What’s the best way to make your quota every month?

Figure out a way to make it in your first week instead of your last week.

Quotas are arbitrary numbers, mostly set by people who can’t make sales. People who concentrate predominantly on “numbers.”

Most salespeople who can’t make quota lack either selling skills or a deep belief in what they sell. If this is you, get more skills or change jobs.

REALITY: You know what to do. So why don’t you do it?

Here are 7.5 reasons you don’t hit your numbers: (The remedies are provided in parentheses).

1. You don’t know what your numbers really are. (Start backwards: How many prospects does it take to get an appointment? How many appointments to get a sale?)

2. You are not working consistent numbers. (Make time to set appointments and do follow-ups.)

3. You’re on your own and don’t know how to do it. (Poor sales training. Get some soon!)

4. You’re lazy. (Find new employment.)

5. You have poor work habits. (You can change them with 30 days of doing it differently.)

6. Bad boss. (This is no reason to fail, if you are determined enough to succeed.)

7. No or ineffective information documentation. (Get a laptop and do it yourself.)

7.5. Low, poor or unfair compensation package. (Change jobs.)

If you’re struggling to make quota, consider this: Suppose your quota were doubled and you had to make 25 percent of your quota each week instead of your whole quota on the last day of the month (which is what you’re doing now). Could you do it?

ANSWER: Sure you can — on one condition: Your pipeline has to have enough prospective sales in it. Let’s say your quota is $50,000 a month in sales ($12,500 a week), your commission rate is 10 percent and your closing ratio is 25 percent. In order to make your $50,000 quota in a month, you must have $200,000 worth of sales in your pipeline (or at least $50,000 in any given week).

Let’s break it down further. Let’s say it takes you three calls to get one appointment. So if it takes you four appointments to get one sale — it will take you 12 calls to get to one sale. See how easy it is, once you break the numbers down? If you’re not lying about your numbers, then making your quota is only a matter of filling your pipeline by working your own numbers.

Keeping your pipeline full boils down to your work ethic and your self-discipline. How good are they? How consistent are they? Without them, you should consider another job, because you won’t make it in sales.

Here are the numbers rules of thumb to keep your sales pipeline (and your wallet) full:

Make 10 new prospect calls per day.

Make 10 new appointments per week. Preferably by Monday.

Make 10 follow-up calls per day.

Make one strong face-to-face presentation in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Take prospects or customers to breakfast or lunch four times a week.

Take your boss to lunch once a week.

Attend at least one business networking function per week.

Have something memorable (new information, good ideas or creative ad specialties) to give your prospects so they talk about you in a positive way after the meeting.

Oh, and keep detailed sales records on some kind of database. If you don’t record what you do each day, your ability to follow up is nil.

Go back to the best week you ever had and look at the numbers that made it happen. I guarantee if you work those numbers every week, your sales (and earnings) will soar. All it takes is self-determination and hard work.

FINAL ANSWER: Most salespeople don’t make quota because they don’t have enough in their pipeline, and the reason you don’t have enough in your pipeline is that you’re not working hard enough to fill it. If it doesn’t go into the pipe, it’s never going to come out of the pipe. That’s why they call it a pipeline.

Want to know an even better way to make your quota? Don’t set quotas, set goals. To find out more, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you are a first-time user, and enter GOALS in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.

© 2006 Jeffrey H. Gitomer