Restructuring Your Sales Goals - Focus on More Than Sales:
Most sales goals are constructed by quarterly intervals. Today, it makes more sense to plan weekly sales goals, in which your goals each week aren't just to reach a number of sales, but also to complete activities that will serve to maintain or increase your sales in the future. This serves the double purpose of working to achieve your sales goals while also increasing your motivation and assurance that you will be able to continue to meet those goals in the future. The prospective activities may include anything from cold-calling a new batch of potential customers to initiating a marketing campaign.
Avoid the Negative:
Don't be discouraged if your goals in any one week aren't met completely. Focus on the goals that were completed, and adjust next week's goals as necessary. Try not to let the negative comments, attitudes, and emotions of others, such as co-workers and even the media, affect you. Negativity can be like a virus sometimes, and if you aren't resistant to it, it can certainly affect your own ability to meet your goals. If you have too, avoid certain people, the news, some websites, anything that might negatively impact the goals you have set forth for yourself.
Of course, it can be difficult to avoid negativity altogether. To combat this, purchase items or associate with people who motivate you. This can be anything from a motivational poster to pictures of your family to having lunch with a peer. If you are properly motivated, you are that much closer to achieving your goals.
Be Realistic:
It's very reasonable to assume that your current level of sales may not be as high as what they were a few years ago. Your current sales goals should reflect this. Trying to reach an unrealistic number is only going to leave you discouraged when it doesn't happen. Additionally, don't try to overload yourself each week with an incredible number of tasks. Know your limits, and adjust your list of activities accordingly. More tasks on the list doesn't equate to more success; it instead increases the potential that you will rush, make mistakes, become overwhelmed, and leave a few tasks uncompleted, adding to feelings of discouragement and stress.
You can further schedule your sales goals in a series of increments: weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly. Make sure you are realistic when scheduling your goals. Don't set weekly goals that you know will likely take longer than a week to complete. Try not to set more than five yearly goals. Having a clearly defined schedule of smaller goals that lend aid to the completion of larger, long-term goals allows you to better focus your skills and energy.
Be as specific as possible when you create your schedule of goals, but don't be afraid to make any necessary adjustments and add or eliminate goals as well. For example, if one of your weekly goals was to complete a number of phone calls to prospective clients, you might want to add a goal of follow-up calls or scheduled meetings to next week's goals.
Improve Your Methods:
There is always room for improved efficiency and organization. If you think your routine is perfect, then you are doing yourself a disservice. You should always be open to new ideas, advice, input from co-workers and peers, and the idea that what you're doing now could be done better. Take time every once in a while to examine how you go about your daily routine, and see if there is anything that could be improved for greater efficiency. Time management is a critical factor that is often overlooked, resulting in less done each day, which can effectively create a backlog throughout the week. Try to eliminate any distractions that might also impede your ability to complete daily and weekly goals in a timely, efficient manner.
Let your co-workers, employees and peers know about your goals. Open communication about your goals creates a team atmosphere, and allows others to better help you achieve the goals you have set for the company. Additional support also serves to increase motivation and dispel negativity, and the clear communication of goals also serves to build greater trust with the company's employees.
Examine & Adjust:
Each quarter, take the time to perform a full assessment of the previous quarter's completed goal schedule. Discuss what, if anything, went wrong or could be improved, and gauge the results of the completed goals. If there are goals that weren't met or completed, determine why, and how the situation could be rectified. Adjust the following quarter's goals as necessary, as well as the yearly goals if they might also be significantly affected. Altering your goal schedule does not mean you are failing in completing your goals. The economy, as well as many other factors that affect your business, is always changing. Your goals may need to change more often than you think in order to reflect the course and effects of other uncontrollable events. But by focusing your time, energy and actions on a set, defined schedule of realistic goals, you are prepared to overcome the effects of an unstable economy and achieve the success you envisioned.
