Setting sales quotas is a tricky business. If you set them too high, you discourage your sales team before they even start. If you set them too low, your team may not reach their full potential. As a sales leader, you want to set sales success targets that encourage your team to “step up their game” while delivering the required margins to thrive.
Here are three simple steps from consultative selling training experts to check off as you look for the “just right” sales quotas that keep your sales team on their toes and performing at their peak.
- Know the sales territory’s potential.
Do the research and look at the history. Work with your team to come up with targets that indicate how much business you can realistically develop from the customers in each territory.
- Know your team’s capacity for work.
Time is money and money is time. Based on your specific sales strategy and process, figure out how many customers your sales reps can effectively handle and how much time they will need to devote to each customer to tap into the maximum potential at each account.
- Factor in the market conditions.
Your sales team does not work in a vacuum. Be sure to adjust sales quotas based on relevant macro and micro conditions. If things are booming, increase your targets and, if times are tough, lower them to account for the current situation. The goal is for them to be perceived as attainable, relevant, accurate, timely, consistent and fair.
