5 Reasons You’re Not Hitting Your Goals

There are targets set within your organization, but for some reason, they just aren’t getting hit.

Before you panic, understand that most sales organizations don’t regularly reach their sales targets. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t.

Before you look to external factors outside the business, look inside the company. You’re likely missing the mark somewhere, and you must learn where so you can hit goals regularly. After all, every action has a predictable outcome and maybe you’re just missing the right ones.

Ready to learn some of the common reasons you may not be reaching those desired goals? Keep reading.

1. Staff Are Confused, Undertrained or Unaware of Company Goals

If your salespeople are confused, undertrained, or are unaware of your goals, of course your targets won’t be reached. Just like most skilled jobs, the best salespeople have a natural knack and talent. But even the most talented people in the workforce have trained and put the extra hours in to be where they are.

Being the best at what you do doesn’t simply come from nowhere. Even if you believe in your staff and their skills, regularly check and train them to ensure that they’re performing at their best.

Most salespeople have never picked up a book on sales or taken a sales course. If you want to top your goals, consider investing in more training for your staff, or at least communicate your goals with them better.

      2.Staff are Unaware of Their Progress

If staff aren’t sure of their progress and how they’re doing at work, they’re unlikely to hit the goals determined for them. Perhaps as a company, you’re not completely sure of your staff’s progress either.

This is where predictive lead scoring can come in to help. This is a data-driven lead scoring method that utilizes historical and activity data, along with predictive modelling, to understand the sales leads that are likely to succeed.

As a result, predictive lead scoring results in increased sales. With leads that are understood and prioritized, salespeople can be aware of their progress and can spend more time on leads that are likely to convert.

Staff can focus on working with less customers while closing more sales – it’s the ultimate sales rep’s dream come true. When staff are aware of their progress and have the time to focus on quality rather than quantity, this results in a boosted morale, motivation and engagement for the whole team. In turn, this leads to an enhanced retention of salespeople too.

As time passes by and more data and information are collected within the system, quality will increase further helping you reach targets.

         3.The Goals Are Too Big

It’s easy to get excited with your ideas and to run away with huge goals. But while believing in yourself is great, if you set your goals to high too soon, you’re inevitably going to fail.

When outlining your company goals, make sure that they’re both realistic and attainable. Having goals that are actionable and short-term is so important. These are the goals that week in and week out you can accomplish, helping you feel like you’re on the correct path towards success. 

Because when you do reach your goals, you’ll feel motivated and proud of yourself and your team.

When you can’t reach your goals, it’s easy to feel deflated and disappointed and you’re likely to lose enthusiasm and confidence. 

            4. You Don’t Believe in Your Goals

When you set goals, one of the most important ways of achieving them is to wholeheartedly believe in them. If you don’t believe in your goals, don’t worry. It’s common and there are ways to change this.

Perhaps you don’t believe in your goals because you aren’t focused at work. If that’s the case, you’ll need to deal with that issue first before even thinking of reaching your goals. 

Or maybe you don’t believe in your goals because you don’t think they’re possible to achieve. Think about it – can you imagine a tangible series of calls, meetings, deals, and strategic changes to help you transform your goals into a reality?

If the answer is no, there you go. For you to believe in your goals, you must be able to picture them coming true. If you can’t picture them, grounding them in solid numbers can help.

For example, if you’re a sales rep, your aim should be focused around making a certain number of phone calls in a week, rather than a vague ‘speaking to more prospects over the phone.’

Once you bring numbers into the game, you’re more likely to believe in your goals, and in turn, reach them.

            5. Your Activities Aren’t Aligned

If the activities within a business aren’t aligned, then goals are harder to reach. In some organizations, a salesperson receives an order, but is then, for example, told by someone else like the accounting team that the payment terms aren’t suitable.

When situations like these happen continually, customers are lost, and goals aren’t met. To smash those targets, the whole team must work together.

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