Setting Sales Goals Targets
So, your ready to start booking weddings….
First of all, you need to set some sales targets….. without setting some targets, you are going in blind, and you wont have a clear direction in what you need to sell to make up your salary or income target in your business…
Sales targets need to go beyond “Book 20 weddings in 2016.” (I hear a lot of that)
Use the steps below to help you set some sales goals…
1.) Set detailed sales goals
Your sales goals should be detailed, and include the different packages and products that you sell. Write a list of the services and packages you have, then write a sales target next to it. Here is an example:
Sales Goals for 2016:
10 Top Tier Weddings @ $3500
8 Mid Tier Weddings @ $2500
6 Low Tier Weddings @ $1000
Once you have this, you can then take it a step further and determine how your promotional activities will achieve these goals. (next e-class will address this..)
2.) Quit booking low-tier weddings on popular dates
Are you familiar with this scenario: Someone hires you 18 months before their wedding for the lowest package you offer. A few months later, someone wants to hire you for the same day. (And they are interested in hiring you for a higher priced service.)
Weekend dates are limited inventory. There are only 52 Saturdays a year. If someone takes up a popular date for a low price, you’ve sacrificed being able to earn more on a bigger wedding.
You may like to consider hiring juniors or staff to help you with busier weekends. If you intend to do 2 weddings on at the same time, you will need to let the bride know that it will be one of your staff members doing the wedding- not yourself. This is usually not a problem if you are just supplying wedding decorations and styling or another service like photo backdrop, or wedding cakes for example. If you offer a boutique wedding planning service- this may become an issue- as the bride will want you personally there on the day to oversee everything. Its a good idea to make sure you have a minimum package price that is mid to high tier for the popular dates (Saturday nights in September, October, November, March, April and May).
3.) Raise your middle tier
There is a psychologic reaction to seeing these 3 prices:
$3500
$2500
$1000
Where did your eyes feel safest? (Most will settle on that middle price.) Make sure that middle tier is where you want to be in terms of average pricing. And, if it’s not, give it a little bump. When you know you need a big bump, consider removing your bottom price and adding above your top price so that it looks like this:
$4500
$3500
$2000
And… now… where do your eyes go? $3500, likely. Interesting. Now – your clients are spending, on average, your previous ‘big ticket price’.
Pricing strategy is a little more involved than that. But, that gives you a little food for thought.
4.) Divide your Sales Targets into Quarters
Once you have your yearly sales targets, its wise to then divide the targets into quarters.
Q1- Jan, Feb, March
Q2- April, May, June
Q3- July, August, September
Q4- October, November, December
Typically Q2 and Q4 will be your biggest quarters in terms of bookings and Weddings, so plan on achieving more then.
So- for your sales target above:
10 Top Tier Weddings @ $3500
8 Mid Tier Weddings @ $2500
6 Low Tier Weddings @ $1000
This is how you can divide it up:
Q1- Jan, Feb, March Target: 2 Top tier @ $3500, 2 Mid tier @ $2500, 2 Low tier @ $1000
Q2- April, May, June Target: 4 Top tier @ $3500, 2 Mid tier @ $2500, 1 Low tier @ $1000
Q3- July, August, September Target: 2 Top tier @ $3500, 2 Mid tier @ $2500, 2 Low tier @ $1000
Q4- October, November, December Target: 4 Top tier @ $3500, 2 Mid tier @ $2500, 1 Low tier @ $1000
Essentially…
your sales target for Jan to March is $14,000
your sales target for April to June is $20,000
your sales target for July to September is $14,000
your sales target for October to December is $20,000
This means that you are targeting 7 weddings per quarter for the high season (at higher prices) and 6 weddings per quarter for the low season- at lower average pricing.
Of course your sales targets will look different depending on the product and service that you are offering.
5.) Conversions- Knowing How many Enquiries it Takes to Convert to a Paying Customer
Conversion rate refers to the percentage of clients who then purchase something from you. You could have 10 enquiries for your service, but only one might buy. This is a conversion rate of 10%. If you run an online store, a conversion rate will be how many people visit your site actually buy something. This conversion rate is more likely to be 1 % for an online store.
The more contact you have with your customer, the higher the conversion rate.
Conversion rate is important in sales goals, as you need to know how many enquiries you need to have to reach your sales goal. You can work out your enquiries by using a conversion rate.
If you are just starting out in business, you can work at a conversion rate between 5% and 10%. If you want to be conservative, use the lower conversion rate of 5%.
So, lets see how this comes into play in the example below:
The amount of weddings you want to book between April- June is seven. You don’t know what your booking conversion rate is ( how many enquiries actually book your service- as you are new in business.) So because you don’t know your conversion rate- we will use a lower conversion rate of 5%.
This means, that you need 20 enquiries to get one booking.
So to reach your sales goal of 7 weddings for that quarter, you need 140 enquiries.
Now- there is roughly 12 weeks in each quarter, so 140 divided by 12 = 11.6
So- you need roughly 11 or 12 enquiries per week to reach your sales goal for the quarter.
As you get better at booking brides, your conversion rate will increase. Also clients that are reccomended by friends and family tend to be a higher conversion to a booking, then a bride who found your service online.
The more personal contact you have with a bride- the higher the likely they are to book with you- meaning a higher conversion rate!
6.) Divide your Sales Targets into Monthly Targets
From your quarterly sales targets and enquiry targets, you can make it more tangible for you, by breaking it into monthly targets.
Here is an example:
If your targets were as follows:
Q1- Jan, Feb, March Target: 2 Top tier @ $3500, 2 Mid tier @ $2500, 2 Low tier @ $1000
This is roughly 6 weddings over 3 months. At a conversion rate of 5%, you need 120 enquiries over 3 months. This is how you can break it down to a monthly sales target:
Jan: 1 Booking = 20 enquiries
Feb: 2 Bookings = 40 enquiries
March: 3 Bookings = 60 enquiries
** Note: March is generally a popular month, so more bookings were placed in this month. January is usually quieter, so less bookings were placed in this month.
Assessment- Sales Goals Planning
1. Download the Excel Spreadsheet attached to help you develop your sales goals:
Sales Goals– (double click to download)
2. Fill out the attached spread sheet with your own sales goals.
3. Email back your sales targets and completed spreadsheet to admin@lamodecollege.com.au
Remember- The key to any success in business is planning! Failure to plan is failure! If you plan to succeed, you will be singing a song of praise!
