Missing Targets

29th October 2015

What is the point of setting targets if you don’t hold people accountable to achieving them? I put this to one of my clients recently because it was evident that whilst his sales team had been set clear targets, in 5 out of 9 months they had not hit them. The interesting thing was that overall they were both quite close to their total year to date budget, having had a couple of really good months to help offset the bad ones. So, you might say, does it really matter?

Well in my opinion I think it does for a number of reasons. First, and perhaps the most practical reason, is that it can and had caused some quite serious issues with cash flow. Secondly, it potentially leads to complacency and even laziness from the sales team, because if they secure a couple of big contracts from time to time, in theory it can lead them to coast along for the rest of the year. Lastly it comes back to one of my pet favourites, being that because they have not been held to their monthly targets and there have not been any negative consequences to them for missing budgets over 50% of the time, there is a risk that lethargy will creep in, and the sales team will start to think that no-one really cares what they achieve, good or bad. Once that attitude starts to encroach, then you are on a slippery slope to encouraging mediocrity, which can be hard to turn around.

As I will have said on many occasions it is essential to set targets in all aspects of the business, but once you have done so don’t neglect to follow them up and hold people to them. Be it sales, maintaining stock levels, productivity, customer service or anything else make sure you hold your team responsible and accountable. That way they will know you care, and results are far more likely to keep on improving throughout your business.

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