How to meet your targets

The fastest way to meet a tough professional target is to first make sure you are in an industry you care about, say top salespeople and marketers. If you believe the goods, services or processes you promote will benefit potential customers, a target that may at first seem insurmountable is then at least worth the effort of trying to achieve.

"I am not at all motivated by hitting a number; it's nice, but it's not the be-all and end-all. It's what you do to arrive at that place that's the stimulating part," says Kim Fry, New Zealand sales and marketing manager for animal health products firm Pfizer.

Fry says he is set regular targets by the global Pfizer corporation and is simultaneously responsible for the performance of the New Zealand sales and marketing team.

As with any multi-national corporation, Fry says targets set off-shore need to be balanced with local knowledge and reality - for example, sales of Pfizer animal health products are affected by the financial health of farmers, which can in turn be affected by the weather. Feedback to a global parent may be required to ensure targets remain ambitious, but are not completely unachievable, he says.

"If targets are overly ambitious, that has a hugely [negative] affect on morale. We might be set a target, then we use local knowledge to build up a budget and if there is a gap we look at how to meet it. If [after that] we feel the target is unrealistic, generally that feedback is met positively," says Fry.

Fry says the trick is to balance expectations from "on high" against a respect for local knowledge and external factors. However, he says the overall purpose of targets is to increase the profitability of both the organisation and the customer - meaning target setting is business critical.

"If you look at any successful individual and think 'gee, they've done well' you will always find they were working to a target. I don't believe you can be successful without setting targets," says Fry.

Andrew Fox, a client relationship manager for IT services firm IBM, says he represents IBM's full range of products and services and builds relationships with a set group of clients. Annual sales targets are set by an immediate manager, who is assigned targets in turn. IBM targets have three components - straight revenue, profitability and customer satisfaction - and are reviewed mid-year.

Customers are asked to rate the performance of IBM salespeople on a scale of one to 10; a score of more than seven meets customer satisfaction targets. While the latter may sound daunting, Fox says customer satisfaction targets are usually easily achieved for salespeople attuned to customer needs. However, revenue targets are another matter, and a strong global focus on quarterly performance creates some pressure.

"I probably have never needed holidays as much as I do in this job. The pressure goes on each quarter and you get the flu and such because you get a bit run down," says Fox.

"Ultimately, there's an enormous level of satisfaction in closing a deal and it's the ultimate compliment when you get to a target. I also love the customer-facing nature of [the work], the technologies, and the ongoing challenge."

Paul Slatin, general manager of Tauranga-based First National Real Estate, leads a network of more than 100 privately-owned co-operative real estate offices throughout New Zealand and is required to meet targets relating to new initiatives, industry trends such as leadership in online marketing, real estate listings, and the performance, support, training and retention of salespeople.

"I am driven by network member growth and retention, specific financial targets, awareness and branding, training and accreditation participation, and how many people become accredited under best practice programme. Another target is to have effective quality management processes," says Slatin.

Slatin says to work, business targets need to fit the 'smarts' acronym - that is, they need to be specific, measurable, achievable, responsible, time-bound, and allow people to stretch.

"You can't have an amorphous incomprehensible target; targets have to be achievable, people need to understand what they are responsible for, and you need to communicate all that up front," says Slatin.

But how can go-getters tell the difference between an unrealistic target and one which simply requires them to stretch? That may take some analysis, says Slatin, because what may look unrealistic at first glance can often be achieved.

"I was set a target recently that I thought was quite unattainable and ridiculous. I didn't debate it; I boiled it down to what it would take at the simplest level and what I would need to do. That stretching wasn't easy and took a lot of research, but the process was a confidence builder for me. I met the target," say Slatin.

He says a genuinely unattainable target is demoralising and re-negotiation may be required. Employees need to ask themselves if it is in them to achieve the target, and consider whether more resources need to be provided by the organisation.

"If so, then those should be tabled up front. And if the person has a history of achieving all their targets and is saying that something is unattainable, then [as a manager] I would listen to them," says Slatin.

Fox agrees unrealistic targets de-motivate, and targets that are constantly raised following success, whilst a reality of a target-focused career, can be tiring.

"It can be hard to crawl across the line, get there and have that feeling of 'yes! I did it' only to then have the target lifted by 15 per cent. Some years these lifts are do-able, but [the IT industry] can be cyclic, and the next year might be a low year," says Fox.

Fry says he can relate: " You have to be passionate about the industry you're in and the customers in it to be successful in reaching those [lifted] targets," says Fry.

He says his advice to employees is to frame some meaning around a target.

"A number doesn't mean a lot. You have to think okay, what does the target mean in terms of X packs of the product and my defined time to sell; what does it represents in terms of the number of customer contacts; where am I likely to find the business? You have to take something arbitrary and put some meaning around it," says Fry.

Fox says target seekers also need to be careful not to be waylaid on other tasks. Examples include wrangling with internal administration or being tempted to 'baby-sit' the delivery of goods and services to a valued customer.

"When you can't see how you are going to make the target, just keep going. The business you are building up now is often the business you will sign next year," says Fox.

Slatin says perseverance, dedication and energy are personality hallmarks necessary to succeed in a target-driven industry. And all three say the fun, personal satisfaction, customer satisfaction and celebration that go along with meeting and exceeding targets makes the struggle worthwhile.