Have You Set Realistic Goals?

Effective businesses set goals and manage to them.

When setting corporate sales goals, a company should first look at the market.

• What drives growth in each of the industries in which you sell your products?
• How much share does your firm have in each market?
• What are the competitive environments in your markets?
• Can you expect to increase or lose share in each of the markets?

Next, solicit input from your sales team. Ask them to identify opportunities and probabilities to close them. Have them project what they think the market will bear when buying your company’s products and services as well as those of your competitors. This should be an iterative process to develop a realistic market assessment.

Based on this analysis, set realistic sales goals for your company. Next, you’ll want to personalize the goals, apportioning them appropriately to each territory.