What is sales success? It’s a question I often pose to super successful business owners, and surprisingly, many of them don’t have a clear answer. It’s not that their responses are wrong—they simply don’t have an answer at all. They have sales teams, they meet with them regularly, and they strategize around high-value deals. Yet, they’ve never defined what success looks like at both the team and individual levels.
I firmly believe that having a strong, clear, and measurable definition of sales success is essential for the ongoing growth of any sales team. This definition shapes what we do every day as leaders and salespeople. It allows us to quickly determine whether certain activities are high-value or low-value. It’s also the backbone of sales accountability—how can you be held accountable to an undefined standard? Without it, everything becomes unclear.
So, what is sales success? The truth is, it varies from team to team. It depends on where your business is (startup, high growth, market leader), who the rep is (a seasoned veteran vs. a new hire), what the role entails (business development, account management, or hybrid), and your company’s strategy (securing new clients, outpacing a competitor, or breaking into new markets).
At its core, sales success should begin with sales numbers but shouldn’t be strictly confined to dollar amounts. There are other key goals that matter in the sales journey—goals with specific strategies and actions tied to them, all of which contribute to sales success.
This is why I’m such a strong advocate of sales planning sessions. These sessions help us define sales success, create alignment between the company’s overall strategy and the sales team’s day-to-day activities, and provide clarity on how success is measured and how we’re held accountable to it.
For more details on sales planning, check out this blog post.
If you can’t clearly articulate what sales success looks like for your business, or if your team members have differing opinions on it, take the time to get crystal clear on this definition. Doing so will give you a solid foundation for rolling out future sales leadership initiatives.
Cheers!
