How to Set and Achieve Sales Goals as a Professional Salesperson

Setting sales goals and successfully achieving them is probably the most integral part of any successful business. Without strong sales, the company does not grow. That is why it’s so important to know how to set sales goals, and the right way to do that, as well as how to meet those goals. It’s not just about good business practices or the right sales pitch. Meeting sales goals is also about having the right attitude and the right outlook. It’s an inner and outer journey. The same can be said with setting those goals.

Setting Sales Goals

Many people set goals all the time, but like New Year’s resolutions, they don’t achieve them. There are a number of reasons why people don’t achieve their goals. This could be because of personal factors like a lack of hard work or motivation. This could also be because of outside factors like events and situations. Learning how to set achievable goals properly is what really makes the difference.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, PHD is the author of Succeed, which is a successful book about how to set and achieve goals. Recently in an interview she was asked about how to set goals properly. She responded that many people speak about their goals in vague terms. She suggests that they talk about setting the goals, but they don’t talk about the specifics of what that means. Heidi says that with a specific goal in mind, the parts of our brain wired to handle achieving our goals start to kick into motion. That means people become more motivated. Their focus on their goal becomes better. Basically, when you give yourself a simple task, you are more likely to do what is required to achieving it.

The way that should be put into motion is simple. Molly Cain, a Forbes Leadership contributor suggests that people should break up their goals into smaller ones in order to achieve them. That means that if you have a high sales goal, you should break it up into smaller ones in order to reach it.

Cain also suggests setting up a visual model to remind you of your goal. Cain suggests that every time a person looks at the model, they think of the goal in mind and they are reminded to work on it. She says that using something in the shape of what you are trying to achieve is an amazing way to create a visual model. That way, it sticks in your head and you think of what you are trying to achieve.

Cain also suggests that people set a date to achieve their goal. This is a motivating factor. When you know that you have a date to achieve your goal, then you know when you have to do the things you need to do to achieve it.

Achieving Sales Goals

Achieving your sales goals is both an inner and outer journey. You have to put on your best face when you are trying to make sales, and you have to be passionate about what you are doing in order to put your best foot forward.

Much of the work in achieving your sales goals is about having the right attitude. Heidi Grant Halvorson suggests that one of the biggest ways to reach your sales goals is to know why you are doing it. You have to have purpose to drive your motivation in order to put in your best effort. Otherwise, you won’t really feel the passion sales professionals need to succeed. That reason why becomes your motivation for making your sales.

Jill Konrath, speaker and author, states that individuals should not look at sales as an innate ability and they should understand that selling is a learned skill. By looking at selling as a learned skill, Konrath suggests, people will start to look at how to enhance their ability to sell. Konrath says that she is not a born salesman but that she has learned to sell in order to achieve her goals. That means that by learning to enhance their techniques, sales professionals can learn to become better salesmen.

Kelley Robertson of Business Know How, states that sales professionals should look to expand their sales reach every week. She suggests that expanding your horizons can greatly enhance your sales. Robertson states that getting the sales team together and brainstorming what new markets they can reach will even help sales teams exceed their goals.

Roy Chitwood, president of Max Sacks International, takes a pragmatic approach by suggesting that sales people take a look at the sales prospect and make sure that they have the right impression of you. Chitwood states that first impressions are everything. A prospect is less likely to make the transaction if they don’t get the right impression of you right off. At the same time, Chitwood writes that a sales professional has to sum up their prospect. That means deciding whether or not the product you are selling is right for the prospect. Otherwise, they won’t want to buy it. He writes that listening to the prospect and gaining a rapport with them is the right approach to making your sale. Good sales techniques start with relating to your prospect and making the right impression with them from the start.

Sarita Harbour of Demand Media makes a contrast between selling to the general public and honing in on the proper prospect. Cold calling the general public won’t result in the same amount of sales as finding as many of the proper prospects as you can. This takes research.

Overall, achieving your sales goals is not a difficult process. It takes the right attitude, the right technique, and the proper approach. Set achievable goals. Break them down so that you can achieve them more easily. Take the proper attitude when it comes to sales. Seeing the market as a place of possibilities instead of a barren wasteland will allow you to have the right outlook.

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