With the mad scramble of Q4 behind us, it's time to begin executing your sales goals for the New Year. While some of you may have had time to make plans, for those of you who didn't, here are five quick steps to get you started.Evaluate Last Year's Performance: The best way to chart your course for success is to assess where you are now. Gauge last year's performance and your success with achieving the goals you set at the beginning of the year. Review your salespeople, systems, processes, tools, and pipeline. To establish new goals and what it will take to achieve those goals in the coming year.Identify Success Criteria: When evaluating your team, it is critical that you understand who your top performers are and how they achieved success. Examine sales activities like meetings, calls, presentations, etc. as well as their pipelines i.e. suspects, prospects, opportunities, and close rates. Determine the commonalities among your top performers - are they strong hunters, farmers, or relationship developers? A clear understanding of the required "success criteria" will go a long way in assuring you achieve your goals.Identify Weaknesses: An understanding of what makes your leaders successful is important. But it is equally vital to understand why underperformers are not having the same level of success. Use the commonalities among your successful salespeople as a blueprint for up-skilling weak performers. Determine in what areas they are lacking, what skills need to be improved, and best ways to bridge the gaps through training. While what works for one rep may not be the answer for another, it will give you the tools you need to address their strengths and weaknesses through customized one-on-one training.Create a Sales Playbook: Once you've identified last year's successes and failures, you can develop sales goals and develop a measurable plan of action to help you achieve those goals. For example, if your objective is to increase sales by 20%, you must determine where that 20% will come from. Will it come from an expansion of existing clients, acquisition of new accounts, elimination or reduction in discounting, or improved conversion rates?After you've identified the path to reach your goal, you can develop measurable steps by asking the right questions. If your goal is to acquire new accounts:Will marketing need to generate more leads?Will sales need to better qualify and convert existing leads?How many more leads are needed based on current conversions?What will these additional leads cost?Do we have enough salespeople to handle more leads?Use past performance data to establish goals and objectives that can be measured and adjusted, if needed, along the way. The actions required to achieve your goals and objectives will serve as the playbook with clear direction for accountability.Establish a Coaching Program: In addition to a solid playbook, to be successful you must develop a system to continuously coach your team. Regularly adjust your plan, based on internal and external conditions, to reflect the characteristics of your team. Use this coaching program as an opportunity to spend one-on-one time with your salespeople to address their needs.Make a commitment to achieve record sales in 2015. If you need help answering these critical questions to develop a more effective sales force, contact us for a free consultation. Tags: Sales ManagementBlog
