Sales Target Question

O

Optional

Guys, I have a question....

I manage a sales team - I set exceptionally high targets for my 5 salesguys...My superiors felt that the targets would be too high (30% higher than the previous year) and might demoralize my team.
I left them at +30% because should they hit their monthly, quarterly, and annual targets, the sales guys would do very well...

Anyways, the team OBLITERATED all sales goals, doing 80% more than last year....the previous 3 years at the company saw sales growth of 15, 5, and 5%, respectively. So clearly this was a pleasant surprise.

My question now is this - since we took sales so high so quickly, we are nearly reaching our operational capacity, and I'm not sure how much higher to set next year's sales goals. If I set them too high, it's going to make it very difficult for the team to make commissions...also, since we are a public company, I feel that any decline in sales will reflect poorly on the company's financials (if we did 40 million this year, but only 36 million next year, we will get pounded, despite the fact we did only 22 million the prior year).....

Any advice is appreciated....
 
Quote from Optional:

Guys, I have a question....

I manage a sales team - I set exceptionally high targets for my 5 salesguys...My superiors felt that the targets would be too high (30% higher than the previous year) and might demoralize my team.
I left them at +30% because should they hit their monthly, quarterly, and annual targets, the sales guys would do very well...

Anyways, the team OBLITERATED all sales goals, doing 80% more than last year....the previous 3 years at the company saw sales growth of 15, 5, and 5%, respectively. So clearly this was a pleasant surprise.

My question now is this - since we took sales so high so quickly, we are nearly reaching our operational capacity, and I'm not sure how much higher to set next year's sales goals. If I set them too high, it's going to make it very difficult for the team to make commissions...also, since we are a public company, I feel that any decline in sales will reflect poorly on the company's financials (if we did 40 million this year, but only 36 million next year, we will get pounded, despite the fact we did only 22 million the prior year).....

Any advice is appreciated....
More...

You have to attribute the exceptional sales to some outside variable that was key only for this sales period. That way you can set the goals lower since that variable wont be present next period. Or add a member to the sales team to help reach the goals next period. As far as reflecting bad on financials, thats just how she goes. You cant worry about that. Companies just go through cycles. The added cash from the sells on hand will offset lower sales next year. Maybe someone with more management experience can add on....
 
Quote from Optional:

Guys, I have a question....

I manage a sales team - I set exceptionally high targets for my 5 salesguys...My superiors felt that the targets would be too high (30% higher than the previous year) and might demoralize my team.
I left them at +30% because should they hit their monthly, quarterly, and annual targets, the sales guys would do very well...

Anyways, the team OBLITERATED all sales goals, doing 80% more than last year....the previous 3 years at the company saw sales growth of 15, 5, and 5%, respectively. So clearly this was a pleasant surprise.

My question now is this - since we took sales so high so quickly, we are nearly reaching our operational capacity, and I'm not sure how much higher to set next year's sales goals. If I set them too high, it's going to make it very difficult for the team to make commissions...also, since we are a public company, I feel that any decline in sales will reflect poorly on the company's financials (if we did 40 million this year, but only 36 million next year, we will get pounded, despite the fact we did only 22 million the prior year).....

Any advice is appreciated....
More...
what's the symbol? How much are you going to miss by? When do you report? thanks for the inside info
 
Quote from oldtime:

what's the symbol? How much are you going to miss by? When do you report? thanks for the inside info
More...
shouldn't be hard to find, just look for a company that did 22m last year and 40m this year. Not sure if that's worth shorting, but it's a start. I mean he did say it would get pounded.
 
once it's posted on the internet it's no longer inside information. Your ass may be grass, but they can't pin anything on me.
 
Oh its not inside info since our quarterlies are announced showing ytd results which have already trounced last years and is clearly heading towards an estimated target. But go ahead and try and find it.
Thanks master for the good words - anyone else with sales management experience?
 
Quote from Optional:

Oh its not inside info since our quarterlies are announced showing ytd results which have already trounced last years and is clearly heading towards an estimated target. But go ahead and try and find it.
Thanks master for the good words - anyone else with sales management experience?
More...
you're welcome, but when it comes to stocks I'm not really a master. As far as target shooting for traders, most prefer the 3:1 ratio. So just figure out what the worst may be and set the target three times that.
 
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