MKiMAGES
By Dave Fellman
Is there any difference between a sales quota and a sales goal? In terms of managing salespeople, I think there definitely is. It's one thing to point someone toward a goal and say "Here's what I'd like to see you accomplish." It's something completely different to assign a salesperson a quota and say "You need to reach this sales figure, or else your job is in jeopardy."
The issue here is accountability, which should be a watchword for serious printers. Not just with salespeople, but with everyone in the organization. As a manager, you have the final say in defining the rules, the roles, and the responsibilities of your employees. You're also the final authority on how much volume you need to get from your salesforce. As many managers have learned the hard way, it's not always—or even usually—enough to simply set a goal. You have to be able to enforce that goal to give yourself the best chance of attaining it.
Notice that I'm saying you and yourself. The way I look at it, only the owner of a printing company can afford the luxury of a working toward a goal rather that a quota. Though the truth is, the owner is pretty accountable no matter what you call the ultimate sales objective.
Contribution
When you're counting on others to help you attain that sales objective, the best way to manage the process is to break the contribution you need from each salesperson out into an assigned quota. And while a quota does—and should—imply a threat to a salesperson's continued employment, it also gives you a more "positive" motivational opportunity.
I'm a firm believer that salespeople who attain their quotas should be rewarded. By providing the potential for reward, you address the motivational issue from both sides. The reward pulls from ahead, and the threat of negative consequences pushes from behind. That's a combination that should get any reasonable person out of bed in the morning, and out making sales calls.
And by the way, I'm not saying that I think every salesperson who fails to meet his or her quota should be fired. I think there should actually be three possibilities. At the "top" end of those possibilities is the salesperson who reaches or exceeds quota and is rewarded. At the "bottom" end is the person who doesn't even get close, who doesn't work hard enough, who turns out not to have what it takes to meet your sales needs. That person shouldn’t be working for you!
In the middle, there should be a "grace zone" for the salesperson who gets most of the way there. By that I mean at least 85%-90%, and showing real potential to do better. The "grace zone" is especially important if you end up with any doubts that you might have set quotas too high in the first place. In this "middle" zone, the only pain the salesperson suffers is in not earning the reward.
But even that has some motivational value. I remember being told once that the two best words in the English language are “next time.”
Dave Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, Cary, NC, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact Dave by phone at 919-363-4068 or by e-mail at dmf@davefellman.com. Visit his website at www.davefellman.com.