How to set correct sales goals?

Self-development books, motivational seminars and sales training constantly underline the importance of goal setting. This is because a firm focus improves the effectiveness of your actions. However, we will not convince you of the need to set sales goals. Instead, we will tell you how to set the right goals - those that will help you reach double-digit sales growth.

Successful and unsuccessful goals

Setting the correct target is difficult. A recent study showed that the focus of staff on a certain amount of sales makes achieving this goal almost impossible . Indeed, if every sales manager could manage income, everyone would be bathed in money.
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The truth is that we can not control the result. We can only manage our own actions .

Good news: you can achieve amazing sales results by focusing on certain actions . Carefully planned actions generate income that exceeds expectations many times over. And it can be higher than the income that you would have received when setting goals for a specific amount.

An example of focus on action

Imagine a wholesale manager of shoes, whose goal is to sell goods worth 300,000 rubles a day. Suppose he had already spoken with ten representatives of retailers and was refused everywhere, and in the tenth case he was particularly sharp. How much enthusiasm does he have to continue to carry out his plan?

Now imagine that the goal of this manager is to make calls and talks with 15 representatives of stores per day. After 10 talks, he knows for sure that there are still five left. Sharp refusals in this case do not play a significant role, since the goal is different, and it is already at hand.

When a goal moves from results to actions, the actions themselves become more efficient.

You can draw an analogy with sports. When Michael Phelps, the 18-time Olympic champion, dives into the pool in the final, his goal is not a gold medal at the end of the track. Yes, the medal "looms" in the form of motivation, which day after day makes him give all the best in training. However, before jumping into the pool, he thinks about something else. He focuses on unmistakable movements - repeat everything as he did in training a thousand times.



In competitions, the goal is to make unmistakable actions, one after the other, without interruptions. He understands that the desired first place depends on it.

Dots

You get the results you want when you focus on things you can control.

The simple truth is that not every approach ends with a sale. Therefore, you need to put in the sales funnel a sufficient number of potential customers to get at the output the desired number of closed transactions.

The point is not to think about income at all. It is necessary only to not allow these thoughts to capture all your attention.

How to develop the habit of setting goals correctly?

Before proceeding to setting ambitious goals, you need to work a little bit with the numbers. Most likely, these indicators are familiar to you, but just in case it is worth repeating.

1. Calculate sales conversion: divide the number of deals by the number of attempts. For example, 50 calls led to the conclusion of two transactions. The conversion will be 4% (2/50 x 100).
2. Calculate the average number of meetings / letters / calls needed in order to receive the planned number of sales per day. For example, in our case, 25 calls are needed to conclude one transaction and 50 - for two.

In the process of calculating you may find inconsistencies with reality. The reason for discrepancies may be an insufficient number of potential customers at the entrance to the sales funnel or a too low conversion.

How to apply the resulting numbers?

Instead of worrying about the end result, set a goal to conduct, for example, 25 talks every day. You do not know which of the attempts will lead to the conclusion of the transaction. However, you can be sure that you will get one sale if you do everything right.

Your task is to do everything in the best possible way during each conversation or presentation , and not worry about what happens with the conversion.

Solid installations for actions give confidence and reduce bitterness in cases of failure. You focus on specific actions, not thoughts about how it will end.

Getting started

1. Count the number of targeted actions per day . These can be meetings, calls, letters, etc. If we turn to our example, 25 actions lead to the conclusion of a single transaction.
2. Set daily and weekly goals to match your current results. If you want to make 5 deals weekly, you will need to perform 125 (5 x 25) actions per week. Set yourself this goal and stop worrying about the results. They will be.

Increasing the number of actions, even slightly, you will see how the results are improved.