Let’s begin with an example. Suppose you are selling construction materials for a specific territory, which we will call Canada, in which you have a lot of success. Now that you are successful and you have made a market analysis, you believe you could expand your sales territory to the United States.

From there, you must consider the different elements you will need to approach, such as the differences of factors between the United States and Canada, and how you are going to approach those elements. That is what it looks like to build your strategy in a very specific sliver.

But, from now, I’ll look at the subject in a much more basic perspective.

I see many sales leaders struggling to establish reliable sales forecasts for the coming year. This is a very difficult exercise that leaves all managers and sales leaders with headaches.

However, you can improve the quality of your forecasts and avoid some very common mistakes.

1. Consider unusual gains as reproducible

Companies wishing to establish a recurring revenue business model are looking to ensure the stability and profitability of their organization.

However, before doing so, it is important to be aware of the impact that this realignment will have internally, particularly on the structure of the sales team and the compensation plan. It is also necessary to acquire the right technology to support such a reorientation.

Many factors influence a salesperson’s success in closing a sale. There’s a high level of adversity in sales, and at the end of the day, the decision to close remains with the buyer. No matter how well they execute the sales process, sales reps have no direct control over sales results.

Therefore, when a salesperson loses a sale, it’s important they remain confident and motivated. The best way to do that is to establish clear personal objectives.

It’s crucial for sales managers to know what these individual objectives are to motivate their sales teams. 

In sales, there's an endless number of indicators you can follow. You need to choose the ones you want to track based on what you want to measure. Picking KPIs can get complicated because those that track results are often privileged at the expense of the ones that allow you to look ahead.

Lagging indicators help you take events into account only once they've occurred. In contrast, you measure leading indicators in real time..

Leaders must identify the indicators that will help them achieve their sales targets. Here are the KPIs you need to follow to predict your success: