The New Year is upon us. By now you should have wiped the slate clean from 2013, acknowledged the positive items from last year and learned from the failures as well. If you are reading this and not sure if your 2014 sales team goals have the crucial pieces to ensure success this year, keep these 5 simple steps in mind.
- Start with the end in mind and work backwards. If you don’t know where your sales team should end up, you are not going to know what you need to do to get there. When starting with the end in mind, don’t get caught up in the "how” yet. This will limit yourself or your sales force.
- Determine why these goals will be important. If you can’t answer “why” the specific sales goals are important, people will find themselves struggling to do the uncomfortable things they need to do in order to reach them. Remember, without purpose people will not risk.
- Develop the sales plan to achieve the goals. The sales plan should consist of the behaviors required to achieve the end results. If you manage sales results, you manage the past. However, if you manage sales behavior you manage the future. Often salespeople are provided a yearly revenue goal but they are unsure of what behaviors need to happen for them to achieve their numbers.
- Track, Measure, Repeat. Salespeople tend to set goals, only to throw them in a file or desk and not look at them for months at a time. Keep the sales team goals visible and track progress on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Also, understand which Key Performance Indicators you should track. The purpose of the numbers is to allow for course corrections.
- Implement accountability. Make sure people share their sales goals with others, post the goals where others can see them and talk about them frequently. This will help increase accountability for action.
Goals do not have to be overly complicated. By following these 5 simple steps you will find your sales team reaching for more and achieving better results.
