending these opportunities, and what is each partner’s conversion rate?
• What is the balance of my business? Using the “Referral Triangle” what are the conversion rates from each side of the triangle and what is the total percentage of closed business from those sides?
• Who or what results were surprising to you? Was it a good surprise, or a bad one?
• What are the tools and systems I want to master for 2023?
• What are my social media outlets and how much will they grow?
• Are all the systems and associations working for you as well as you thought they would?
• What would make 2023 the best year if you could just make it so?

“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten. If you aren’t happy with what you are getting, stop doing what you are doing!

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“They will come, daddy,” said Karen Kinsella in the movie “Field of Dreams” to her father, Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner. “Who will come”? Her father questioned. “The people will come to see the baseball game,” said Karen. This was a moment in the movie when some could see players on the field, e.g., Shoeless Joe Jackson, Mel Ott, but others could not see those players. Ray had plowed under his cornfield in Iowa to build this field. He was facing the likelihood of bankruptcy on his farm.

“Bezbawl“, as Terrance Mann, played superbly by James Earl Jones, pronounced it, “is America’s game. People will come to this field, Ray, and ask if they could look around. And you (speaking to Kinsella) would say sure it’s only $20, and they don’t even know why they came.” Field of dreams was built and two major teams played a real major league game there in 2021 and 2022 with the stands fully packed.

Speaking of major league teams – last week the wild card teams and their players had their 2022 MLB season become their fields of dreams as they began to play in MLB playoffs. Isn’t that what every baseball player envisions all season? To play in the playoffs with a chance to play in and win the World Series? Yes, you play to win the game, it has often been said. Nobody remembers who finishes second.

As a kid, my dream was to play major league baseball so, in my youth I played all sports but always kept in mind preparing for baseball. My dad had played in college and was good enough (in the 1920s) to sign a contract with the Oakland Oaks and he did play one year with them — my inspiration was there.

So when Kinsella realized it was his dad on that field, he asked him “Could we have a catch”? It reminded me of when I would say to my dad, “Can we play catch?” (that’s the terminology we used), and dad never turned me down. Our front yard was just about 60 feet and with my old-timer’s wind-up, I would bear down and throw as hard as I could with my best fastball. Dad would catch it bare-handed! It was a solid clue I wasn’t ready for MLB!

Will you deal with setting your dreams, even if they might not come true?