We just finished a session on strategic account management for a client. Once again we were reminded about the power of strategic planning.

In this session, we helped account managers develop a long-term plan for the mutual benefit of their selected customers, including setting goals. We asked them to think about goal-setting from three levels:

• Clear Goal - The managers can “see” it. They know how to reach it. Value is clear, but a bit pedestrian. It’s a lay-up.

I picked up a copy of a book one of our clients recommended on LinkedIn: Switch--How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath. One point they make early on is that in setting an extraordinary goal to change something, that goal needs to be crystal clear. If it is not, it will dissipate in its sizzle, and the status quo will prevail.