Sales Team Objectives and Goals For a Thriving Sales Team

Sales manager objectives involve directing sales teams and the reps that make up those teams in a way to meet business goals. 

If you're someone with a background in sales, you don't need to be told the importance of the relationship between sales and business goals. But you may need a straightforward way to establish and calculate sales team objectives. 

And in this article, we'll tell you precisely that, as well as:

• Finding the right goals for the right sales roles
• Examples of healthy sales targets
• How to measure, control and influence those targets

Defining Sales Targets for Sales Reps

A sales target is the foundation of a sales team. Arguably the most important metric of any sales team, it's an indication of how well the sales team is, well, selling. The sales target is simply the number of products to sell in a given period in order to break even or make a profit. 

These targets should generally be part of a broader business strategy and based on past data. 

Sales teams excel when there are clear definitions and the targets are challenging but achievable. Any sales manager will tell you that a motivated sales representative can significantly impact the team in achieving its targets. 

What's more, many businesses offer a commission for sales reps. In other words, they get a certain percentage of each deal they close. 

It's easy to see how these compensation models require clear-cut objectives and goals for each role. 

Different Goals for Different Roles

Sales manager

A sales manager generally isn't client-facing. That's not to say they never interact with customers, but they aren't making calls and closing deals more often than not. Their focus is more strategic and, obviously, managerial. 

Therefore, the sales team's goals and the sales manager's goals often vary. 

Executives or VPs may create goals for the sales manager and their team. Alternatively, those higher-ups may develop goals and objectives just for the manager, and it's the manager's role to set goals for the team. 

Either way, the goals and objectives of sales team leaders vary from that of the goals and objectives of the sales team (and the sales reps) that they manage. 

Account managers

Account Managers finalize the sales process with selected leads and prepare a personalized offer to close the deal. Therefore, an account manager will have different goals from customer success managers or sales development representatives. 

Sales development representatives

The role of SDR is usually to support the account executive (or account manager). The first has goals related to the number value of closed deals, while the second will usually have goals around getting sales leads.

As a sales manager, you must clearly understand how a sales department is structured and the roles in it. To make things more confusing, some sales managers create goals for the team and individual goals for specific roles. 

Sales team goals

Sales managers are commonly tasked with goals directly related to sales volumes and revenue. These metrics are usually broken down by the manager and become goals for the team or individual salesman goals. 

Sales Objectives Examples

Let's take a closer look at the objectives of sales managers and how they significantly impact the company and team they're managing. 

Increase sales closing 

For sales reps, establishing tangible goals is crucial. One of the typical goals for sales reps is the number of closed deals. Measure it in terms of the number of deals they close or the percentage of deals obtained from the marketing department. This method allows sales reps to get an accurate evaluation of their performance and a sense of what needs further refining.  
 

Increase sales calls answered

A sales rep that can maximize every incoming phone call opportunity is a massive asset to any Sales manager. 

But all too often, many businesses see inbound sales calls go unanswered. This may be because of short staffing, technical issues, or time-zone conflicts. 

The truth is that unanswered calls are revenue that's missed. But there is a wide range of techniques and tools to cut down and eliminate missed sales calls. 

Callpage's call analytics can help you measure the number of answered calls your team has made to help cut down on unanswered calls. Sales managers get a full breakdown of detailed data for each rep and a wide range of other conversion data.

Increase monthly revenue  

Businesses exist to make a profit, and we all devote ample time and resources to doing precisely that. This is the most common target. Each vendor has a certain deal value it needs to bring in each month or quarter.

The expected value of closed deals usually increases over time and is calculated based on past performance in the company.  Such a target is used both when a salesperson receives leads from the marketing and when he or she acquires leads on his or her own (e.g. in the form of cold mailing)  

Lower customer churn

You can also read this as “increase customer retention,” which sales managers often forget is part of their scope of work. 

Once converted, sales teams usually take a back seat as customer success takes over and becomes the go-to contact. As a result, customer success teams make up a core part of customer retention. 

But having customer retention as a sales rep goal also helps increase profit — another common salesman goal. If a customer is close to churning, it may be the skillset and personal touch of a sales rep that can approach that customer with a personalized offer to make them feel valued.

Similarly, when performing outbound sales or referrals, sales reps, and managers should qualify their new customers as accurately as possible. Segmenting new customers as a prospect or a lead can help sales teams be more efficient in how they spend resources in gathering those sales. 

Improve ARPU

The average revenue per user (ARPU) is used especially for SaaS, and it's simply the average value of contacts. With such a goal, the seller will focus not only on simply closing the sale, but also on increasing its value. 

Increase the number of sales meetings

This goal is usually used for SDRs, who are responsible for finding leads for account managers. Usually, they have a set number of successful meetings which they should schedule with potential leads. This is especially common if the company relies on inbound sales and most leads are coming from cold calling or cold mailing. 

One thing that helps increase the number of sales meetings is improving your lead response time. Why is it important, and how can you do that? Check out the article below!

READ ALSO: How to Improve Lead Response Time & Why You Should (+ Statistics)

Measuring and Managing Targets

It goes without saying that we all want more sales. 

But that could be a more quantifiable or measurable metric. Successful sales managers are handed targets by the executive team. 

There's no golden number here. The number of monthly sales you need varies from company to company, industry to industry, and product to product. 

One metric that is important to you is your average close rate. It's easy to count. If your team reached out to 50 leads and made one sale, your close rate is 2% (1/50 = 2%).

You can sit down and do it every month, week, or quarter, but when most of your work is done in a CRM, you may as well put technology to work for you. Most CRMs can help you automatically keep track of your close rate — per salesman, per team, or per product. Improving your close rate is another excellent sales rep goal to work on improving. 

Similarly, technology like Callpage can help your sales team meet their goals more efficiently. Visitors on your site request your sales team to call them. In as little as 28 seconds, a sales rep is talking to a warm lead in the consideration stage of their journey. 

Remember to Look Inward

Whether sales managers want to assess their own performance or their team's performance, they should look inwards at themselves, not just at the industry and environment in which they operate. 

Accountability in the form of performance reviews is vital for steady growth while also minimizing the pains associated with that growth. A sales manager's objectives should always involve stepping back, taking stock of what has and hasn't worked as a team, and refining. 

SEE ALSO: How to Track Sales Calls Effectively?

Summary

Let's summarize everything above:

• Sales targets, a core metric for sales teams (and managers), are always part of a bigger plan.
• Different roles in your sales team will have different goals. Sales managers should plan accordingly and ensure all goals complement the broader strategy. 
• The sales team primarily aim to increase revenue, but have many secondary objectives indirectly related to sales and revenue. 
• Measuring and managing targets can be aided by many modern tools. 
• Sales managers should periodically assess the industry and their own team. 
   

If you are struggling with a low number of leads and a low level of closed deals, take a closer look at CallPage. The simple widget can help connect visitors on your site to a sales representative in as little as 28 seconds.

Why don't you try it out during a free trial?