A Guide to Set Good Sales Goals

Setting quarterly goals for your sales representatives’ sales is simple. All you have to do is figure out how much money the firm needs to make this year and divide it in half. Establish targets that your sales force must meet to benefit the business. Isn’t it the easiest thing ever? But then, sales targets are not met. Those incredible earnings don’t materialize. And you still don’t know why.

Actually, the method to achieve your objectives is to set more effective ones. You may create objectives that are both inspiring and practical by organizing them around a few key elements.

What Are Sales Goals?

Most of us are familiar with sales targets as a predetermined number that is part of the sales pipeline. Typically, revenue. You’ve met your sales goal if you make $50,000 this month. Excellent work!

But, perhaps, this piece will change that perspective. A sales objective or target will no longer be represented by numbers on a screen.

You’ll notice them as separate activities. Because a sale is more than simply a sale. A robust sales cycle was devised. A sales manager assisted in embracing the team’s objectives. Sales representatives were involved in the calls, demos, emails, and other activities required to close the deal.

Setting Sales Goals

First and foremost, your annual income objective. No matter how absurd your aim is (some targets are absolutely unattainable), you may devise a reasonable approach to come as near to your sales goal as possible. Venngage provides useful advice on communication strategies that might be useful in this situation.

Divide the revenue into four quarters. But not in the same way. Consider the seasonal challenges of each quarter. Are you selling to businesses that slow down over the holidays? Or do they boost their productivity over time?

A little, straightforward decision that might have a major influence on your entire strategy. During the good months, push harder. Here are a few tips for setting sales goals. 

• Set smaller targets

Don’t only concentrate on the quarters. Divide the quarters into months. Weeks. Days if you have a small and manageable workforce. Each sales professional should be aware of their daily sales objective and establish sales goals every hour to achieve it.

Daily reporting to sales managers is ideal, but it is impractical for bigger teams. Set monthly goals and review them on a regular basis. A monthly sales meeting is adequate; a weekly meeting is preferable.

• Realistic, Measurable, and Actionable

A sales representative does not need to be aware of the company’s yearly revenue target. Your sales staff must understand their daily goal and what they must accomplish to attain it. Rather than directing your sales team to hit a specific figure, break it down into a sales process that everyone can follow and set daily sales targets. How many phone calls or appointments does it take the sales rep to close the deal? How are call and appointment conversion rates?

Use those data to identify what activities your team should take to meet their goals. And everyone will have an easier time achieving their objectives.

This also increases their measured value. Sure, you could make decisions by comparing sales targets to actual performance. However, if you track behaviors, it is much easier to tell who is falling behind due to a lack of effort.

We like to think that everyone on our team gives their all every day. But it isn’t always the case. And we never know for sure if they’re lazy or just having a terrible streak.

This method has an additional advantage: it identifies issue areas for training. Is a staff person meeting all of his action goals but not generating revenue? That’s great; you’ve identified the source of the problem.

We may then evaluate if they are recognising weak prospects or are simply awful at selling, and train appropriately. A critical component in developing a great sales team.

Finally, goals must be attainable. You can’t expect your team to perform 50 appointments each week if they spend an hour on average on appointments. Goals might be raised slightly during times of crisis. However, it is preferable to set goals in increments.

Sales Goals Examples

• Example 1

The bad: $300,000 this quarter.

Better yet, $100,000 every month.

Excellent: $25,000 per week.

• Example 2 

Poor: I lost ten clients this month.

Better: Make 250 Outreach calls and 20 live demos this month to close 10 clients.

That’s fantastic: 63 calls and 5 demos every week.

• Example 3

The bad news is that sales have increased by 35% this month.

Better yet, close 15 new clients this month.

That’s fantastic: 20 cold calls every day.

• Example 4

Bad: earnings of $50,000 this month.

Better yet, revenue of $150k this month.

That’s fantastic: 50 sales calls every week.

You get the picture. Break the goals down into steps, and create smaller sales goals for your sales rep to meet. Or, like in the first case, bite-sized portions. Seeing the whole picture immediately away can frequently overwhelm your sales staff.

Smart Sales Goals

You’ve already set weekly actionable goals for each rep on your sales team. However, targets are still not being met.

• Is it the objectives or the people?
• First, identify the cause of the issue.
• Are all of your reps (or a significant percentage of them) failing to meet their targets? Then it’s possible that the goals themselves are overly ambitious. It’s great to set tough targets, but setting unreasonable expectations week after week can sap morale and result in an inefficient, uninspired sales force.

It is critical not to set unrealistic goals. Most people suffer from the “just enough” mindset. They will not go too far beyond a simple aim. If a few reps consistently fail to meet their targets, it’s important to isolate the issue. Sit them down and have a conversation. Try to identify trouble areas. Then, if necessary, give training.

It’s unfortunate, but people might lose motivation. And getting it back is quite difficult. If this is the case, it may be time to call it quits. Before you go to that extreme, there are a few things you may do.

• Encourage Them

We’ve previously discussed tiers of goals. They may be really motivating. More individuals than they want to acknowledge are financially driven. Another apparent motivator is ensuring that each employee has a clear and successful training plan in place to continue growing and improving.

If you found this information beneficial, please visit our website to help your business flourish. Surereach can help you increase sales and convert more leads by collecting the confirmed phone numbers and email addresses of key decision-makers at 3M+ businesses. Surereach, the quickest way to get verified contact information for any professional, will help you locate new opportunities quickly.