Consultants need to be focused on no more than eight measurable objectives at any one time, these need to reflect two key needs: maintenance (past/present business) and growth (future business). Both are of equal importance to prevent your business simply treading water. I am sure that you are aware of the old adage that it is much easier to generate repeat business from well looked after current clients than it is to constantly generate new business.

Setting objectives needs to be done transparently. Look at your consultant's figures for activity, efficiency and financial performance, decide where you would like them to be and identify what needs to be done to achieve this. Be realistic, negotiate with the consultant and discuss HOW they are going to achieve these objectives for you and always offer the support required for them to succeed.

If consultants have a clear understanding that objectives lead to them achieving targets you will have a much easier time encouraging your consultants to commit to achieving objectives that at first glance may not seem to produce immediate results that target orientated consultants are looking for.

Give them time to discuss strategies with you before setting it all down on paper with them. Remember, if you don't agree a plan with them they're hardly likely to stick to it. Finally you must clearly link the objectives to the target to show WHY you are asking for them to be followed

What's the plan?

Every individual will need a different plan but as a basic guide start at the beginning by outlining the Consultants current performance figures based upon the previous month. An example mix would be Total Revenue, Job Acquisition, Floats, Consultant Interviews, Client Interviews, Follow-up Calls, Marketing Calls– all of these areas produce hard figures to go on.

Use timetables to spell out what they should be doing and when, even down to how many hours per day they should be devoting to key areas. Use hard figures to say how many calls/sales/resumes sent outs are needed every day/week/month to achieve the desired minimum figures. Be explicit, tell them how to react to negative responses, make suggestions for how they can turn a 'sitting on the fence' reply to a positive one – draw on your own experience where necessary to illustrate your point.. If you don't say what you want then your Consultant isn't going to know what your priorities for them are.

Finally let them know how you will be reviewing their progress at your daily and weekly meetings with them

Summary
Objectives are used to both maintain and grow business.
They must be specific, measurable, realistic, time scaled, and agreed.
They must be evaluated and reviewed at regular intervals to have meaning.
Consultants should be left in no doubt as to what is expected of them by the company.
Objectives are the roadmap to over-achieving set targets.