Create a motivating sales goal for 2018
Goals are important in sales. If they are carefully chosen they will give your sales activities direction and energy. We notice each and every day that each “salesperson type” has a unique perspective and added value with regard to his or her sales goals. Use the nine perspectives below as a checklist to compile your motivating sales goal in order to be completely on top of your game.
Type 1 salesperson: No concessions to quality
Type 1 salespersons learn that quality is just as important as quantity. Type 1 tip: Set down process goals for yourself in addition to outcome goals. A process goal is a standard that you impose on yourself with regard to your way of working. What are the quality standards you want to meet this year?
Type 2 salesperson: What positive contribution do you want to make towards your customer?
Type 2 salespersons teach us to look at our sales goals from the perspective of our customers, rather than egocentrically. Type 2 tip: Ask yourself the following questions: “Which essential difference do I want to make for my customers?” “What aspects of myself do I want my customers to appreciate?”
Salesperson type 3: You can do everything if you really want
Type 3 salespersons teach us that we have to stretch our boundaries and work efficiently to attain the results we aim to achieve. With a clear goal in mind, we can assess which activities are worth the effort, and which are not. Type 3 tip: A healthy sales growth is between 5% and 15% in comparison to last year, depending on your market share.
Type 4 salesperson: Which aspects of myself should I concentrate on developing?
Type 4 salespersons teach us that it can be a good idea, every once in a while, to question ourselves. Type 4 tip: Ask yourself which aspects of yourself you want to develop this year. “Which personal shortcoming do I want to improve this year?” “Which triumphs do I want to achieve with regard to personal development and how will this make me feel?”
Type 5 salesperson: Think before you start
Type 5 salespersons don’t want to work harder than their competitors; they want to work smarter. They teach us that it is important to analyse the market and gain information about where to find opportunities in the next few months to come. Type 5 tip: Identify the parameters that are common to your current customer base and look for prospects with the same characteristics. An online tool like GEO TOP (available on the Trendstop website) will help you with this.
Type 6 salesperson: Clarity brings certainty
Type 6 salespersons are extremely action-oriented once concrete actions and expectations have become clear. Type 6 tip: Find out how many sales talks you needed to do last year to attain your forecast turnover. Multiply this figure by 1.15 if you want to achieve a growth of 15%. Divide this by 45 working weeks and you know exactly how many sales talks you will need to do every week to achieve your goal.
Type 7 salesperson: Optimism is a sales skill
Type 7 salespersons show us that our enthusiasm rubs off on our customer. Type 7 tip: Plan a number of fun challenges and new activities that awaken your interest. Make sure that you can reward yourself with an amusing activity if you achieve your sales goals. Looking forward to something fun gives you an energy boost.
Type 8 salesperson: Persistence pays off
Type 8 salespersons are masters when it comes to persistence. Type 8 tip: Look back at last year and identify a number of sales project that fell through because you failed to be sufficiently assertive. Set assertiveness goals for yourself: situations that you plan to tackle next year that will make you even more confident.
Type 9 salesperson: Recuperation is important
Type 9 salespersons teach us that looking at things from a wider perspective and relaxing from time to time is healthy in every profession. Type 9 tip: Consciously schedule a few moments of rest & recuperation. Make sure that you will be disconnected entirely from your work during this time, both literally (smartphone, email) and figuratively (empty your mind).