6 essential tips for setting sales goals in your company

Setting sales goals is a crucial step for any company, as they guide the sales team's performance. The idea is to create a specific objective to be achieved, helping employees focus on activities and actions that will make a difference.

Furthermore, these goals help define roles and responsibilities among employees, bringing greater organization to the team as a whole. The big question here is: how do you set appropriate sales goals for your company that are ambitious yet achievable?

This is a question many managers have. To help, we've created today's article with some tips on how to set your goals and other relevant information. Stay tuned!

How to set sales goals?

Learning how to set sales goals is essential for expanding your business. Check out some tips to help you achieve this goal!

1. Analyze the market

One of the first steps in setting sales goals is analyzing the market in which the company operates. Only then can it be realistic and sensible when setting goals, since sales are directly influenced by what happens in the store.

Otherwise, without setting sales targets aligned with the market, the trend is to overload employees. This is because they would be chasing something impossible to achieve.

So, to put this into practice, there are some important questions that must be raised. One of them involves analyzing consumer trends, consumer behavior, competitors, and opportunities.

From this, it is easier to increase the business probabilities and increase sales volumeOtherwise, the company could insist on a strategy to try to market products and services that do not fit the public's interests, affecting its goals.

Additionally, there is other important information to analyze, such as:

• percentage of market segment growth;
• forecast of market expansion for the following year;
• current supply and demand conditions;
• market percentage that your company currently holds;
• situation of competitors.

This information can be collected from newspapers, magazines, associations, online data and your own research.

2. Measure production and delivery capacity

Another very important step in this process is measuring the company's production and delivery capacity. The organization will only be able to sell a certain quantity of products or services if the production and delivery competence match these numbers.

That's why it's so important to evaluate this aspect when setting goals. This analysis should first be based on the number of current employees and their productivity.

And it's important to remember not to overburden employees with excessive workload. Measurement must be realistic. First, due to physical limitations, since this is work performed by humans, even when combined with the use of machines.

This practice naturally tends to demotivate the team, as they perceive the company as prioritizing profitability. This demotivation is likely to translate into low productivity.

Therefore, by analyzing the team's capabilities, it's possible to identify whether additional staffing is needed to achieve the desired sales. This assessment is also important for considering potential salary increases or other bonuses, which can boost employee productivity in sales.

3. Use performance indicators (KPI)

You indicators performance (Key Performance Indicator, in English) are metrics used to monitor the performance of your business, which can be used to analyze the sales team and sales as a whole in the company.

The institution itself defines the KPIs it wants to measure, according to the information it wants to obtain.

The main sales KPIs are:

• number of leads generated (potential customers) — analyzes the company's ability to generate interest in the public;
• number of qualified leads — a more mature audience, after going through all stages of the funnel and getting closer to decision-making;
• conversion rate (potential customers who actually become consumers) — measures the number of website or physical store visitors who become customers, a fundamental indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of sales approaches;
• average customer ticket — performance indicator to determine the average sales value per customer;
• customer acquisition cost — consists of how much the company invests to acquire customers, an important metric to compare with the return obtained;
• number of closed deals — helps understand sales revenue
• sales cycle — this is the period from the first contact with the lead until the contract is closed.

KPIs allow managers to understand the current sales situation of the business, identifying which techniques generate the best results and which require changes.

4. Map external influencing factors

Every good manager knows that several external factors can influence a business's sales. The main ones should be mapped so the company can prepare for potential obstacles. They are:

• seasonality — analysis of major events, holidays and how the company behaves in each period;
• entry of competitors — possibility of new companies emerging in the market sector, especially if they offer products and services similar to those of the company at a lower price and with higher quality;
• moments of crisis or prosperity — current and future economic trends that can affect consumers' purchasing power, causing them to have less money available to spend;
• market trends — this is the case of changes in consumer habits or preferences, which may require adjusting product and service offerings to adapt to demand;
• government regulations — when there are safety and health laws and regulations, for example, that may require product changes, decreasing availability in stock, which affects sales targets;
• technological changes — can suddenly arise technological resources to improve the audience experience and, if the company ignores it or doesn't know how to take advantage of it, it may lose sales opportunities and impact its goals;
• between others.

5. Have clear goals

Defining objectives, including what kind of growth they can provide for the business, helps guide the creation of goals. After all, this makes it easier to understand what needs to be done to achieve the objectives and achieve the desired outcome. planning of sales targets.

To have clear objectives, there are a few recommendations. Among them, be specific to avoid misleading conclusions. For example, the goal might be to increase sales by 10% within 3 months. Then, the company must define the strategies necessary to achieve this level.

Another recommendation when setting goals is to be realistic. This is because over-ambition can demotivate salespeople, who realize it's impossible to reach the target, rendering all efforts in vain.

6. Consider using SMART goals

The acronym represents the main characteristics of sales goals. Learn more about each of them:

• Specific (Specific) — define exactly what (e.g., increase sales volume by 20%), in how long, and which strategy to use to achieve the goal;
• Measurable (Measurable) — check the indicators needed to assess progress in achieving goals;
• Achievable (Assignable) — delegate everything possible to the team responsible for achieving the goals and establish each person's role in this mission;
• Realistic (Realistic) — set realistic goals based on market conditions, limitations of technological and financial resources, team capacity, and other factors;
• Time-bound (Time-bound) — Set a deadline for achieving sales goals.

How to calculate sales targets for salespeople?

The calculation must consider historical performance, customer profile, seasonality of items, sales potential, etc. Setting goals without considering these factors increases the risk of setting unattainable goals.

So, there are a few steps to follow to make calculating sales targets easier. Follow along.

Have clear goals

They can be specific and relate to increasing profit margin, market share, total revenue, sales per product, etc.

Track sales history and each salesperson

This provides insights into the company's seasonality, which products and services perform best, sales trends and patterns, and more.

Consider the costs

When measuring the costs By considering them, it's possible to better plan to achieve goals. In this context, it may be necessary to increase business investment through sales commissions and marketing expenses, which make negotiated solutions more attractive. This should be considered to ensure working capital.

Adjust goals according to the market

Constant achievements are needed to ensure that sales targets are aligned with business conditions and market changes.

In addition to these recommendations, the company must provide the sales team with the necessary support to implement their plans. This includes training, tools, and more.

How to assess whether sales targets are being met?

There are performance indicators that signal salespeople's progress toward meeting targets. These include sales cycle, revenue, average ticket, conversion rate, and many others.

To establish what will truly help in decision-making, you can:

• define what is relevant and makes the most sense for your type of business and monitor it regularly;
• hold frequent team meetings to discuss performance and progress towards sales targets;
• compare sales for current and previous periods;
• evaluate the individual performance of salespeople;
• keep an eye on the level of satisfaction obtained by customers with each sale;
• among other measures.

Finally, it's worth remembering that setting sales goals is a fluid and ongoing process. This means they need to be revisited periodically and can be changed whenever necessary. After all, the market and the economy are also constantly changing.

So, did you enjoy the article and understand how to work with sales goals? Then stay tuned and share the content on your social media to help others stay informed!