Goal Setting Does Work

I have been working closely with a few public companies of late and it is interesting to see how important it is for them to make "the month' and "the quarter." They must hit projections to satisfy Wall Street and keep the stock price high. So there is a total focus on making those numbers.

There is a rigidity and numbers orientation to that effort that is "corporate" in nature, and thus not appealing to many in privately held businesses. Many owners don't care if sales are booked at the end of the current month or the beginning of the next month. Should they?

There is that saying that "You can get what you get or get what you want." Why not the latter? Why not build a realistic budget, realistic goals and real profit? Entrepreneurs may like wiggle room. They may prefer to not be bound by numbers. They may believe they are building a different kind of company, not so numbers driven. But by doing that, they may be acting as a deterrent to profitability.

What you measure is what is important. If you don't measure sales, you are making a statement that they don't matter. If you don't exact accountability, it makes it okay to not hit those numbers.

Over the years, I have excused many salespeople for their failure to make their numbers. I have accepted many excuses. At the end of the day, those with excuses one month or one quarter, had them every month or quarter. They would ultimately not succeed.

Setting goals and holding people accountable to them creates a needed focus and concentration on what you have deemed as important. Of course, just setting a gross sales goal could push salespeople to take or go after low profit business just to build the top line. So there needs to be a profit goal as well.

If you have the right folks selling for your company, they will relish the challenge. If you have set up their compensation correctly they will be incentivized to hit those goals.

The goals you set cannot just be pulled from the air. They must have a basis in fact and salespeople need to know where the sales need to come from. They can't do it alone and good sales management is critical. In small companies, that may come from the owner. If you are the owner and hired salespeople to get away from sales- you are not quite done. You need to manage and mentor your sales staff and you need to constantly reinforce your vision for the company. You need to show your face to the customers too, letting them know how important they are to you.

We are nearing the end of the 4th quarter. The sales team should be focused on closing sales for this month and setting the table for next month. Prospecting should be designed to bring in business for next year. Short term, medium term and long term are always part of the sales thought process.

Set reasonable goals.

Show the road to achieving them.

Reward success.

Hold those who don't succeed accountable.

Do it again next year.

You are building a culture of success.