Setting sales quotas or sales goals can be challenging for many companies. It is critical to establish realistic and obtainable quotas. Furthermore, when quotas are utilized, setting proper quotas will certainly provide the company a competitive edge. Establishing a vigorous educational program for team members (management included) and leading by example will have a much greater impact on results, than haphazardly setting sales quotas.
At Med-Search, it has been our experience to find too many companies setting quotas without any real insight of the ability to meet those quotas. Our goal is to educate by sharing our knowledge, based on monitored experiences with client partners and hiring companies over 20+ years of building sales teams and motivating sales team members to higher levels of success.
Below are 6 important tips for setting quotas or goals for successful team results:
- Set reasonable expectations
- The landscape for setting sales quotas is all over the board. Some companies will utilize extensive metrics and calculators to determine quotas. Other companies pick numbers from a hat, without any real insight to what quotas are truly attainable. Make sure your quotas are reasonable and obtainable.
- Ask for less and obtain more
- Experience and metrics of our clients over many years show those setting reasonable or reduced quotas obtain far better results than those companies that set exorbitant unattainable quotas.
- Provide incentives to the Sales Reps
- Be creative with compensation, financial incentives, creative commission struture and award recognition for obtaining quotas. We have found a financial reward linked to sales results, such as a bonus or trip, has a higher impact on sales reps than those without a bonus reward. Recognition to the sales rep of an achievement will also realize higher sales results.
- Flexibility with setting quotas or sales goals
- Working directly with the sales rep to set goals and quotas can be extremely powerful. Explore with them, their sales territory, relationships and experiences they have. Listen to them when in your first discussions when screening or hiring the candidate.
- Validate and Support
- First, prove the quotas being set is obtainable. (This is not to prove to sales team members, but validate for the company the quotas being set are reasonable.) Then, support your team members through education and additional support mechanisms to obtain those goals.
- Do not use quotas as a means to eliminate sales reps
- Successful and knowledgeable Reps will see right through this. We’ve heard many companies refer to quotas as “The Perfect Out” for the company. Recruiting and retaining the best sales people could be the competitive tipping point that helps your business to succeed.