25 sales goals examples: activity, pipeline, revenue and skills

Sales activity goals

Activity goals are the ones you can finish today, whatever the customer decides.

• Make 20 calls a day for 30 days.
• Contact 50 new prospects a week.
• Book 10 meetings a month.
• Follow up on every lead within 24 hours for a quarter.
• Send 5 personal emails before 10 am every working day.

Pipeline goals

Pipeline goals count open deals and how fast they move, so you see a slow month before it arrives.

• Keep 20 open opportunities at all times.
• Move 5 deals a week to the next stage.
• Reactivate 20 old leads this month.
• Ask every new customer for one referral.
• Update your pipeline every Friday for a quarter.

Revenue and monthly sales goals

Revenue goals are totals that add up toward a target, month by month.

• Close 10 new customers this quarter.
• Hit your monthly target 3 months running.
• Bring in 100,000 in new revenue this year.
• Raise your average deal size by 10 percent.
• Renew 9 customers out of 10.

Sales skill goals

Skill goals are practice, and practice in sales means hearing yourself. A pitch is a short talk, so public speaking goals apply directly.

• Record and review one call a week.
• Practise answers to objections for 15 minutes a week for 8 weeks.
• Give your demo with no notes.
• Sit in on 5 calls with your best colleague.
• Read one sales book a quarter and test one idea a week.

Sales goals for a small business

Small business goals are about the first customers and the habit of talking to them. Many of those customers arrive through what you publish, which is the subject of content creator goals.

• Win your first 10 paying customers.
• Make 1,000 in sales in your first month.
• Have 5 customer conversations a week.
• Collect 12 testimonials in 12 months.
• Raise your prices once this year.

What is a good sales goal?

A good sales goal is specific, hard, and has an activity under it. Much goal setting research was done at work: a review of 35 years of studies found that specific, hard goals lead to higher performance than being told to do your best. "Sell more" is a do your best goal. "10 new customers this quarter" is not.

A target on its own is not a plan, because a customer can always say no. Work backwards. If 1 meeting in 4 becomes a customer, then 10 customers need 40 meetings, and 40 meetings need a number of calls you can count every day.

Check the numbers once a week. A weekly review is where you see that the calls are happening and the meetings are not, while there is still time in the month to fix it.

How to track sales goals

Log activity the day it happens, not at the end of the month. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

Revenue and calls are amounts that add up toward a target. Days you hit your activity number are a day count, the shape most work challenge ideas use.

A sales dashboard can show dozens of numbers. One picture that fills up toward one target is easier to look at before the first call of the day.

Frequently asked questions

What are examples of sales goals?

Make 20 calls a day for 30 days. Book 10 meetings a month. Close 10 new customers this quarter. Bring in 100,000 in new revenue this year. Record and review one call a week.

What is the difference between an activity goal and a revenue goal?

A revenue goal is a result: money in. An activity goal is the work that leads to it: calls, meetings, follow ups. You control the activity, and the activity is what moves the revenue.

How do I set a monthly sales goal?

Start from the revenue you want and work backwards through your own numbers: how many customers that is, how many meetings they take, and how many calls those meetings take. The last number is your daily goal.