Goals are often set. For example, a boss says that the company will achieve a sales target of $100 million this year, and the salesperson says that they will strive to achieve a sales target of $30 million or $10 million this year, and so on. You will see that some company salespeople will exceed their targets, while some companies will end up with a big thunder but little rain.
Through review, you can see the essence of things clearly. By reviewing step by step, you can formulate better plans and achieve faster growth. By reviewing in six steps, you can better summarize experience and make plans for future business development.
Review a case through these six steps.
Review the goals
The company’s sales target set at the beginning of 2018 was $60 million. The company has 3 foreign trade salesmen who participated in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Mobile World Expo in Barcelona, Spain, and the Taipei Computer Show. At the end of the year, the sales target of $75 million was achieved, exceeding the target at the beginning of the year by $15 million.
During the year-end review, reviewing the goals at the beginning of the year is to let the participants know what they are going to discuss. By comparing the goals, we can know whether the year is a success or a failure. During the review, participants need to clearly display their goals, which can be displayed on the projection screen or written on the whiteboard, so that participants will not deviate from the goals when narrating during the review.
The three salesmen listed their goals respectively.
Salesman Andy described the reasons for setting his goal:
(1) The basis for my goal is to develop the United States as the main market. It has a large customer base, strong spending power, and many brands and distributors, so there are great opportunities to develop high-quality customers;
(2) I can screen out potential customers and establish connections through social networks and search engines, and I am good at communicating with customers;
(3) Last year, my sales performance was US$20 million. With the right strategy, it is achievable to increase it by another US$10 million;
(4) The company has plans to go to the United States to participate in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which gives me more confidence to sign contracts at the show and win more orders from major customers.
Salesman Ben described the reasons for setting his goals:
(1) The basis for my goal is to focus on European markets such as Germany, Russia, and France. These markets have high quality requirements and entry barriers. The company’s products have relevant certifications, and I am confident that I can develop some agents and brand owners;
(2) I am good at using European social networks and various translation software to chat with customers, and I am good at discovering customer information through social networks and search engines;
(3) Last year my sales revenue was US$14 million, and this year I will strive to increase my sales revenue by another US$6 million;
(4) The company has plans to participate in the Barcelona World Mobile Communications Exhibition in Spain, which will enhance the company’s image in the minds of European customers. Negotiating with customers and taking orders at the exhibition are my strengths.
Salesman Cindy described the reasons for setting the goal:
(1) The basis for my goal is to focus on emerging markets and populous countries in India and Southeast Asia. I believe this is a new source of future profit growth for the company, because the population base determines the market share;
(2) My performance last year was only US$5.5 million, but I believe that this market has great development potential. As long as we patiently explore and use the right methods, there will definitely be surprises;
(3) I am good at using Google, LinkedIn and Southeast Asian social software to develop customers, and I use translation software to communicate with customers. Southeast Asia is very close to China, which makes it convenient to visit customers abroad. There are many discounted air tickets, and the cost of field visits is very low;
(4) The company plans to participate in the Hong Kong Electronics Fair. Dealing with customers face to face is my strength. By inviting customers to the exhibition, on-site negotiations and field visits, I am confident that I can achieve this goal.
By reviewing the goal, we can quickly get into the state, and all employees are moving in the same direction, thus entering the next step of the review.
Compare the results
Compare the results with the expected goals to find the difference between the actual results and the expected goals. The purpose of making such a comparison is to discover the problems, find out where the gaps occur, and find out the reasons for the gaps.
The salesmen all exceeded their expected goals, increasing sales by $15 million over the company’s expected goals.
By comparing the results, the salesmen can quickly enter the mental context of setting goals at the beginning of the year by stating their respective goals, and can clearly see the final results, grasp the “beginning” and “end” of the business from a global perspective, and begin to recall where there are accidents and surprises, and what phenomena need special attention. In this way, the focus can be clear and the main and secondary can be clearly distinguished in the subsequent narration, so that the audience can also be mentally prepared.