A sales goal is a target a person or team commits to reaching in a set period, like $180,000 in new revenue this quarter or 12 qualified meetings this month. The goals that work tie one result to the habits that drive it, so people can see each week whether they are on track.
Goals are where a team's plan turns into numbers each person owns. This guide covers the types of sales goals, how company, team and personal goals fit together, how to set them in five steps and how to track them without micromanaging. For the techniques behind the numbers, start with our guide to sales techniques.
What is a sales goal?
A sales goal is any target that measures progress in sales over a set time. The words goal, target and quota get used as if they mean the same thing. They overlap, but each has its own job.
| Term | What it is | Who sets it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Any outcome you aim for, including skills and habits | The person, their manager or the company | "Run a mutual action plan on every deal above $20,000" |
| Target | A number to hit in a period | Usually the manager or the company | "$600,000 in new revenue for the team this quarter" |
| Quota | The target tied to pay | Sales leadership and finance | "$180,000 in closed revenue per account executive per quarter" |
All quotas are targets and all targets are goals, but not the other way around. That matters because the most useful goals for growth are often not in the comp plan. "Ask one quantifying question on every discovery call" will never be a quota. It may be the goal that gets someone to their quota.
What types of sales goals should a team set?
A complete set of sales goals has three types: results, activities and skills. Most teams only set the first. Results tell you whether you won. Activities and skills tell you why, and they are the only ones a person controls day to day.
Result goals
- Revenue closed
- Pipeline created
- Win rate
- Average deal size
Activity goals
- First meetings held
- Calls and emails
- Deals with a mutual plan
Skill goals
- One technique practiced
- A call score to reach
- A role play passed
A good mix for one person is one result goal, one or two activity goals that feed it and one skill goal. More than four goals and people stop tracking them.
Result goals are the outcome the business needs: revenue, pipeline, retention. They are lagging: by the time you see the number, the quarter is half gone.
Activity goals are the volume of work that produces results: meetings booked, accounts researched, follow-ups sent. They are leading indicators, but they can be gamed. Fifty low-quality calls hit an activity goal and miss every result.
Skill goals are how well the work is done: the quality of discovery, the share of calls that end with a dated next step, the score on a call scorecard. They are the hardest to measure and the ones that change results the most, because better calls convert more of the same activity.
How do company, team and personal sales goals fit together?
Sales goals work as a pyramid. The company goal is at the top, team goals split it by segment or region, and personal goals split each team goal by person. Each layer should add up to the one above, with a little buffer.
- Company goal: $8M new revenue this yearleadership
- Team goals: $2M per segment, by quartermanagers
- Personal goals: a result, an activity and a skill for each personeveryone
Each layer adds up to the one above
Two things keep the pyramid honest:
- Build in a buffer. If the company needs $8M, teams often plan for 10% to 20% more, because some people will miss. The size of the buffer depends on how reliably your team hits its numbers, so look at the last four quarters before you pick one.
- Connect every personal goal to the strategy. If the company strategy is to grow inside existing customers, at least one goal for account managers should be about expansion. Our guide to sales strategies has a matrix to match the strategy to the goal.
A personal goal that doesn't connect to anything above it is a goal nobody will check.
How do you set sales goals for your team?
Setting goals for a team takes about an hour per person the first time and 30 minutes after that. Here is a five-step process that works for a team of any size.
Start from the team number
Take the team's target for the quarter, plus the buffer.
Work backward to activity
Use your win rate and deal size to find the pipeline and meetings needed.
Split it by person
Adjust for tenure, territory and ramp time.
Add one skill goal each
The technique that would move that person's numbers most.
Agree where progress shows
One place everyone checks every week.
The second step is where most of the work is. Here is how the math looks for one account executive at Brightline Dental, a fictional company selling software to dental clinics.
| Step | Number | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly target | $150,000 | Their share of the team goal |
| Average deal size | $15,000 | Last four quarters |
| Deals needed | 10 | $150,000 ÷ $15,000 |
| Win rate from qualified opportunity | 25% | Last four quarters |
| Qualified opportunities needed | 40 | 10 ÷ 25% |
| Share of first meetings that qualify | 50% | Last four quarters |
| First meetings needed | 80 | 40 ÷ 50% |
| First meetings per week | about 6 | 80 ÷ 13 weeks |
Six first meetings a week is a goal the person can act on every Monday. $150,000 in a quarter is not. The table also shows where a skill goal pays off: raising the win rate from 25% to 30% cuts the meetings needed from 80 to about 67.
If the team number itself feels out of reach, how to increase sales shows which levers move it, and the 80/20 rule in sales shows where most of it will come from.
Step four is the one teams skip. Ask each person, with a recent call in front of you: "If you got better at one thing on calls this quarter, what would move your numbers most?" That answer becomes the skill goal.
Can you give an example of a SMART sales goal?
A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Here is one for a sales development representative (SDR):
Book 12 qualified meetings with heads of sales at software companies with 20 to 200 sellers by March 31, up from 9 last quarter.
Each part does a job. "Qualified meetings" is specific. "12" is measurable. "Up from 9" shows it is achievable. "Heads of sales at software companies" ties it to the team's strategy, so it is relevant. "By March 31" makes it time-bound.
A few more, by role:
| Role | SMART goal | Habit that drives it |
|---|---|---|
| SDR | 12 qualified meetings held by March 31 | 40 first-touch calls a day |
| Account executive | $180,000 in new revenue closed this quarter | A mutual action plan on every deal above $20,000 |
| Account manager | 95% of revenue renewed by year end | A business review with each top-10 account |
| Sales manager | Everyone on the team at 80% of target by the end of Q2 | One coached call per person per week |
Every SMART goal in the table pairs with a habit. The result tells you where you stand. The habit tells you what to do tomorrow.
Go deeper: SMART goals for sales has more examples for SDRs, account executives, account managers and sales managers, and a 30-minute way to set them with your team.
How do you track sales goals without micromanaging?
Track goals in one short weekly review, not daily check-ins. A good review takes 15 minutes per person and looks at three things: where the result stands, whether the activity is on pace and one call that shows the skill goal in action.
What to look at, and what to leave alone:
| Look at every week | Leave alone |
|---|---|
| Pipeline created against the pace needed | Daily call counts, unless someone is far behind |
| Deals that moved stage, or didn't | Every email someone sent |
| One recorded call tied to the skill goal | Time spent in the CRM |
| What the person needs from you | Activity numbers when results are on track |
The rule of thumb: if the result is on track, talk about the skill goal. If the result is behind, look at activity first, then at the calls. A person with enough meetings and a low win rate needs coaching on calls, not more meetings.
Goals also depend on time. If half of someone's week goes to admin, no goal will fix it. Our guide to sales productivity covers where a seller's time goes and how to get more of it back.
What are the most common mistakes with sales goals?
Most goal problems come from a few repeated mistakes. Check your current goals against this list.
For a deeper look at setting targets a team can hit, watch the session 7 essentials to setting sales targets your team can hit. For the quota side, how to meet your quota consistently covers the weekly habits behind it.
Where to start
Take your team's number for next quarter, work it back to first meetings with the table above and give each person one result, one activity and one skill goal. Review them every week in 15 minutes. For the techniques that move the skill goals, go back to our guide to sales techniques.