Publications
Publications
- July 9, 2019
- Harvard Business Review (website)
Setting Better Sales Goals with Analytics
By: Doug J. Chung, Isabel Huber, Vinay Murthy, Varun Sunku and Marije Weber
Abstract
Sales compensation is a critical lever in motivating a salesforce and driving growth in the business-to-business sector: Studies show that revising compensation in line with market trends can have a 50% greater impact on sales than advertisements have, for instance. A vital part of getting compensation right is setting the proper sales targets. Poorly set targets often misfire, failing to deliver the expected benefits and demoralizing the sales force in the process. We see businesses in many sectors struggling to set ambitious but fair targets that will motivate salespeople to deliver organic growth. A few companies are finding solutions: They are using advanced analytics to identify the true drivers of business outcomes and are applying big data and machine learning to understand customer demand at an unprecedented level of accuracy and granularity. Armed with more reliable projections, they can establish more meaningful targets.
Keywords
Analytics; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives
Citation
Chung, Doug J., Isabel Huber, Vinay Murthy, Varun Sunku, and Marije Weber. "Setting Better Sales Goals with Analytics." Harvard Business Review (website) (July 9, 2019).
About The Author
