A SMART goal for sales is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, so anyone on the team can tell on any given day whether they are on track. The best ones pair one result, like pipeline created, with one or two habits that drive it.
This guide covers what each letter means in sales, examples for ten roles, skill goals you can measure, a 30-minute way to set goals with your team and how to track them without micromanaging. For how company, team and personal targets fit together, start with our guide to sales goals.
What makes a sales goal SMART?
A sales goal is SMART when it passes five tests: it names one thing, has a number, starts from what the person did last quarter, feeds the team's target and has a date. Here is one filled in for an SDR at Corvane, a fictional software company.
- S
Specific
Qualified meetings with VPs of Sales at SaaS companies.
- M
Measurable
14 meetings held, as logged in the CRM.
- A
Achievable
Last quarter: 10 held, in the same territory.
- R
Relevant
Feeds the team's new-customer target.
- T
Time-bound
By June 30, checked at weeks 4 and 8.
Written as one sentence, the goal reads:
Hold 14 qualified meetings with VPs of Sales at SaaS companies by June 30, up from 10 last quarter.
For an account executive, the same five tests produce a revenue goal with the habit written next to it:
Close $210,000 in new annual revenue by September 30, up from $175,000 last quarter, with a mutual action plan on every deal above $25,000.
Each letter has a test you can run on any goal before you agree to it:
| Letter | What it means in sales | The test |
|---|---|---|
| S | One outcome, one segment or one behavior | Would two people reading it count the same thing? |
| M | A number, and a place where it is counted | Where will you check it next Monday? |
| A | A stretch from last quarter's actual, with the same time and territory | What did this person reach last quarter? |
| R | Tied to the team's target and its strategy | Which team number does it feed? |
| T | A deadline, plus checkpoints before it | What should be true at week 4 and week 8? |
The acronym comes from a November 1981 article by George T. Doran in Management Review, "There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives". In Doran's version, the A stood for assignable ("specify who will do it") and the R for realistic. The assignable test is worth keeping in a sales team: a goal shared by the whole team, with no single owner, is easy for each person to leave to someone else. For a short walk through each letter, watch the session SMART goals.
What are good SMART goal examples for sales?
Good examples are short enough to remember and come with the habit that gets the person there. Here are SMART goals for ten roles in a B2B sales team. The numbers are fictional; replace them with your own team's history.
| Role | SMART goal | Habit behind it |
|---|---|---|
| SDR, outbound | 14 qualified meetings held by June 30, up from 10 | 50 first touches a day, in two morning blocks |
| SDR, inbound | 35% of demo requests turned into held meetings this quarter, up from 28% | First reply within 15 minutes during business hours |
| New hire, first 90 days | 4 qualified opportunities created by day 60 | Two shadowed calls and one role play a week |
| Account executive, mid-market | $210,000 in new annual revenue closed by September 30 | A mutual action plan on every deal above $25,000 |
| Account executive, enterprise | 3 deals above $100,000 signed by December 31 | The economic buyer met before every proposal |
| Account manager | $90,000 in expansion revenue from the top 15 accounts this half | One expansion conversation per account per quarter |
| Sales engineer | Technical win on 80% of evaluations this quarter, up from 70% | A written success plan agreed before every pilot |
| Sales manager | 6 of 8 people at 80% of target or more by June 30 | One coached call per person per week |
| Sales enablement | Every new hire passing the discovery role play by day 30 | A role-play review with each new hire every Friday |
| VP of Sales | Win rate from qualified opportunity up from 20% to 24% by year end | A monthly review of lost deals by reason |
Every row pairs a result with a habit. The result tells the person where they stand. The habit tells them what to do tomorrow morning. Pick the habit from where the person's funnel leaks: if deals stall after the first meeting, the habit belongs in discovery. Our guide on how to increase sales shows how to find that stage.
SMART goals for skills
Result goals tell you whether someone won. Skill goals tell you why, and they are the ones a person controls on every call. Each skill below comes from the sales techniques a team uses at each stage of the deal.
| Skill | SMART goal | How you check it |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Ask about the cost of the problem in 8 of 10 first calls this month | Two recorded calls reviewed each week |
| Next steps | End 90% of calls with a dated next meeting by the end of the quarter | The next-step field in the CRM |
| Objection handling | Score 4 of 5 on the price-objection role play by May 15 | A role play scored by the manager |
| Multithreading | Three contacts from different roles on every deal above $30,000 by June 30 | Contacts per deal in the CRM |
Some skills are hard to count. Doran allowed for this: he wrote that not every objective will have all five criteria. When a skill resists a clean number, use a scored call or a role play as the measure. It is close enough to track, and it keeps the goal about how the work is done.
How do you set SMART goals with your team in 30 minutes?
Set them in a one-on-one, with the person's numbers from last quarter open. Thirty minutes is enough once the team target is known. The order matters, because each step uses the one before.
- Start from the team number (5 minutes). Take the team's target for the quarter, plus the buffer your leadership adds for people who miss. Make sure the target fits the team's strategy: if the plan is to grow inside current customers, our guide to sales strategies shows why expansion goals have to lead.
- Split it by role and by person (10 minutes). Work back from the average deal size and your conversion rates to the deals, opportunities and meetings each person needs. Adjust for tenure, territory and ramp time.
- Pick one result goal (5 minutes). Write it as a single sentence with a number, a date and last quarter's actual next to it.
- Add the habit that drives it (5 minutes). Ask, with a recent call in front of you: "If you got better at one thing on calls this quarter, what would move your number most?" The answer becomes the habit or the skill goal.
- Agree where progress shows (5 minutes). Name the one report or CRM view you will both check every week, and put the week-4 and week-8 checkpoints on the calendar.
Here is what the process does to a goal for an account executive at Brightline Dental, a fictional company selling software to dental clinics:
As first written
A wish, with nothing to check:
- Close more deals this quarter
- No number, no date and no habit behind it
After 30 minutes
The same goal, made SMART:
- $150,000 in new revenue closed by June 30, up from $120,000
- A mutual action plan on every deal above $15,000
- Checked every Monday in the pipeline review
If the person's best accounts bring most of their revenue, point the habit there. Our post on the 80/20 rule in sales shows how to find those accounts.
How do you track SMART goals without micromanaging?
Track them in one short review a week, inside the one-on-one you already hold. Fifteen minutes is enough to look at two things: whether the result is on pace and whether the habit is happening. Together they tell you what the conversation should be about.
| Habit on pace | Habit behind | |
|---|---|---|
| Result on pace | Talk about the skill goal. If it was easy, raise the bar next quarter | Ask what is working instead. The habit may be the wrong one |
| Result behind | Review a call. The work is happening, but it isn't converting | Find the time first. Ask what took the hours this week |
The bottom-right box is the one to watch. When both the result and the habit are behind, the cause is often time: internal meetings, admin, deals that will never close. Our guide to sales productivity covers where a seller's week goes and how to get hours back.
Three questions keep the review short and on the goal:
- "Where is the number against the pace we agreed?"
- "Did the habit happen this week, and where did it slip?"
- "Which call should we listen to together?"
The person answers first. A manager who opens with the dashboard turns the review into an audit. A manager who opens with the questions hears what the person already knows about their week, and saves the dashboard for the gaps.
Use the checkpoints for bigger calls. At week 4, ask whether the goal still fits: a lost territory or a big account that churned can make a fair goal impossible. At week 8, decide what to do in the last five weeks. Rewriting a goal mid-quarter for a real change is fair. Rewriting it only because the person is behind teaches the team that goals move.
What are the most common mistakes with SMART goals?
Most SMART goals that fail pass all five letters on paper. The problems are in what gets measured and who sets the number.
For setting the targets themselves, watch the session how to plan and hit your sales quotas.
Frequently asked questions
Should SDR goals be activity or outcome based?
Both. Give an SDR one outcome goal, such as qualified meetings held, and one activity goal that feeds it, such as first touches a day. Activity alone gets gamed with low-quality calls, and an outcome alone gives the person nothing to do on Monday. New SDRs in their first month can lean on activity goals while they learn.
How many goals should one person in sales have?
Three or four: one result goal, one or two habit goals that drive it and one skill goal. With more than four, people stop checking them, and the weekly review turns into a status report.
Is there a list of SMART sales goals examples I can copy?
Yes. The tables in this guide list SMART goals for ten sales roles and four skills, each with the habit or the check behind it. Copy the row closest to the role, then replace the numbers with that person's results from last quarter.
Where to start
Take one person's goal for next quarter and run it through the five tests in the card above. Rewrite whatever fails, add the habit behind it and put the week-4 checkpoint on both calendars. For how that goal fits the team's number, go back to our guide to sales goals.