PVF Roundtable Magazine July 2026 July 2026 | Page 45

goal.  It’s vague, it’s a wish.

“We want to increase our sales by 10% over last year” is better.

“We want to increase our sales to industry X by 15% over last year” is much better.

 

Goals can be as simple as:

“I will call on 3 potential new accounts in industry X each month – the goal is 6 new clients this year.” This plan says on average, the salesperson will add a new client every 2 months. If there are no new clients in 6 months, time for a new plan.

“Increase sales to existing clients by 15% over last year.  I will call on 10 existing accounts each month.  The goal is to sell more to current customers.” This too can be measured.  After a few months, is this salesperson increasing sales to existing clients?

Measures help the sales folks figure out what is working and what is not.

 

Ex: A salesperson visits an existing client once a week for three months.  Result?  No new sales.  Clearly - too much time is being spent on this client.

 

Creating the right goals and incentives to encourage sales can be very tricky.  Too many sales incentives programs reward increased sales.  Revenue is generated but not profits.  When increased revenue is rewarded, not profitability, sales can “sell” you right out of business.  If you reward salespeople for new customers, they will bring in new customers, many who may not be a good fit, (geographically scattered and small purchasers).  Devise plans and goals that reward improved margins and your company will thrive.  Set a goal for growth, then ask and reward your salespeople for bringing in the right kind of customers, profitable ones!

Joan Adams works with Industrial Clients. She started Pierian Consulting about 25 years ago.  Pierian specializes in bringing Operational Excellence and Competitive Market Strategies to a wide variety of industrial companies.  She is a certified Lean practitioner and brings Lean thinking and Lean techniques to every assignment.  Joan has done consulting projects all over the world, she is fluent in French and Spanish.  She has engineering degrees for U Wisconsin -Madison, Ecole Centrale – Paris and MIT.  She also has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School. Joan can be reached at [e-mail] and she’d love to hear from you!

right out of business.  If you reward salespeople for new customers, they will bring in new customers, many who may not be a good fit, (geographically scattered and small purchasers).  Devise plans and goals that reward improved margins and your company will thrive.  Set a goal for growth, then ask and reward your salespeople for bringing in the right kind of customers, profitable ones!

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