{"id":11343,"date":"2016-12-20T10:05:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T10:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T15:57:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T15:57:48","slug":"six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Questions That Will Help Your Salespeople Set and Follow Through on the Right Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Our experience with sales teams is that less than 20% of all salespeople set written goals of any kind. We estimate that the income of this elite minority of salespeople is predictably and consistently greater than the 80-plus percent who don\u2019t set written goals \u2014 combined!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can help each of the members of your team join the ranks of the top performers\u2026 by helping them to craft strong written goals. During a one-on-one meeting \u2014 a period where you know the two of you will not be interrupted for at least an hour \u2014 give the salesperson you\u2019re working with, eight sheets of paper. Each sheet should have a different headline, as set out below, but otherwise, should be blank. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Personal<\/li><li>Health<\/li><li>Social<\/li><li>Spiritual<\/li><li>Financial<\/li><li>Learning<\/li><li>Career<\/li><li>Family<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, ask the salesperson to create a list of brief bullet items that reflect what he or she wants to accomplish in each area over the coming 90 days. Encourage the salesperson to spend some time with you on this \u201cbrainstorming\u201d phase, identifying everything that\u2019s truly important to him or her in each area. The more open discussion the salesperson is willing to have with you about each bullet item, the better. Once this brainstorming step is complete, ask the salesperson to revise the eight lists of goals so that all the goals in each category are listed in order of importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the salesperson is just getting started with written goals, you may want to suggest that he or she focus on one modest \u201cstretch\u201d goal in each of the eight areas. Encourage the salesperson to pick something that will force him or her to stretch beyond their current comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One written goal in particular should stand out from all the rest as the&nbsp;<em>salesperson\u2019s primary personal and professional goal.<\/em>&nbsp;This should be the goal that means the most to the salesperson on a gut level. Identify it! Make sure the salesperson owns this goal, and is stating it in his or her own words. (For instance: \u201cI want to have $40,000 in the bank by March 31, so my fianc\u00e9e and I can make a down payment on a house.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Once you identify that goal, you\u2019re ready to ask the salesperson these six critical questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How committed are you to achieving this goal \u2013 and why?<\/li><li>What will achieving this goal do for you as a person?<\/li><li>What behaviors will you have to change to accomplish this goal?<\/li><li>Who would be an appropriate accountability partner for you on this goal?<\/li><li>What is the next step you should take to achieve this goal?<\/li><li>How will you celebrate when you achieve this goal?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Commit to working with the salesperson by helping him or her create brief written answers to each question. Help the salesperson set up a plan for the attainment of this one major goal. Schedule appropriate check-in meetings. Say exactly what you\u2019ll do to support the salesperson\u2019s efforts \u2014 and then do what you promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandler.com\/resources\/webinars\/goal-setting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Want to learn more? Check out our goal-setting webinar for more tips!\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our experience with sales teams is that less than 20% of all salespeople set written goals of any kind. We estimate that the income of this elite minority of salespeople is predictably and consistently greater than the 80-plus percent who don\u2019t set written goals \u2014 combined! You can help each of the members of your&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":11344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[1133,1033,1035],"class_list":["post-11343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-goal-setting","tag-leadership","tag-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Page Title Six Questions That Will Help Your Salespeople Set and Follow Through on the Right Goals | Sandler Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our experience with sales teams is that less than 20% of all salespeople set written goals of any kind. We estimate that the income of this elite minority of salespeople is predictably and consistently greater than the 80-plus percent who don\u2019t set written goals \u2014 combined!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Page Title Six Questions That Will Help Your Salespeople Set and Follow Through on the Right Goals | Sandler Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our experience with sales teams is that less than 20% of all salespeople set written goals of any kind. We estimate that the income of this elite minority of salespeople is predictably and consistently greater than the 80-plus percent who don\u2019t set written goals \u2014 combined!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sandler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-20T10:05:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-18T15:57:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Six-Questions-That-Will-Help-Your-Salespeople-Set-and-Follow-Through-on-the-Right-Goals.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"697\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"465\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexa Ray\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexa Ray\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/\",\"name\":\"Page Title Six Questions That Will Help Your Salespeople Set and Follow Through on the Right Goals | Sandler Training\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/six-questions-will-help-your-salespeople-set-and-follow-through-right-goals\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Six-Questions-That-Will-Help-Your-Salespeople-Set-and-Follow-Through-on-the-Right-Goals.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-20T10:05:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-18T15:57:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/#\/schema\/person\/018700f8e289bef3875442b2b77d16a9\"},\"description\":\"Our experience with sales teams is that less than 20% of all salespeople set written goals of any kind. 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