UNREALISTIC SALES GOALS LEAD TO SALES FORCE TURNOVER
We’re at that time when sales projections are being put together for the next month, quarter and calendar year. These numbers can cause all kinds of problems and misunderstandings between station ownership, management and the sales force so I’d like to share some information from my new book, The Zero Turnover Sales Force: How To Increase Revenue By Keeping Your Sales Force Intact. (Available at your local Barnes & Noble and Borders or, if they’re sold out, from Amazon in hard cover or Kindle versions.)
(End of cheap plug. I thank you.)
Sales budget numbers come from somewhere but sales people are often mystified as to where this might be. The source doesn’t always seem to reside within our solar system. So much frustration and unhappiness are created by wildly unrealistic monthly and quarterly sales budgets that some sales executives say it’s a significant cause of turnover.
Here’s the truth about unrealistic sales goals: they’re not goals, they’re wishes.
They’re the numbers that corporate wishes would come flying onto its books. They’re the numbers that their lenders and stockholders and partners wish would happen. If you look up synonyms for wish you’ll find entries such as dream, desire, crave and pine for.
Nowhere will you find doable.
You have to stand your ground on sales goals. It’s unfair of the higher-ups to foist unrealistic numbers on you and it’s wrong for you to hammer your sales people to attain them. That will only lead to complaining, frustration – and resignations.
Or to the ultimate indignity: being fired for not hitting numbers that are completely unrealistic in the first place.
Sure, be aggressive with your projections when it makes sense. But tell your bosses in no uncertain terms that you and your sales force know the market, you know what you’re doing and what you’re capable of. One job of a radio station manager in a corporate environment is to be a bulwark between the insatiable appetites of directors, shareholders and financial partners and your revenue producers.
To build a Zero Turnover Sales Force, the numbers have to come from this planet.
When you talk numbers with your sales people, be explicit about what you expect. Some sales executives like to use percentages and ratios to create sales goals. This often leads to misunderstandings. For instance, you might want a new sales person to write fifteen percent more new business each of the next three months. Fifteen percent of what? The current billing on that account? The budget for that sales person? The total number of accounts? The amount of new business contacts? The fillings in your teeth – what?
Better to specify a monetary figure. Translate that fifteen percent into a figure, write it down and have your sales person sign off on it. Now there’s no question about whether that goal gets hit: the numbers will be there or they won’t.
Every business needs sales goals. But make sure they’re attainable, mutually understood, real-world goals and not just another wish on Santa’s list.
