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HOW TO SET EFFECTIVE SALES GOALS

How many times have you heard the following quotes?

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

“If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.”

They’ve become clichés, haven’t they?

But have you ever wondered why statements like these become clichés in the first place? Usually it’s because they have a lot of truth to them. So they get repeated over and over as universal pieces of wisdom.

When it comes to setting goals in sales, I see a lot of salespeople make two major mistakes:

Setting unrealistic goals.

Having no plan in place.

Before you know it, it’s going to be 2024 and if you wait until January 1st to set your goals, well, you’ve waited too long!

Don’t set yourself up to not achieve your goals. Start planning your goals for next year now, using the following principles:

BE A FORWARD PLANNER

Many times, sales professionals make the mistake of being backwards planners. That is, they base their goals on what they’ve done in the past rather than spending the time to decide what they want to achieve in the future. They look at their numbers from the past sales cycle and say, “Well, I did 5 deals in January, so my goal for January this year should also be 5.” Or maybe they are ambitious and decide to up their goal to 6.

But this is not forward planning. Forward planning is always looking ahead. It’s recognizing that tomorrow’s market isn’t going to be like yesterday’s. It also recognizes that over the course of the year, you’ve likely changed. Maybe you got married or added a child to the family. Maybe you attended a sales seminar and have more knowledge and skills than last year.

Forward planning takes all these variables into account. Instead of looking back at what you’ve done, it’s a mindset of looking ahead to what you want to achieve. Whether you’re planning for the week, month, or year ahead, you need to create a map for where you want to go. This year’s map will likely be different than last year’s!

SET REALISTIC GOALS

As obvious as this may sound, this is a major pitfall I see among sales professionals when setting their goals. They simply are not realistic.

Going back to our example in the previous section, maybe the reason you closed 5 accounts last January was because you worked 30 days straight with no sleep. But maybe this year you’re coaching your kid’s little league basketball team. Your availability will look different. Are 5 deals still realistic this year or are 4 deals the best you’ll be able to do with the time you have? What will have to change for you to still get to 5 deals? If there is no realistic path, then you have to adapt your goals accordingly.

Realistic goals aren’t just about your availability, though, they’re also about whether the goal you set is aligned with results.

For example: Maybe you think it sounds impressive to read 120 books in one year. But what will be the results of achieving this audacious goal? If you read 120 books but you take no practical action on what you learn, then you may as well have spent the time learning wood carving instead.

But let’s say you set a goal to read 5 sales books during the year. Not only is this far more realistic to achieve, but it’s more likely to yield you the results you want in your life. If you only learn one new skill from each book that helps you close a few more deals than last year, then that’s the kind of realistic goal you can be proud of because it also has ROI!

BREAK IT UP!

I know this is just common sense, but goals don’t achieve themselves. But too often, salespeople have no personal plan in place, they just “hope” they will hit the number they’ve set. But hope is not a plan.

Now let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room… Obviously, not everyone gets to set their own sales goals. Many of us—myself included for much of my career—have sales managers who dictate our goals. This is a topic we’ll dive into more in a future article, though.

For now, let’s focus on how you deal with the goal you set for yourself. Even though you know you don’t have to do it all at once, it can feel like you’re standing at the foot of Mount Everest without any gear. You might wonder, “Why did I do this to myself?”

But even the greatest mountaineers don’t tackle Everest in one go. They break up the climb into stages. They set up camps so they can adjust their plans along the way based on each day’s climate.

Likewise, since you don’t know what the “climate” of the market is going to be in the year ahead, spend some time now breaking up your goal into more manageable chunks. What do you need to do each month? How much wiggle room should you build in for the unexpected?

Keep breaking up each goal into smaller chunks until you get it down to what you need to do each day. Is this a lot of work? Absolutely. But instead of facing the mountain, you can approach each day laser-focused on the handful of tasks you need to do on that specific day.

GET ACCOUNTABLE

When I talk with other sales professionals, there are a couple of fears I see when it comes to setting goals. They’re either afraid they’ll set their goals too high—and then look like a failure if they miss. Or that they’ll set their goals too low—and not earn the commission they need for the life they want to live.

The solution to both fears is the same: Get accountable.

You need a network of support around you—people who will encourage you in achieving your goals. Sometimes these could be other sales professionals, though I’d be cautious here since this can easily turn into an echo chamber of complaints. Your accountability partners could be trusted friends or a local business group you can join. Whoever they are, they need to be:

Reliable (They are there when you need them.)

Honest (They won’t just tell you what you want to hear.)

Positive (They won’t drag you down in a cycle of complaining.)

If they have these three qualities, you can trust they have your best interest in mind and will encourage you when you’re down without letting you turn it into a pity party.

A lot of what I do in sales coaching comes down to holding my clients accountable. Yes, I help them build their skills, too—but accountability is all about ensuring they actually put those skills to use.

If you have questions about any of these or feel like you could do with some additional skills or accountability regarding your 2024 goals, then let’s talk. You can reach out via the DMs here or you can contact me at info@michaelhinkle.com to discuss further.

In the meantime, which of these do you relate to the most? What would you add to the list that’s helped you set effective sales goals? What’s one action you can take today to prepare for the year ahead?