Did you meet your sales goals for last year? If not, what is happening in your office to explain your falling short of projections?

In 1493, Christopher Columbus reported that he saw three mermaids near an island south of Japan, near the coast of China. He noted that the mermaids were not as impressive-looking as all the European artists had depicted them to be. What Columbus actually saw were three manatees, south of the Bahamas, near the coast of Cuba. Poor Christopher Columbus! He had been charged with finding a western seafaring route to Asia by the Queen of Spain. He miscalculated the vast expanse of ocean travel that was actually needed to get to Asia, believing the distance from the western coast of Africa to Japan to be about 2,300 miles (roughly the distance between Detroit and San Francisco.) He thought the inhabitants of the Caribbean to be Asian. He insisted that he had accomplished the mission he was originally charged with. Of course, we know he did not find Asia, but he did find North and South America. His goal was to find the western spice route. He failed miserably, but he would not admit it.

What happens at your office when you miss your goals? I find there is a fair amount of dishonesty and finger pointing in corporate America when it comes to meeting goals. In particular, what happens when your sales fall short of projections? Let’s take a look at problems that occur when goals aren’t met and some navigational tips to get around them.

Unrealistic Expectations:

There was a time not too long ago that sales projections were put on an escalating scale. Someone in charge of the sales budget set a goal that was bigger than what was met the year before. There were usually incentives to meet those projections that kept the sales staff on the hunt. The problem is, there comes a point when either the market is tapped out or something happens (like a recession) that causes sales to fall off. If you are still operating under a pre-2008 model for setting sales goals, you are reading the map the wrong way. Columbus made a tactical error when trying to sail to Asia. He calculated the distance between degrees on the map to be shorter than they were by about one third. He also used a map that assumed there was much more land mass in the world than water, when just the opposite is true. To fix your sales goals, you need realistic expectations that are based on the current economic conditions, not on what they used to be or are presumed to be. Take a look at some good current statistics. Listen to what your customers are telling you. Make adjustments and move forward.

Diversion and Blame:

There is another step in the aftermath of missed sales goals. Some might be tempted to point the finger at another source of problems to divert attention away from personal performance shortcomings. Not everyone is cut from the same cloth when it comes to sales. Some do well and some don’t. Too often we divert attention away from our weaknesses and blame someone or something else for missing goals. The story might go something like this: "We would have had more sales, but what we found in the marketplace were customers with far less expendable cash than was projected when we set these sales goals.” Much like seeing a manatee, thinking it to be a mermaid and then blaming the artists for making them look so appealing in their paintings. There is dishonesty at work. Either the people who set the projections were misguided in their optimism, or those responsible for the sale were not looking at the customer in the right way. The truth is, many times we look at all customers in the same way, using the same old sales methods. We are living in changing times and the way you have approached the customer in the past may need to be adjusted to earn their dollar today. The problem with diversion and blame is it really breeds mistrust between team members and you can have a mutiny on your hands. To steer your way around this problem, it is good if the boss is honest with the sales person and, in turn, the sales person is honest with the boss. Is the boss sending the sales staff in search of mermaids (creatures of great beauty, but totally fictional)? Are the sales staff finding manatees and calling them ugly mermaids? It never hurts to be truthful about what you are trying to find in a customer and what you are actually finding.

The Boss Who is Never Wrong:

Let’s face the truth about sales projections; the business is dependant upon sales making their goals to fund every other budget in the company. If there are no sales, there are no jobs. There is a tremendous amount of pressure put upon the person in charge of a sales staff to make things happen and pressure does funny things to otherwise bright people. Have you ever worked with a boss who was never wrong? The problem is, we are all wrong at one time or another because we are human and mistakes have a way of coming to the forefront eventually. Columbus made four trips to the Americas, but could never admit he wasn’t in Asia. Do Cubans look Chinese? Columbus convinced himself they were. Does the tropical paradise of the Bahamas look anything like Japan? Columbus sold himself on the idea that was exactly where he had landed his ships. The amount of energy that is expended to cover mistakes is immense when someone will not admit they are ever wrong, especially if they are the person in charge. However, as a good psychiatrist friend of mine likes to remind people, if you don’t make mistakes, you never experience pain, and if you never experience pain, you never learn, and if you never learn, you never grow. A missed goal need not be a cue to come up with a scheme to make it look like you actually accomplished the goal. It should be a lesson in how to not make the same mistakes again and again.

Missing Opportunities:

Missed goals need not be the worst thing that happens to your business. When goals aren’t met, it should give us a chance to look at new opportunities. There are life cycles for products and services. Many times, missed goals are seen as a failure when they should point us to something new. Columbus was trying to find the source of spices, particularly black pepper. Black pepper was like gold in the 15^th century. What he found was the source of another spice: chili peppers. Was it what Columbus was looking for? No, but it was something new and tasty as a spice for Spanish dishes. The next time you eat at a Mexican restaurant and you want to spice up your meal, read the label on those bottles of hot sauce they keep on the table. It is not black pepper that they put in that sauce, but chili peppers. When times are tough and sales of your traditional products start to fall, look for the next thing in your product offerings. Take a look at markets that you had previously ignored. That is what great companies do in times of adversity. You might find your next big thing in the wake of a missed goal.

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This Day in History, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbus-mistakes-manatees-for-mermaids