Your 2021 goals: How are they coming along? It’s past the six-​month mark of the year, so it’s definitely time to assess where your sales stand. With a few months left, you still have major opportunity to meet, and exceed, quota. The RAIN Group Center for Sales Research recently identified eight areas that reps should focus to meet their goals, a few of which are below:

• Get close to your customers
• Maximize sales to existing accounts
• Discount less

2021 goals: Key areas for focus

RAIN Group first identified what they call “top-​performing sales organizations” as the status to aspire to and for good reason. Top performers:

• Have high win rates (an average win rate of 62%)
• Meet annual sales goals (twice as likely to meet goals as “the rest”)proi
• Have challenging sales goals
• Achieve maximum pricing

As you can see, top-​achieving sellers are a group worth aspiring to be in. And with RAIN Group’s research-​proven tips, you can join them and reach your 2021 goals.

 Get close to customers. You absolutely must know the buyers you work with. It’s imperative that you are familiar with them, their business and how your solution fits. Top-​performing organizations are 46% more likely to say sellers have “fluent, expert knowledge of their customers.” Additionally, they are also most likely to say that their sales process is customer focused. As Media Sales Today reported, sellers must have a buyer-​first mentality to compete these days: “Prioritizing the relationship and putting the buyer at the center of the product selection process holds the key to success in modern selling.”

Maximize sales to existing accounts. If you don’t think you’ll meet your 2021 goals, ask yourself, “How much attention have I paid to my current clients?” These buyers shouldn’t be neglected once a contract is signed. Additionally, they have the potential to add even more revenue through upselling and cross-​selling. Examine these accounts to uncover additional areas of opportunity as top performers do. And make account management a priority; you’ll also be securing future revenue by encouraging renewals and retention. This is so important that RAIN Group found the ability to maximize sales at existing accounts to be the number one difference between top sellers and “the rest.”

Discount less. You’re not likely to exceed, or even meet, those 2021 goals by heavy discounting. “Organizations that discount more than 50% of their sales opportunities win only 41% of their sales compared to 48% of those who discount less frequently.” That shocking stat shows that discounting does not lead to more wins. Instead, focus on value every single step of the sales process. Not sure how to do that? Check out these tips from Media Sales Today.

There’s still time

2021 closes out in a few months, so you still have time to implement these suggestions into your strategy. By doing so, you'll work more efficiently and effectively, aligning yourself with top performers who have proven success.

Photo by Moritz Knöringer