Strictly speaking, quotas are set so that they can be met. But you’d be surprised to see that data shows that as the years have progressed, the rate of quota achievement has been on the decline, even hitting a rate of 65% in 2022.

Here are a few things that might be holding your teams back from meeting their full potential:

1. They might not know what their targets are
2. Their targets might not reflect their previous performance or capability
3. They might be demotivated
4. They might not be adequately prepared/trained
5. They might not have access to the right kind of content (videos, brochures) to help them close a sale
6. They might not be able to communicate properly with prospects

We’ll look at each of these in a little more detail, and also look at ways to help you navigate through such hitches.

Yes, we know- sales targets are not quite the same as sales quotas, but they are the stepping stones to quota attainment. You might want to switch up your strategy if you just deliver a number to your team members and expect them to hit the quota by themselves at the end of the quarter.

What you need to do is give them a daily view of how they are progressing, how their peers are progressing, and how far they are from meeting their specific goals. This will give them perspective on the direction in which they need to channel their efforts.

Delivering sales quotas (or targets) to your teams in nuggets makes them achievable and will help them get the small wins they need to keep delivering.

We discuss target visibility in more detail in this blog.

Sales quotas usually tend to be one-size-fits-all. This might be a big reason why your teams might be lagging behind. You need to make sure that the targets you set are actually achievable, which means that they need to match how your employees perform.

Your best way to arrive at this number is to analyse past performance, as well as agree upon a target with each of your team members whenever possible. A collaborative approach to target setting might actually prove helpful in the long run. The goals you set for your team need to be realistic, but should also encourage them to step out of their comfort zone, and stretch to reach their fullest capabilities.

Most of the time, quota or target achievement is invariably tied to monetary rewards. But learn what actually motivates your teams. Would it be better job security? Would it be better development opportunities? More flexibility, perhaps? If you cater to your team’s requirements, they will feel more driven and willing to meet their targets.

The reason why salespeople might not meet their quota might simply be because they don’t know the products as well as they should. Or, haven’t had the chance to brush up on their knowledge. Here is where a feed of content can go a long way in helping them succeed. You could publish short training videos every day- they are very easy to make on tools like PPT or Canva. You could run quick quizzes to test their knowledge levels and also recommend remedial content based on their performance.

Doing these things on a regular basis will help your teams retain and revise everything they need to know to have engaging customer interactions.

If you’d like some help with building your training content, this blog would be a good place to start.

Once you build all your content, you will need to make sure that your teams can access it from anywhere. The benefits of this are twofold. One, your teams can quickly fit in a learning session whenever they find the time. Two, they will have all assets they need to assist in their field interactions. A crisp video to showcase a product’s features better, or a quick reference brochure with all your product’s benefits? A repository of such content can help them show more value to their customers.

Teams that are on the field constantly need to learn on the go sometimes, and that’s alright. Helping your teams access the content they want, and where they want it, is the first step to building a culture that promotes continuous learning and development (thereby also enabling its teams to meet their sales quotas.)

Very often, sales reps reach very close to converting leads but their efforts cannot pay off if they are unable to communicate effectively with the customer. Sure, this is an acquired gift, but there are ways that can help your teams get there faster.

In this case, we mean, learn, practice and improve their knowledge and skills.

You could look at this as a three-pronged approach.

This way, not only do you strengthen your team’s abilities, but also prime them to face a customer- anytime, anywhere.

Bsharp happens to have products that are backed by extensive features that were created so that teams like yours can go and score more wins on the field.