Ask the Guru

Tuesday 29th Jan 2008

Some months I find I'm really smashing my targets but other months aren"t so successful. So instead of waiting to see how the month plays out, some tips on how to ensure I Smash my targets every month would be great?

What a great question...Wow, this really takes me back to when I first started in sales and some months I would absolutely kill my target and other months would be a be a real battle just to reach budget let alone my target!

After many rollercoaster months of ups and downs, I finally discovered that I was the one that had total control over my destiny if I applied certain principals. You see, coming from a sporting background and then receiving a serious knee injury early on, I opted into coaching during my rehabilitation instead of just sitting on the sideline cheering my team on...and one thing it taught me was that the better your strategy or game plan the better your chances of success and winning, talent alone wasn’t enough

So I opted to apply the same philosophy and strategy I used with coaching, to my sales targets, with Results were Astonishing.

Like a one day cricket game, say it’s Australia v Pakistan and lets say Australia is the team batting last and needs to score 60 runs to win with 10 overs remaining, we can easily calculate that they will need to score 6 runs per over, and as there are 6 balls to be bowled in each over, that is an average of 1 run per ball bowled. The batsmen now know where they are strategically placed in the game and what it takes to win the game...they have control of whether they have to go for the big hit (a 4 or a 6) or simply lots of smaller hits that will eventually add up to 6 runs per over. Achieving the smaller goal of 6 runs per over seems less daunting and more achievable than the required total of 60 runs, and you have the added comfort of knowing that when you achieve each minor goal you are right on track to knock off the larger goal with out as much stress.

The same goes for football... lets say Australia is trailing New Zealand by 8 points (yes, yes I know that would never happen but this is only hypothetical), what is the strategy to WIN? Does Australia go for 2 tries or 1 converted try and a field goal...what would be easier and more achievable considering there may only be 5 or 10 min left in the game??? Or if we look at Aussie Rules football and if a team is behind by 10 goals at half time, is it realistic to reduce that whole deficit in the next quarter or to aim to halving the deficit by the end of the third quarter then to do the same in the last quarter and not have to rush your play to try and get it all done in the 3^rd quarter and increase the likely hood of making errors which could put them further behind?

So enough of the sport talk strategies and let me share with you how we can use this for smashing our sales targets!

The key is to know your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) that are pertinent to your industry and to USE these to work out your game plan, (and we will use rounded figures for ease today) for example ...

 Simon, a car salesman knows that his Target is 20 cars bought from him each month and that is closing rate is 50% (he has 5 out 10 people that he speaks to, purchase a new car) and that his Show Rate of appointments is 80% (3 out of 4 of his booked appointments made, actually turn up).

Using these KPI’s Simon can now calculate how many appointments he needs to have each day to make sure he achieves his Target for the day, week and then month.

1) Simon then uses the following Planning for Good Days Formula to calculate how many people he needs to have booked in each day to guarantee his success.

                                20      ÷       50%       ÷      80%      =  50 Apts Needed

2) What Simon then does is to calculate this target to a manageable weekly figure (minor and immediate goal)... 50 divided by 4 weeks in a month is12.5 Appointments a week.

Now by making 13 (12.5 rounded up) appointments he can guarantee to achieve his target sales, and all walk in enquiries will be a bonus and nothing that he will have to rely on.

Remember...When you fail to plan, You plan to Fail!