Beat your targets
Last week, I was chatting with a friend of mine who works as a sales manager in a very dynamic industry. He is a very successful Kenyan sales professional. He has a great track record in sales—to the extent that most times, he changes jobs due to being head-hunted. Many companies seek his skills. And as we all know it, companies find that staff with special skills are rare. And so, those who are seen to have the special skills end up being offered jobs from time to time and in the process, they end up earning more than their peers.
This is the case with the friend under discussion here. He is enjoying a very good career and employers keep chasing his signature. Being a sales professional, managing key performance indicators (KPIs) is central to his career and his success. Today, we will learn how he does it. How he keeps beating his targets nearly all the time.
According to the friend, many people fail to achieve their targets because they don’t spend adequate and quality time planning for achieving their targets. Most people think that provided they work hard, they can achieve their targets. This is not correct. You need to plan thoroughly for the execution of your activities that are critical to your achieving the targets.
What this friend does is that he keeps the last five days of every month for planning for the next month. This means that he makes sure that by the 25th day of every month, his team completes delivery against the targets for the month. The results that they get during the last five days become a top up above the targets. This way, they always achieve beyond target.
With the five days for planning before the month starts, the team is able to adequately plan for the sales of the next month. This includes chasing some big ticket sales which give them a great head start on the first business day of the next month. In fact, they plan so clinically that on each first day of the month, they register sales equivalent to targets for the entire first week. By the end of the first week, they will already have closed half of the targets for the month. With this schedule, they keep well ahead of the targets and they are then able to complete the monthly targets by the 25th day of the month.
The good thing about this approach to managing targets is that within a short period of time, the team masters the technique and strategy. More importantly, everyone in the team quickly recognises the benefits of using this approach because they never work under pressure, they are always ahead of the game and they always beat their targets. Motivating staff using this strategy is inherent in the strategy itself.
Remember that for this technique to work, there is need for managing the whole process end to end. I know, for instance, that my friend and his team will always aim to deliver around 110 to 120 percent of their targets – in other words, they exceed their targets by between 10 and 20 percent. They know very well that in their game, if they overdo it, they will not sustain the trend. They do not excel today at the expense of tomorrow’s achievement. It has to be done in a sustainable fashion.
It is also important to remember the importance of teamwork. They cannot sustain this kind of achievement without teamwork. They have built a great team around themselves. The five days for planning at the end of every month gives them the chance to work together much closer, to get to know each other better and to collaborate more. As a solid team, they can complement well and they can support one another. They easily become the winning team!
You have seen how the Kenyan sales manager friend of mine manages to beat his sales targets every month. Now you can replicate this strategy in your work or business. You need to adapt before adopting the strategy. Make it relevant to you and to your work. Good luck! n
