Do you set a sales goal every month, which feeds your overall sales goal for the year?

If your answer is “sometimes”, you are not alone. It’s an important step that a lot of retailers miss (or skip) for one of these reasons:

• They get too busy.
• They think because creating a sales goal is “guesswork”, it doesn’t really matter if they do it or not.
• They’ve set a goal in the past and didn’t reach it. It’s hard to get your hopes up only to have them dashed, and now it feels to depressing to set a goal. What’s the point, right?

Why Sales Goals are Important

Here is why you should:

1. It serves as motivation for you and your team 
2. It provides a tangible metric for how your team and your inventory is performing
3. It is the basis for the action you need to take each month

Setting realistic sales goals is so important for your inventory planning.

Because planning what and how much inventory to order is only part of your inventory management. You also need a plan for selling that inventory!

In fact, your sales goal should be realistic, accurate and based on several factors, with only a tiny bit of guessing added in (since our crystal ball is bound to be a little fuzzy at times). 

How to Set a Sales Goal

First, start by looking at last year’s numbers. For most months, you will use last year’s sales as a starting point. The exceptions are March/April which will always shift depending on which month Easter falls in, and the holiday season.

For the holiday season, you should always look at last October, November and December sales as they relate to each other. Often you can see a pattern with your sales for these three months and you can use this pattern to predict this year’s holiday season.

Next, you want to keep your annual goal in mind, and pay attention to how your sales have trended so far. Are you ahead? Behind? What else is possible this year?

Then look ahead to what is coming up. Do you have any special events coming up that might impact your sales? 

Once you have your number (which should always scare you a little), start brainstorming which actions you and your team can take this month to reach it!

I have found that to consistently and sustainably grow your sales, you have to:

1. Pay Yourself
2. Manage Your Inventory
3. Strengthen Your Team
4. Grow Your Traffic

In that order! I created the Sales Breakthrough System around these four steps because I myself needed systems and processes that worked, instead of always chasing a sales goal that never materialized.

I break down each of these steps further with action steps you can take right now, in this free training. Sign up for it now and let’s hit that sales goal!

Most store owners start with #4, spending so much time and money driving more people through your doors – and that for sure is important in order to reach your sales goal. BUT if you drive more traffic, and don’t have sufficient margins, or you don’t have the right inventory, or your team can’t support your customers – then the sales just won’t grow.

Go watch the training now to learn more about using the Sales Breakthrough System in your store:

How to increase your sales so you can pay yourself & your staff

There are a lot of components to consider when setting an accurate sales goal, which is something the RETAILMavens have perfected with 93% accuracy using Management One’s Orbit platform. We provide this service to all our private clients in our Profit Club and Mastermind programs every month. Reach out to learn more! 

Let us know in the comments once you have set your sales goal so we can high-five you!