How to Achieve Sales Targets With Small Sales Team?

Do you know that 64% of sales leaders who focused on remote sales met or exceeded their sales goals in 2020? They simply transitioned from the phase how to achieve sales targets to actually achieving sales targets. Some companies were able to capitalize because of the remote sales happening all over the world.   

At the same time, there were some businesses that couldn’t find their ways to success and that is why 40% of companies failed to meet their sales goals in 2020.

Year after year, you set sales goals for yourself and your team. Some goals get fulfilled while some keep hanging there with no one bothering about them. You are doing pretty much better than other businesses if your answer is a NO to this statement.

Your sales reps are not there just to meet their quote but should also know how to achieve sales targets. They must learn the art of follow-ups because 60% of customers say no four times before saying yes. You need to start holding them accountable for their daily and weekly goals so that they become capable of meeting the bigger goals.

44% of small businesses and 33% of medium-sized businesses use cloud-based CRM.

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How to Set Smart Sales Targets for your Team?

Sales targets are not forever. They keep updating and growing with time. As a business, you must focus on setting targets in areas that will drive business growth. Without meaningful, measurable targets, your sales team will always be missing the boat. Your focus doesn’t have to be solely on the numbers but on planning how to achieve slaes targets.

In the rage of closing more and more deals, your sales reps may approach unnecessary deals that may have a negative impact on your company’s reputation. Lack of direction and guidance will make the growth slower and there won’t be any bottom-line results you will speak of.

It might be hard to set proper goals for your sales team but try to stay as realistic as you can because you don’t want your team to interview at other jobs than hitting their targets. So, here are a few ways that will help you set realistic sales goals for your team while keeping them motivated and strong while going through the process of selling.

1. Calculate your Finances

You will be able to set the best sales targets when you know the exact financial situation of your business. Find out which products or services are selling fast and focus on selling more of them. You would obviously want to sell more of your products but when it comes to making money, it works best to focus on your best-selling products while building your financial plan.

Determine all the fixed costs like rent, insurance, electricity, and wages and how much your products or services need to sell to cover these costs. In addition to your salary, your sales must be able to achieve a fair return for everything you are putting into your business.

2. Use Past Data

Your data will prove to be a great guide in setting the right goals for your sales reps. Check the past growth rates and how your team has performed. It will help you plan in accordance with the available resources regardless of the size of your team. By considering the capabilities of your available team, you will get a realistic view of the activities you need to perform to achieve the desired results.

Before you start sending specific targets to your team, check if they can be hit. Even if you don’t do this, at least have a plan to achieve them so that you can show your team how it is done. Be the hero of your team and not just a master.

3. Educate and Empower your Sales Team

Making sales is like a battle and it is your responsibility to give your team the right weapons to win it. Along with training them, you must make sure that whatever they are doing, it is getting your results. Don’t just focus on the immediate sales but also on how they are making use of their capabilities to get the best results.

You must not really care about the number of calls made or the emails sent. What should matter to you is what percentage is converting into your customers. Give your team the responsibility of introspecting about what they have been doing and what they need to do to stay on track with your goals.

4. Calculate the Monthly Sales Goal

It’s necessary to set monthly sales goals to stay on track with your annual sales goals. Regardless of whether your sales are going up or down, you must find out what happened along the way. To determine what went on during the whole process, you need to keep an eye on your monthly goals.

You won’t hit the stride in the very first go and start knocking the goals. There will be some hits and trials and profits and losses. Try to find out answers for everything that goes beyond your knowledge and find out ways to deal with them. Don’t be afraid of missing your goals but also, don’t make them a habit.

5. Involve your Sales Team

Your sales staff has all the information about how your product or services are doing in the market. So, involve them when you are setting your sales targets and reviewing past sales. When they will be a part of the target setting, they will be really curious to achieve them.

Consider questions like who buys your product or service the most, which customers are more likely to keep buying from you, which customers seem like they will stop buying from you, how many customers you need to be coming in so that your sales are maintained throughout the year, etc.

6. Support your Team

Simply monitoring how your sales team has been performing won’t get you the anticipated results. While you set sales targets for yourself, make sure that you also set goals around the actions that you would take to empower your team to reach their goals. Help your team realize the importance of their roles in achieving the sales targets.

Consider automating the pipeline with a sales CRM like Kylas so that your team knows when they are required to do a certain thing. This will help all of you track the ongoing events and stay on track with your goals. Set up regular meetings with your team to discuss challenges and celebrate wins.

You may set goals for your team but it’s a good idea to keep encouraging them to exceed expectations and strive for better results.

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What are the Challenges Faced by Sales Reps?

Where every sales rep wants to end the month celebrating wins, most of them end with the disappointment of unfulfilled targets. Because of the challenges they face day in and day out, even the sales results get affected. But as no one is exempted from challenges, sales reps must find ways to overcome these challenges rather than ignoring them.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common challenges faced by sales reps today while struggling about how to achieve sales targets.

1. Fierce Competition

In every field, there are hundreds and thousands of businesses that keep competing against each other to take home the maximum profits. This makes them apply different strategies to attract new customers. Some customers even take advantage of the ongoing competition and try to get services and products at a better price.

In such a case, sales reps must be prepared with reasons why they are better than their competitors and be able to explain that to their potential buyers. Perform in-depth competitor analysis to make maximum transactions.

2. Build Online Credibility and Trust

After Covid, most sales reps are connecting with their potential customers through phone calls and emails. This requires a sales rep to be able to stand out from the rest of the sales reps trying to sell their services and products in the same way. They need to learn the latest techniques and technology to outrun their competitors.

In such a case, go for personalized interactions. It is crucial to be there for your customers when they need you. Also, ensure that your efforts are relevant and timely so that the prospects know that they are being taken care of.

3. Struggle with Productivity and Uncertainty

A lot of sales firms have been operating remotely after Covid hit them. This has also changed buying habits all across the globe and sales reps need to provide their customers with every possible information about their products or services. This requires a constant update in the ways sales are made.

It can be quite a challenge for sales reps to understand the changing buying habits and requirements of the prospects. Managers can help the reps understand the ongoing business changes so that they are able to represent the business perfectly.

4. Inefficient Time Management

There is no denying the fact that sales reps have a long list of tasks to perform per day, per week, and per month. After drafting emails for their prospects to obtaining information about their replies and making required follow-ups, there is so much that they need to do in a day.

As this often keeps them from strategizing their sales process, it’s best to use an automation tool like Kylas CRM that will provide great features and automation at each step so that they can manage time and focus on other important things too.

5. Collect Prospect Responses

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that obtaining a response from your prospects has to be the toughest part of your job as a sales rep. Even if you are using all the latest technology to provide your customers with the best service and products, you have no idea when your prospects will answer you.

This requires the sales reps to move from becoming the sales reps trying to sell their services and products to the consultants who understand their issues and can help resolve them. Offer personalized solutions to their requirements.

Sales is undoubtedly a challenging field but by using the right techniques and technology, you can find solutions for all the upcoming issues. Create sales reports to ensure that you are taking care of everything happening in your business so that you can discover your strong and weak areas and improve well in time.

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How to Achieve your Sales Goals Faster with your Small Team?

For any business, small or medium, creating sales techniques has to be an integral part of the sales plan. There is a plethora of selling techniques used all across the globe. It requires practice and patience for any sales team to find a method that works the best for them.

So, here are a few ways that will help you achieve your sales goals faster with your small sales team.

1. Set Achievable Sales Targets

Setting the right goal for yourself and your team can be a little tricky. Where you need to set sales targets that are challenging yet achievable, you want to make sure that they are not easy or difficult to achieve. Knowing how to achieve sales targets is paramount. As per Graff Retail, you must follow the 70% rule. The rule says that your team must be able to achieve the sales targets 70% of the time. If it’s more than that, the targets are too easy and if it’s more than that, the targets are too difficult.

2. Manage Sales Targets

Break the annual goal into quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals. Your team will find it less daunting to make a sale of $5,000 than to make a sale of $50,000. So, focusing on achieving smaller targets in shorter time spans keeps track of what is happening in your sales team and staying motivated. Challenge yourself and your team on how to achieve sales targets and when they do, show appreciation for their achievements by giving a weekly prize or a monthly top performer certificate.

3. Measure your Sales Activities

As is said, what gets measured can be improved. It fits perfectly when it comes to your sales activities. Consider the important metrics for your business and track them throughout the year and see how you have been doing. Consider things like the number of leads coming, leads converting, leads unresponsive, lead requirements, proposals done, etc. When you have a yearly report of how you have performed, you will be able to find out what you need to do to improve yourself and your team.

4. Provide Great Customer Service

Your business will grow only if you are able to provide your customers with the best services they are in need. More than 50% of prospects want to see how your product works on the first call. Don’t just act like a seller but a consultant who knows how to help people with their needs. Develop a script to introduce your product or services to your prospects. Provide your prospects with undivided attention and help them reach solutions with your services and products. By providing great customer service, you will be able to get repeat customers who may also get you more customers.

5. Make Sales Targets Visible to your Team

Display your sales targets and what you have achieved in the past somewhere it is visible. Update the sales board every day and ensure that you talk about it with your team. For instance, with Kylas, you can show the targets set for a particular team member. Once they are achieved, the whole team will know about it. This can help you identify the top-performing sales reps and recognize them. You can also download the whole report of the sales to get a clearer picture of the results.

6. Monitor your Pipeline

As a manager or a small business owner, you should not just set the targets for your team but should also ensure that your team is following the pipeline and doing as expected. Check your pipeline every day and if it’s low, talk to your team regarding it. The pipeline will help you focus on improving by letting you know which areas you need to work on. Make sure that you involve your team in every decision you make and the pipeline you create.

7. Prospecting

Prospecting is the way of getting in touch with and building relationships with the customers who you think will turn into your customers. You must know how many prospects need to be there in your pipeline to help you reach your sales target. Consequently, by knowing the percentage of the prospects who buy from you, you will know how many more customers you need to achieve your sales targets. Further, identify potential customers and help them with their purchases to enhance your chances of getting more referrals.

8. Invest in Employee Training

There can be times when you feel that your sales team is not reaching the target even after constant reminders and motivation. This might mean that your team needs more training to perform better. Another key point tell your team about what to sell and how to sell it. It’s not right to put them on the battlefield with little knowledge and expect them to get results. Put in some effort and let them know the product or service completely before you expect a transaction from them.

9. Remind your Team of the Purpose

A common goal or a common mission can make a huge difference in your overall sales process. They must know that what they are doing matters and can make a huge difference in the life of their customers. Whether you are saving people’s time or giving them shelter if someone in their family falls sick, let your team know what they are there for in the market. Also, know that what you sell may make a difference in someone’s life. You have to make sure that you are able to convey your purpose to them.

This year might be ending in some time but do apply these actions in your sales process. There are chances that even your small sales team would be able to convert more.

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Final Thoughts

Though it may feel at times that it’s impossible to reach your sales targets with a small sales team, it’s not. You may also not be sure about how to achieve sales targets. So, plan and implement your sales strategies to achieve your sales targets faster regardless of your team size. So, hire the right people to find consistent success over time.