How to Improve Sales Team Goals

Setting better sales team goals will improve the success of your organization.

A successful sales team can drive your business’ success. Ensuring your sales team takes your company in the right direction, you need to guide their progress. This requires setting smart sales-team goals. 

Every sales team sets quotas. If you want your team to stay productive and motivated, set additional, strategic goals. Sales teams are more likely to succeed when they have clear goals and purpose. 

Wondering where to start? Check out these tips for improving your sales team goals. 

1. Map out annual goals.

Your sales team's goals should align with company objectives. How much revenue do you want to earn this year? What does your sales team need to do to reach that number? Consider this when mapping out sales goals for the year. Then, break it down into quarterly, monthly, and even weekly milestones. 

When breaking down the timing of goals, consider how different times of the year affect sales. For instance, if staff members often take summer vacations, you may need to reduce your targets for those months or hire additional or seasonal team members. Similarly, during months with a lot of holidays or other distractions, you may also need to adjust your targets. 

Also, consider whether you need new sales-team members. If so, adjust goals accordingly. For instance, if you plan to hire new people in Q3 so that you can hit higher sales goals in Q4, consider how the recruitment and training will affect your Q3 targets. 

2. Set smaller, incremental goals. 

Reaching big milestones is easier if you set small, incremental goals. Don't just set monthly or quarterly sales team goals; set small, incremental goals as well. Hitting small goals builds confidence, making your group more likely to hit their larger objectives . 

This strategy also helps you track your team. You don't have to wait until the end of the month or the quarter to see who's thriving or struggling. Setting smaller goals help you assess the progress of your sales team and proactively help struggling team members.

3. Set specific goals.

Effective sales-team goals are specific. For example, if a team member wants to beat last month’s numbers, have them set a number. Do they want to beat last month by 20%? Do they want to hit that same number by the 25th of this month? Do they want to earn a larger average sale with the same number of customers? When goals are specific, people work harder to achieve them. 

4. Create individual and team goals.

Everyone on your sales team has unique skills, experience, and capabilities. To optimize their individual potential, set goals that align with their abilities. 

Also, set group goals. Group goals make your team more accountable to each other and create natural mentoring opportunities for top sellers to help lower performers improve. 

5. Focus on retention.

Sales-team goals often focus on onboarding new clients. Also consider the quality and sustainability of clients. If your sales team attracts droves of new clients every month, but you lose them quickly, you are wasting time and resources. 

Monitor your churn rate, and set goals that focus on strong customer retention. This directs your team to focus on higher quality leads rather than bringing in new, unsustainable business. 

6. Go beyond the numbers.

In sales, it’s tempting to overemphasize numbers. They are important, but you go deeper and set other goals for your sales team. Focus on personal development; help your team improve their sales communication, efficiency, and long-term perspectives. 

7. Be challenging, but realistic.

If your sales-team goals aren't challenging enough, they will become complacent and lose their drive. Your targets need to be challenging enough to inspire team members to work harder. 

On the other hand, avoid goals that merely stress your team. If objectives are too hard to attain, many people will just give up. Strive to balance challenge with realism. In some cases, this may require you to adjust targets to see how the sales team responds. 

Effective salespeople are naturally competitive; hitting targets inspires them. Set sales-team goals carefully; don’t create vague, unattainable goals. Be specific, challenging, and realistic. The result will be a motivated, more productive sales team. 

MetaGrowth can help you on this journey, by assisting with the hiring, training, and management of a high-quality sales team that drives the success of your business. We have extensive experience coaching and consulting, and focus is on helping founders grow their businesses and put selling behind them. 

Are you setting sales goals that motivate your team? Do these targets help your company grow? We can help you optimize your objectives in a way that supports the sustainable organizational growth . To learn more, contact us today.