Every seller has struggled making quota at one time in their career.  The reasons it happens are endless, ranging from losing a large client, unrealistic quota, market shift, competitors to bad pipeline management.  The stress to hit the goal can become overwhelming.  To help, I put together steps to help you turn it around.

  1. Acknowledge – Don’t dwell on would’ve, could’ve and should’ve. Instead, accept the changes, and commit to moving forward with new tactics to achieve the goal.  Accepting helps mentally prepare you to handle the challenge.  
  2. Stop Complaining –  Stop complaining and start working.  Your negativity is part of the problem.  If you spill coffee on yourself,  it is an opportunity to upgrade your wardrobe, not a reason to believe the world is working against you.    
  3. Small Plans – Monthly, quarterly and yearly planning is great for aggregated sales numbers, but we need one win at a time.  Start building weekly plans. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday spend your first 15 minutes evaluating and prioritizing that days tasks.  Wednesday, use 30 minutes to review your weekly goal and make adjustments as needed. Around 4 PM on Friday, spend 45 minutes to build next week’s plan and prioritize what you need to get done.  Your plan gives you control over your circumstances.
  4. Change your Goals – This is a must.   When you are missing your number it is easy to get sucked into a  the downward spiral.   Do not set revenue goals, pull it way back.  Revenue is a byproduct of the correct set of activities. To hit your number, you will start by setting goals like the number of new prospects, outbound calls and emails, proposals sent, or whatever are attainable goals you can win on each day.  Winning big starts with doing the small things right.  So let yourself win on the smaller goals.
  5. Obey the law of Sales – A single opportunity will not change the outcome. You need to fill a pipeline, not bet your future on one deal.   The average sales person will need 5 to 10 touches to get their first interaction with a buyer.  Therefore, the more outreach you do, the more meetings will be set, and the more sales will happen.  Typical sales numbers are a 100 quality contacts/leads produces 10 conversations with 3 meetings to 1 deal.  In a rut, a rep may be getting a 100 leads, but only getting 5 conversations, 1 meeting and .05 closes.  Therefore, the rep needs to do 2x the outreach to hit the same level of sales.  Can’t change the law of sales, you can only double down to beat them. 
  6. Stop squeezing the Turnip – You can’t get blood from a turnip. Evaluate who you are selling too. Are they still the right people?  When sales people get into ruts, they go to old clients, some who have not purchased in a considerable amount of time.  Your rut may be because you have not changed with the buying roles.  Make sure your time is spent on real prospects. 
  7. Prospect->Call -> Email -> Meet -> Repeat – Hustle