Which goals do you set when devising a robust sales strategy?
A robust sales strategy consists of many different crucial elements. These include:
- Prospecting
- Qualification
- Pitching
- Defining needs
- Negotiation
- Follow up
- Closing
For each of these stages, it is best to define a series of goals that you can build a framework on. Goal setting also helps you to guide a lead to the next stage of your relationship, while keeping an overall ‘end goal’ in mind.
Tom Pepper, Director of Marketing at LinkedIn, advises on a bottom-up revenue forecast before goal setting. He said, “Build a bottoms up forecast to get visibility into the business, then set a stretch goal on top. A target should feel ambitious but achievable. As a guide, feeling 80% confident hitting your number is about right. This approach is centered around assessing your current situation and capabilities to see what you can reasonably achieve from there.”
When setting any goal, whether it be an overriding end-goal or ‘mini-goals’ at each sales strategy stage, there are two categories you can use. These include:
- Activity-based goals: These are the inputs required to take a sales opportunity to the next stage of the pipeline (e.g. email outreach, follow-up calls etc.)
- Results-based goals: A quantifiable number needed to reach your “true north” goal (e.g. number of appointments made, number of follow-up emails sent etc.)
How do you goal-set as part of developing an air-tight sales strategy?