How to set and manage realistic sales targets

A career in medical sales can be highly demanding and competitive. Breaking into the industry requires discipline and focus on a specialization. However, success in medical sales also relies on whether each sales rep can meet the targets they have been set. Generating revenue and meeting the objectives of the company is an important part of medical sales­­. It’s important that medical sales leaders understand how to set realistic and achievable targets for their team. Below, we outline how to ensure your medical sales representatives succeed through setting the right targets and objectives.

If you want to successfully set and manage realistic medical sales targets, you need to implement a well-functioning action plan that allows you to determine how much revenue you intend to generate. This includes identifying any challenge areas, such as low conversion rates for certain medical devices. Also, ask each salesperson what challenges they are facing with customers, as this will allow you to create a plan based on personal insights. Each of your medical sales representatives will need to create their own funnel and understand how it will generate revenue, and reach the desired targets. Once you understand the outcomes, how much time reps will need to spend finding clients, and your ideal customers, you can more easily set targets that are achievable and realistic.

To set and accurately manage your targets, sales leaders need to understand the core revenue targets of the company. This makes it much easier to develop and manage targets when you have a clear idea of the relevant information. These revenue targets can be broken down into smaller segments such as weekly and monthly goals for your team, which makes them more realistic and achievable. It’s important to use the company metrics to work what actions your medical sales reps need to take to achieve their goals. When you understand the overall goals, this makes them more measurable and easier to manage.

In order to be successful in medical sales, you need to have an in-depth understanding of the product to enable you to set and manage realistic targets. Regardless of what medical device product you’re trying to sell, product knowledge allows you to better understand the competition and why your product beats that competitor. Deep product knowledge allows you to manage your targets more effectively. It’s important that your sales target are tailored to the life cycle of the product, as this ensures accurate forecasting.

Focus on data

Sales targets and management has to be the result of excellent research and a good understanding of data and analytics. It’s important that medical business leaders conduct thorough research and communicate these findings with employees before any major decisions are made. This should include historical data about different medical products, business objectives and comprehensive forecasts. Analysing data from previous sales targets will enable you to determine new sales targets and manage these more effectively. Furthermore, measuring medical sales performance continuously is important for driving growth, and allows you to identify any issues in the targets you’ve set. Therefore, data is incredibly important for setting and managing sales targets.

At IQVIA, we provide sales solutions, including the recruitment of sales teams, as well as medical communications. We have a wide variety of medical sales roles and our consultants are deeply passionate and knowledgeable about the roles they recruit for. With a large network of professionals, we have global opportunities to help you grow your career. We’re a diverse community and we take pride in offering equal opportunities to all qualified individuals. If you’d like more information about how IQVIA can help, contact us today.