When a new year begins, sales teams often kick off with ambitious revenue targets and a flood of excitement. But here’s the truth: setting overly ambitious goals without a strategy can derail your progress, and they become nothing more than wishful thinking.
Instead, the secret to sales success lies in setting actionable, measurable, and aligned goals—and tracking them with precision.
Recently, a webinar hosted by Revsity brought together industry experts Kenneth Akan, Revenue & Sales Leader, and Damilola Aluede, Co-Founder & CRO at Revwit, who shared their expertise and insights on how to avoid common pitfalls in sales goal-setting, why they derail progress, and practical strategies to ensure 2025 becomes your best year yet.
Listen to the entire event here 👆🏿
Why Most Sales Goals Fail
Before diving into how to set effective goals, let’s address some common mistakes sales professionals across industries make, such as:
- Unrealistic Targets: Many teams set aggressive revenue targets without factoring in their market potential, available resources, or past performance. It’s like aiming for the stars while building your rocket mid-flight.
- No Structured Tracking System: Many salespeople set goals at the beginning of the year but fail to monitor their progress. Without tracking, they don’t realise they’re off course until it’s too late.
- Failure to Learn from the Past: Reflection is the cornerstone of improvement. Salespeople repeat the same mistakes without analysing what worked or didn’t in the previous year, wasting time and effort.
As Damilola Aluede noted during the webinar, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Goals without structure are destined to fail.”
If your goals aren’t grounded in data, backed by a clear plan, and broken into manageable steps, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
The Cost of Misaligned Goals
Setting sales goals is more than picking numbers—it’s about aligning ambition with action. But when goals are poorly planned, the consequences are costly, and they might include:
- Misalignment with Reality: Your target is $5 million, but last year, your pipeline barely supported $1 million. Achieving that target is unlikely without addressing critical gaps, such as improving your product offerings, upskilling your sales team, expanding your staff, or understanding why you struggled to build even a $1 million pipeline last year. Without a plan to tackle these underlying issues, setting a higher target becomes wishful thinking rather than a strategic move.
- Unfocused Effort: Without prioritising high-value activities, sales teams end up chasing low-priority leads, engaging in unproductive tasks, and wasting time on clients who don’t move the needle.
- Burnout Becomes Inevitable: Spending endless hours on tasks that don’t deliver results can leave even the most enthusiastic salesperson drained and unmotivated.
During the webinar, Kenn Akan shared an inspiring example of how his team grew their pipeline from $60 million to over $800 million in six months by focusing on better tracking and prioritisation.
“The difference came from stopping low-value activities and doubling down on what worked,” Kenn explained.
How to Set and Achieve Sales Goals in 2025
You need a strategy that combines data, discipline, and reflection to set yourself up for success. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Start with a Reality Check
Before setting new goals, reflect on last year’s performance:
- What were your biggest wins? What contributed to them?
- What setbacks did you face, and how can you address them moving forward?
Reflecting on past performance is crucial to setting realistic goals. During the webinar, Kenn Akan shared his experience analysing what worked and what didn’t in previous years. For instance, he emphasised the importance of acknowledging wins, even if they don’t meet initial expectations.
“You can’t set effective goals without understanding your starting point,” Kenn said.
Example: If you closed 10 deals out of 30 opportunities in 2024, that’s a 33% win rate. To close 20 deals this year, you’ll need to have 60 opportunities in your pipeline, following the 3:1 pipeline ratio rule shared during the webinar. This rule states that your pipeline should be at least three times the size of your target to account for typical conversion rates and ensure you have enough opportunities to hit your goals.
Kenn Akan advises you, “Start by celebrating wins and learning from setbacks. Even small victories matter, and they provide a foundation for bigger successes.”
Use this reflection to conduct a gap analysis. Identify what’s missing in your current process and refine your approach accordingly
2. Use the SMART Framework
Damilola Aluede highlighted the importance of setting SMART goals:
- Specific: Focused and clear (e.g., “Acquire 20 new clients by Q2 2025.”)
- Measurable: Include metrics to track progress (e.g., “Increase monthly revenue by $10,000.”)
- Achievable: Realistic given your resources and market conditions.
- Relevant: Aligned with your company’s overall objectives.
- Time-bound: Tied to specific deadlines (e.g., “Reach 80% of quota by Q3 2025.”).
“SMART goals prevent the common pitfalls of vague, overly ambitious targets by grounding them in actionable steps,” Damilola explained.
3. Focus on High-Impact Activities
Not all tasks carry the same weight. During the session, Damilola explained how using prioritisation frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix can help:
- Urgent & Important: Close deals with high-value clients.
- Not Urgent but Important: Nurture long-term leads and refine your outreach strategies.
- Urgent but Not Important: Delegate repetitive admin tasks like handling routine follow-up emails.
- Not Urgent & Not Important: Avoid distractions like excessive social media scrolling.
Kenn Akan’s Tip: “Identify and double down on activities that move the needle. Physical visits or high-value client calls often lead to better outcomes than scattered efforts.”
4. Track Both Input and Output KPIs
Tracking doesn’t just mean looking at revenue numbers. Focus on both:
- Input KPIs: The actions leading to results, like calls made, emails sent, or demos conducted.
- Output KPIs: The results of those actions, such as deals closed, pipeline value, and conversion rates.
Rule of Thumb: A healthy sales pipeline should be 3x your target. For example, if your monthly revenue goal is $10,000, ensure you have $30,000 worth of opportunities in your pipeline.
“You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Both input and output KPIs are crucial for consistent success,” said Damilola.
5. Celebrate Wins and Learn from Setbacks
Success is a journey, not a destination. Celebrate milestones to stay motivated and analyse setbacks to refine your approach.
Kenn Akan shared that “Revisiting a ‘lost deal’ helped him close a major client six months later. Reflection and follow-up matter more than you think.”
6. Seek Feedback and Keep Learning
According to Kenn Akan, “Feedback is the food of champions. Don’t wait for it; actively seek it to uncover blind spots and improve your performance.”
Growth-oriented sales professionals constantly seek feedback and refine their skills. Ask yourself:
- “What worked well this quarter?”
- “What can I do differently to hit my targets next month?”
Pro Tip: Use your CRM to identify trends in your data and uncover blind spots. This single source of truth can guide your adjustments in real-time.
Conclusion: Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
Failure is a natural part of growth. In fact, it’s often the foundation of success. As Kenn Akan said, “Failure is just another building block for success. Don’t be afraid to learn and grow.”
Sales success isn’t about setting lofty targets—it’s about setting actionable goals and staying disciplined in your approach.
At Revsity, we’re not just about helping you set and achieve your sales goals—we’re here to connect you with the right opportunities. Join our Revsity Job Community, where sales professionals like you can discover exciting roles, network with industry leaders, and access valuable resources to grow your career.
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