Goal Setting

Setting goals is an essential part of everything we do in our lives. Whether it is for business or personal growth, goals help give us a clear sense of direction, motivation, and a level of importance. Goals provide us with a target to work toward to clearly plot out a plan that will ultimately lead to achieving those goals.

George T. Doran first introduced the SMART method in the November 1981 issue of Management Review in a paper titled “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management Goals and Objectives. A SMART goal incorporates all criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving your goals. Follow the 5 steps below as you set your goals:

Specific: Provide a clear description of what needs to be accomplished.

Measurable: Provide a metric, or number, that identifies when the objective has been achieved.

Attainable: The objective must be achievable and within the time frame with resources allocated.

Relevant: Provide meaningful, significant goals that are aligned with company priorities.

Time-Bound: Conclude the goal with a specific date. Keeping score during this time is important to determine if the objective has been achieved.

SMART Goal Example

Specific - Close $100,000 in new business in January.
Measurable - Monthly goal updated on the weekly scorecard.
Attainable - Close $5K each day of January = My YTD average.
Relevant - Work on my current pipeline and devote 2 hours each day to prospecting.
Time-Bound - Track weekly closed business to average $25K each week. If any week I fall short, that difference will be added to the following week's goal.

A very important component of sales success is breaking your overall goals into actionable things you can do - activities. You cannot do a goal, but you can do an activity that leads to achieving your overall goals.

The Sales Funnel Worksheet below is designed to help you break down your overall sales goal into activities, including how many prospects you will need to talk with to achieve your goal. You will need to get the average sale amount and estimated close % (from your sales manager) to properly fill out this worksheet. By completing this worksheet, you will be able to identify if your goals are truly SMART and what you need to do each day/week to achieve them.

Goals are essential in becoming a successful sales rep. Equally as important to goals is executing your leading metrics (weekly activities) that will lead you to achieve your sales goals.

Some Examples of Weekly Activities:

10 hours a week making outbound calls.
Making 50 outbound calls per week.
Conducting 5 “drop-ins” per week.
Attending one (1) networking event per week.
Asking for one (1) referral per week.
Five (5) hours per week conducting follow-up activities.
Attending trade shows.
Spending five (5) hours per week working on LinkedIn.
Learning time - Studying this playbook, practicing selling techniques, reading and/or listening to a sales book.

Weekly Activity Best Practices:

Keeping the weekly activities to the critical few (3-4).
Set a number goal (for each activity) on a spreadsheet or inside your CRM and track them weekly.
If a particular activity isn’t generating opportunities, replace it with another activity.

Now that you have set your weekly activities and defined your sales goals, hold yourself accountable to follow through with your activities.