Read This Before You Set Any Sales Goals

In my sales tip yesterday, I talked about how a long-distance fundraising bike ride provided a valuable lesson for me in achieving my sales goals. Today, I want to talk about how high of a sales mountain you should choose to climb …

Have you ever heard a manager or boss say, “Sales is a numbers game”?

How about, “You need to make 50 calls a day”?

One more: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark”?

Okay, a few things …

First, anyone who believes sales to be a numbers game has his or her eyes on the wrong target. I’d rather one of my coaching clients make three high quality sales calls a day (read: well researched and to the right target) then 30, “Do you have anything I can quote on?” high quantity sales calls.

Second, anyone who tells you you need to make 50 sales calls a day has never made 50 sales calls a day. See my previous comment about quantity versus quality.

And third, unless you believe in reincarnation, you did not hear Michelangelo's 16th century belief in the value of aiming too high and missing versus aiming too low and achieving.

What old Mike didn’t understand was the intrinsic benefit of achieving and exceeding a sales goal.

It feels good.

That good feeling boosts confidence.

That confidence makes for a better sales call.

That better sales call results in a sale.

There are two types of sales goals. Some are established from the outside, like when a manager sets the bar at a certain number. The other is internal and is typically far more motivational.

While sales goals typically have dollar signs attached to them, let me remind you it is a sales activity goal that will get you there.

How many calls will you make, at minimum, day in and day out?

Profitable and repeatable sales are achieved not because of high numbers. You do not need to make 50 calls a day in order to be successful. And it’s okay to lower your goals. The important part is to meet them.

Find a number you can reach and achieve every day.

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