This year certainly has had its challenges, personal or professional. But whether your company surpassed its sales goals or it struggled to stay afloat, you still need to figure out some way to set your sales goals for 2021.
Review Your Long-term Plan
You may want to consider throwing out your 3 – 5 year plan. Why? Because that plan was created with different information. The chances are that that information did not include a pandemic or economic downturn. You cannot just compare this year to last year because of everything that has happened. You also cannot base next year’s budget based on this year
It’s hard to tell where you’ll be in one year, let alone five years from now. You’ll have to be flexible when it comes to setting a plan in case you need to pivot abruptly.
Looking at Your Sales Trends
Start by looking at macro trends. A macro trend is a long-term directional shift that affects a large population, often globally. Such as government policy, economic cycles, climate change, and technology, to name a few. Look at the macro trends from 2019 to 2020. How did this year stack up to last year globally? Did it fall? By how much?
Then start analyzing your industry trends from last year to this year. Look at which industries have increased, and which haven’t. Do you have any connection with them?
Next, look at your company’s trends. What are your company’s leading indicators? Look at those leading indicators and compare your company to your competitors. Talk to other people within your industry and ask what they are seeing. Look at your accounts. You do not need to analyze all of them but look at the majority and determine what you are seeing.
These trends will help you get an overall view of how fast or slow things are coming back and where to get your goal.
Set Up Quarterly Goals
Once your 2021 total revenue goal is established, say at $12 million, set up quarterly goals as well. For example, set a quarterly goal for $3.5 million and then analyze if you are achieving that quarterly goal. Identify where the variances to plan are? If you are executing, find out what is working, and if you are not executing, then find out why not. Was it too much of reach, or did something happen outside of your control?
Make sure you have room to adjust and make changes when needed. Then follow up with your team at the individual level and see how they are executing and if they need to make adjustments.
Overall
To set your sales goal for 2021, you will need to analyze trends from all levels. Look at trends from a macro level, to your industry, to what you saw within your own company. Once you have your yearly sales goal, set up your quarterly goals, and be prepared to make adjustments.
Your 2021 sales goal may not be 100 percent accurate, but you’ll be closer and well prepared when things shift unexpectedly.
Mike Braun is a founder and co-owner of Pivotal Advisors: A sales execution firm dedicated to building the best sales organizations on the planet. Over the past 30 years, Mike has had the opportunity to provide hundreds of organizations with methods and strategies to achieve consistent sales growth.
Reach out to Mike Braun at (952) 226-3375 or mbraun@pivotaladvisors.com.