Why did we remove 'Revenue' targets?
And, how are we surviving after that?
That’s a question that often comes up when we share this fact with anyone in the industry. Even, our own group companies!
But, that’s exactly what we did at EFY’s Interactive Division (Events, Digital Marketing & Online) for FY 18-19. Starting April 2018, no one in our sales team has a revenue target!
UPDATE: As on 1st of October, 2020--revenue targets have been removed from all sales teams across the EFY Group.
Before, I go into the ‘why’ and ‘how’—let me tell you that not only did we survive this shift, but thanks to blessings of all—we are experiencing the highest growth phase in our history of 50 years!
Why did we do it?
We realised that we had been living a lie, and that the only way to correct that—was to remove revenue targets.
Let me explain. We have been stating for quite some time—that we want to be our clients’ consultants and would propose only those solutions that we would have chosen had we been in their place.
But, we could never promote this statement openly. Why? Because deep down we knew that with monthly and product-wise revenue targets, the sales team will always chose what’s measured against what’s prophesised to them.
With removal of revenue targets—we know our sales team is under no pressure to sell our clients and wrong solutions. Or sell them a solution exceeding their need. In fact, we have now made satisfaction of clients against solution proposed an element of their appraisal. Thus, the system is tuned to ensure that they sell you what you’ve asked, or what we believe will work for you—if you’ve left us to device the solution.
So, how do we appraise our sales team now?
They have new targets, and these are:
- How satisfied their clients are with the solutions proposed by them
- How many clients are they interacting with—new and old
- How many clients have they been able to interact till a level where the client shares their marketing goals and pain points
That’s it. We have seen that if these 3 parameters are focused on properly, and sales team is supported with right guidance and targets—clients automatically start sharing their challenges. And, we also realise that we cannot solve all their challenges, but we ensure that the ones we have achieved mastery in—are what we propose first. For the new ones—we typically enter into an opportunity to do a Proof of Concept (PoC), and if it works for the client and us, we expand the relationship.
Why am I sharing this strategy with you?
We have been truly blessed by growth of trust and business from new and old clients since we adopted this strategy. Through this post, I am attempting to ‘give it back’ following the spirit of Open Source. By sharing this strategy, the specific goals we hope to achieve include:
- I believe that while this strategy may not work for all, but many organisations can benefit our making this switch, and that will provide ‘value’ to all—including making your sales team take pride in their work
- I believe that all our clients must know about this—so that if they have any doubt in our proposals—they can have a constructive discussion with our sales & consulting teams—rather than assuming that these were proposed to achieve targets
- And, last but not the least—if you ever find us not living this promise, please feel free to let me know ([email protected]), so that I can course correct
If you’ve any further queries—feel free to ping me at [email protected], and I will be more than happy to share whatever I can.
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