Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

2.1. Setting a Goal

Goals are anything you want to achieve, and they generally fall into one of the following two categories:

1. Productivity goals: Productivity goals are those that relate to how much you get done in a given amount of time. Calling 100 existing clients per week, for example, is a productivity goal. Building your own web site or launching an e-mail marketing campaign by the end of the month could be other productivity goals. These goals simply state what you are going to do in a given timeframe. They usually result in boosting sales and revenue, but they may not.

2. Production goals: Production goals are directly related to how much you sell or earn. If you sell cars, for example, you may set a goal to sell 150 cars per year or $450,000 in gross sales.

Some sales coaches recommend that all goals should be productivity goals, because you have control over your productivity, whereas market conditions and other factors outside of your control may affect your ability to achieve a production goal. The only problem I see with setting a production goal is that you have to be careful not to let it affect your sales technique. If you become pushy trying to meet a production goal or are too willing to cut a deal with a client to make a sale, the goal could work against you. Other than that warning, however, I see nothing wrong with setting production goals. After all, as salespeople, how much we sell is often our measure of success.