As you get deeper into 2026, how are you and your team tracking against your business goals? It has been a chaotic first quarter in the financial sector, but business continues. Now is the right time to make sure you catch up or stay on track to meet those agreed-upon goals. Here are the action steps to help you reach your sales goals this year.
The first step is to make sure your team’s small, big, and important personal goals roll up into a business work plan that contributes to achieving those sales goals. Why start there? Salespeople are motivated by life achievements such as funding a college education, building a deck, or saving for a travel-filled retirement. Selling and achieving sales goals is simply the means to that end. They are not motivated by share price or quarterly financial estimates.
Start with Personal Goals
Starting with personal goals, have your team break them down into three categories: short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. Within each one of those categories, identify goals as urgent, somewhat urgent, or not urgent at all. This process will help salespeople narrow down the types of goals they need to focus on first and foremost.
Typically, when people think of goals, they think in terms of things they want to have or accomplish, such as eliminating debt or paying for a wedding. More challenging goals that also need to be considered are those types of goals referred to as “freedom to choose” goals. An example might be the ability to work four days a week or take a month off to do ministry work in a third-world country. Those goals also require financial freedom. Regardless of the type of goal, there is normally some sort of financial requirement needed to achieve it.
Get Focused and Define What Matters
Next, become laser focused. Identify from all the goals listed which are the 12 non-negotiable goals, along with their associated financial requirement to achieve in 2026. These goals cannot be missed, no matter what. Salespeople must achieve these goals. Now, what behaviors will be required to make these goals happen? Break them down into steps and set deadlines. A goal without a due date is just a wish.
Translate Goals Into a Work Plan
Those are the first two steps to achieving sales goals. Now it’s time to translate these individual personal goals and their financial requirements into a business work plan. It’s called a work plan because to achieve success, you must have a plan and work the plan.
Here are the work plan components:
- Success Formula
- Market Niche
- Prospecting Strategy
- USA (unique sales approach)
Build Your Success Formula
The Success Formula is the math that helps salespeople understand the amount of activity in each step of the sales process that must be executed to reach their sales goal. Action steps likely include outreach attempts, conversations, appointments, opportunities, proposals, and closed deals. Keep in mind one very important idea: the goal must be set and agreed upon by the salesperson as a means to accomplish the personal objectives identified. It must be a number driven by their needs, not the needs of the company. That number is typically higher than what the company requires, if set correctly, due to its foundation in personal goals.
Identify Your Market Niche
The best way to identify your Market Niche is to look at the top 20% of your current book of business and identify the common demographics. That is who you serve well, and the objective is to find more of them. What must be done better or differently to position yourself as an expert in a particular area? This step is often the difference between top performers and mediocrity. In most businesses, the top 20% of clients generate more than 70% of revenue, while the rest of the book consists of a variety of smaller accounts. To refine this into your work plan, identify approximately how many accounts you want at each level. This will provide clarity on how many sales are needed at each level to reach your goals.
Strengthen Your Prospecting Strategy
Your prospecting strategy is key to reaching your sales goals. The best way to meet a new prospect is to ask current clients for introductions, but multiple strategies are necessary. Identify at least three prospecting strategies that will be consistently used, such as active LinkedIn connecting, asking for introductions, developing centers of influence, or attending target-rich association meetings. The list is long, so focus on three, get to work, and execute. Prospecting must come first and should be scheduled on the calendar.
Define Your Unique Sales Approach (USA)
Your USA, or Unique Sales Approach, to the marketplace is critical. How will you stand out? Here is the test of an effective USA or elevator pitch: when a prospect hears it, do they respond with one of the following?
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Tell me more about that.
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That’s me.
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How do you do that?
Your USA should include a value statement that explains how you help other companies or individuals. Nothing resonates more with prospects than that.
Eliminate What Holds You Back
Most of us believe that to reach your sales goals, we need to start doing certain things but sometimes the first requirement is to stop doing certain things. To complete your workplan, identify those things that you are doing that are killing your business and your ability to be more effective – then stop doing them!
Ask yourself - what are the top three things you need to execute because you believe that when you do, they will have the most dramatic and positive impact on your business. It is up to you.
Build your work plan and start executing today! ↓
