You’ve Missed Your Sales Goal, Now What?
Missing a sales goal stings. It brings questions, doubts, and plenty of finger-pointing. Is it you? The company? The market? Or is it the sales process itself?
On this episode of Sales Logic, hosts Meridith Elliott Powell and Mark Hunter dive deep into what happens when you fall short, and more importantly, what to do next.
Why Sales Processes Break Down
Sometimes, the problem is simple: you’re not following the process you’ve set. Other times, shifts in the market or customer preferences mean your old process—no matter how well-documented—just doesn’t work anymore.
“If you’re literally doing your sales process and it isn’t getting you to the goal, then chances are it is your sales process. Something is broken in the sales process.” – Meredith
But it’s not always about execution. Mark points out that “there could be a seasonal shift. There could be a cyclical shift in the market. There could be something else going on…But you can’t blame those. You’ve got to find a way to make your sales process fit the right market.”
Don’t Wait for a Miracle
For many salespeople, admitting fault is the hardest part. When listener Gina from Montreal asked, “Is it me, my sales process, or something else?” Meridith replied directly: “If you’re not hitting your sales goal, it is you, it is your sales process, and it is something else. You need to get your ego out of the way and be willing to do things differently.”
Lack of accountability blocks progress. You can’t fix what you don’t measure, and you can’t adapt what you don’t acknowledge.
Track, Analyze, and Adapt
Documenting your sales process isn’t busywork. It’s the only way to know where things break down and where they succeed. “If I don’t document my behaviors, I don’t know what I’ve done. And if I don’t know what I’ve done, I don’t have any data to tell me what’s working and what isn’t working,” Meridith says.
Regular reviews make a huge difference. “I update my sales process at least quarterly. Something changes every quarter. Even if my sales process is working, I’m still trying something different,” shares Meridith.
Make It Easy for Your Customer
Complexity kills deals. Mark stresses the importance of simplicity, especially in today’s marketplace: “We have to make it extremely simple for our customers to do business with us.”
That means making the initial engagement smooth and keeping your eyes open for changes, sometimes even before your customers are aware of them.
Break It Down and Find the Problem
Not every part of your sales process is broken. But if you aren’t tracking activity at each stage, you’ll never know where it goes off the rails. It’s not about blaming, it’s about diagnosing.
“First, you’ve got to figure out where it stopped working. That’s the importance of tracking your behaviors,” Meridith explains.
Keep Asking Better Questions
Good salespeople ask questions. Great salespeople ask the right ones, and keep updating them. “The better your questions, the better the level of engagement you are. It’s not the information you share, it’s the questions you ask,” Mark says.
Ownership + Curiosity = Progress
Whether you’re in a shifting industry, navigating new competitors, or just coming up on a tough goal, adaptability is survival.
“You’re going to be surprised by the results you’re going to get,” promises Meridith, when you truly dig into data, keep your process flexible, and put customers at the center.
Recommended Reading
The featured book for this episode: Sell Different by Lee Salz. If you’re stuck, stagnating, or just want fresh ideas to reinvigorate your process, this is the resource for you.
Lightning Round: Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Your Customers to Be Effective in Sales
- Their real problem, not just the one they mention
- Their personal KPI (key performance indicators)
- Their vision of success
- How your solution fits into their big picture
- Who else is involved in their decision-making process
- What happens if they don’t solve the problem
- Their timeline and urgency
- Who their customers are and how you help them reach those customers
- Their budget
- What they’ve tried before, what worked, and what didn’t
When you miss a goal, don’t point fingers. Point questions at your process, your market, and yourself. Own it, analyze it, and adapt fast. That’s how you turn a miss into a momentum-builder for next time.
Question: Gina from Montreal asks, “I work in manufacturing sales and in the five years I have held my position this is the first year I am going to miss my sales goal. Unless a miracle happens I won’t hit quota by the end of the year. Is it me, my sales process, [or] something else? And if it is me or my sales process what do I do? Where do I turn?”
Book: Sell Different by Lee Salz