With no previous track record or market demand estimation!
Most small business owners focus on growth, and when we ask them how and where they want to grow, the usual answer is acquiring clients, developing, and expanding, etc. However, these responses lack specificity, measurability, attainability, relevance, and time-bound attributes. Sales targets should be considered as SMART goals.
Whether the business owner is personally responsible for sales or has hired sales managers or has Outsourced sales to a company as partner , specifying sales targets and monitoring them in periods are necessary.
How can small businesses establish sales targets?
When a small business lacks a long previous years’ record and struggles to predict market demand, sales statistics become challenging. In such cases,
“Cost Reverse Engineering”
could be helpful:
How?
Business owners can calculate the next three years’ expenses ( three years in considered as an example, business owners could consider more or less years) for their business. Then, based on the margin, they can calculate sales for the next three years to make the business profitable.
For example, in the first year, there might be a “A” euro loss, no loss in the second year, and a “B” euro profit in the third year. Through a simple calculation, we can determine how much the business should sell in the first, second, and third years.
Now we have a roadmap for sales managers (inhouse or outsourcing sales partner) and the next step is implementing marketing campaigns and sales strategies.
How do you specify sales targets as a roadmap for your sales managers, and how do you measure them?”
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