2021 is looming. It's time to set goals and expectations for the new year. It's always difficult to gaze into your crystal ball and project the next 12 months. You never know what will happen: take a look at 2020! Who would have ever anticipated the past few months? And yet, we need to establish revenue budgets so that we may create total station budgets.
Most of us have experienced reduced paychecks this year, due to the pandemic.
Even in normal years, as salespeople and sales managers, we may dread the goal-setting process. Since the COVID crisis has not yet totally resolved itself, how do we predict 2021? Pandemic or not, in reality, our process should not be focused on what management wants you to bill. It should be focused on what you want to earn. At the end of the day, you determine your paycheck. How you spend your billable hours, how you respond to changing market conditions, will ultimately determine your earnings. This will become critical in the new year as we make plans to recover our income levels.
There is a simple formula to calculate what you will need to bill to earn what you wish to earn.
Amount I want to earn________________________________________
Divided by:
Commission rate ____________________________________________
Equals:
How much I must bill _________________________________________
Next, divide that total yearly amount into months. What must the billing be for each month, and what will you earn that month?
This exercise gives you a starting place to plan your efforts for the coming year. Now that you know what you must bill monthly, you can calculate how many face-to-face calls you will need to make each day to achieve that billing level:
Monthly goal:______________________________________________
Divided by:
Average order: _____________________________________________
Equals:
Number of orders needed: _____________________________________
Divided by:
Closing ratio %: ____________________________________________
Equals:
Number of meetings needed: ___________________________________
Divided by:
Number of work days in a month: ________________________________
Equals:
Number of meetings per day: ___________________________________
Sales is a numbers game. Once you know your numbers, you have a roadmap to recovering your income in 2021.
Happy Selling!
