Planning Your Sales Goals

by | Dec 15, 2015 | Blog

planningsalesgoals

I used to think that my aspirations or “dreams” were goals, and at the time that was good enough for me.

Then I started to work at Teneo where I learned that having a dream wasn’t going to make it a reality, but having goals would!  I have been practicing developing SMART goals ever since!

Having goals is important in every aspect of your life, from professional to personal.  You are never too young to start setting and achieving your goals – so get your family involved too!  It can be so inspiring to watch and help others achieve their goals and being a part of the goals process can be rewarding in more ways than 1!

Here are a few tips to help you in your goal setting endeavor!

  • Having too many goal categories can be overwhelming – having a Sales Goal, Professional development goal and Personal goal is a great place to start.
  • Have a 3 year vision for each category.  Where do you want to be in 3 years, and what can you do in 2015 to work towards achieving that vision?
  • Break your 1 year goals down to what you will do in the first 90 days of 2015 and each quarter following to achieve your goal!
  • Use SMART Criteria when setting your goals – there are several different versions out there – choose the one that resonates the most with you.  My favorite is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Thrilling goals!
  • Review your quarterly goals each week, and determine what you will commit to so you are always moving forward!
  • Anticipate any obstacles you might face – and how you plan to overcome them.  It will be easier for you to overcome them if you know how you will handle them!
  • Share your goals with at least one other person, to hold yourself accountable to achieve it.  You are far more likely to continue to work towards a goal – even if the going gets tough – when you know someone is going to be asking you about it!
  • Post your goals so that you can see them often, as a reminder of what you are working towards.
  • Don’t forget to celebrate!  It’s far too easy for us to acknowledge a goal as completed and then move on to the next one.  We need to stop and reflect on why the goal was important, and how proud we are to have worked hard to achieve it.  Sometimes a pat on the back is good enough, while other goals require celebration in the form of a fun trip, shopping spree – or even a game of golf!
  • Celebrate your failures too – you can learn just as much or even more from failure.  What will you do differently in the future?

Now is the ideal time to start developing your 2015 goals, so that when January 1, 2015 rolls in – you don’t just have resolutions that get forgotten in a few weeks, but specific, measurable and achievable, relevant and thrilling goals!

We have created a simple template for you to use when creating your 2015 goals. Download it here!  We want to hear from you – what goals will you be setting this year?