Imagine that you want to make your favorite dish, maybe mac and cheese, marinated beef, guacamole, or many other great foods. You would use a recipe to make sure the ingredients are all there and in the correct propositions as well as following the cooking instructions.

Consider that setting meaningful yearly sales goals as the same sort of equation: add current account projected revenue along with new account revenue, mix in effective use of selling tools, a large quantity of relationship development and a splash of luck with enough time for all of it to come together.

So take a look at your revenue from last year by account. Consider what is currently going on in each account, what will happen throughout the year and 'project' a revenue amount that you can get from that account. Then build a prospect list and assign each 'target' a revenue goal for the year. When you combine these numbers, you should have the revenue goal that you are shooting for the current year.

It is important to allow the right amount of time to reach your goal (just like when you cook your recipe). So divide your revenue goal into 12 month segments and then you have a manageable monthly goal.

What you are doing is creating a goal for the current year based on account performance from the past combined with your strategies on growing and maintaining these revenue levels.

Groene Consulting has been serving the corporate community since 1997, and specializes in Sales Training and Coaching as well as Business Development. Contact  Leslie Groene for more information.