One of the best things that I ever picked up in my entrepreneurial journey is learning how to sell.
The process can be a little awkward, uncomfortable, and it also stretches you. I learned how to sell out of necessity. Either we brought in new clients, or we didn’t and we were all unemployed. Nothing kicks your ass into gear like the fear of six other families depending on you.
An essential part of the sales process is learning how to set your targets (goals). Basically, you’re finding out how much you need to sell in order to hit your financial goals for the company and yourself. Most people use software to help them track their goals.
Each day, a sales person knows that they need to make X amount of touch points (calls, emails, demos, etc), move Y amount of prospects to the next step, and close Z amount of prospects and turn them into customers. It sounds simple, but it takes a ton of discipline. Great salespeople are priceless for companies.
Small Targets, Small Results
When I first started the process, I set small targets. It was based on what we had historically done. What I quickly found out was that my targets were way too small. I had developed a process, an inbound marketing system, an outbound system, and I had started to shave our closing timeline from 3-4 months to 30 days. I had underestimated my ability to sell and my team’s ability to wow.
Not meeting or exceeding my potential means that I’m underserving my family, my friends, my community, my church, and myself.
At first, it was exciting to bring in a few sales. I love seeing checks come in of all shapes and sizes. That magic fades though, and the cool reality sinks in that you’re actually underperforming based on your potential. I realized that if I had set my targets higher, I would be spending the same amount of energy and risk chasing down big sales as the small ones.
The next year, I adjusted and we 5x’d our top line revenue.
Targets Need to Always Grow
I was recently reminded of this because I just hit a target. It was two years in the making. The feeling felt great for about a day. Then I remembered what I had learned from jumping into sales a few years ago. I undershot my target. If it was that easy to hit my big target, I was underestimating my potential significantly.
Not meeting or exceeding my potential means that I’m underserving my family, my friends, my community, my church, and myself.
The bigger the target, the bigger the results. Yes, you might miss that target. But think of it this way. If you’re currently making $75,000 this year and your target is to make $200,000 but hit $150,000 instead, you doubled your salary. For most people, jumping from $75,000 to $150,000 is significant. If you can do that, then you can adjust your next target to $300,000. The targets always grow.
So we’re moving that goal post back a bit to see how far we can go. When we get close to that next target, or if we miss by a little bit, we’re going to push it back even further.
My targets weren’t big enough. Those days are gone.
