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Introduction to Sales Target Setting: When Targets Drive Wrong Behaviour
Sales target setting should give a sales team direction. It should help people understand what good performance looks like, where to focus their effort and how their contribution supports the wider business.
But targets can also change behaviour in ways leaders never intended.
Set the wrong target and salespeople may chase easy opportunities, discount too quickly, neglect existing customers or concentrate on short-term revenue instead of profitable growth.
The problem is rarely that salespeople suddenly stop caring about the business. They are responding to the measures management has told them matter.
If the target rewards activity, people generate activity. If it rewards revenue regardless of margin, revenue can become more important than value. If only closed business counts, opportunities that need nurturing can quickly become less attractive.
Effective sales target setting therefore needs to consider behaviour as well as numbers.
The question is not simply, “What revenue do we want?”
It is, “What behaviour will this target encourage our sales team to repeat?”
Why Sales Target Setting Changes Sales Behaviour
Targets tell people where to direct their attention.
If a salesperson is measured heavily on one number, that number naturally becomes important. Decisions about which opportunities to pursue, how much time to spend with prospects and when to offer a discount can all be influenced by what improves their chances of achieving the target.
This can be positive.
A well-designed target can create focus and encourage consistent activity. It can help sales managers identify gaps early and give the team a clear understanding of expectations.
But sales target setting becomes dangerous when the measurement is too narrow.
Imagine a salesperson whose only objective is £100,000 of monthly revenue. They have two opportunities available.
One requires a careful value conversation, involves several decision-makers and could become a profitable long-term account.
The other can be closed quickly if the salesperson gives away margin.
If the end of the month is approaching and only revenue matters, the second option becomes attractive.
The salesperson may be doing exactly what the target encourages while damaging the commercial outcome the business really wants. This can be one of the sales performance problems your team won’t tell you about.
This is why sales leaders need to connect targets with the behaviours taught through Corporate sales training. A sales methodology cannot encourage value selling while the performance system rewards behaviour that contradicts it.
When Ambitious Targets Start Driving The Wrong Actions
Challenging targets are not automatically bad.
Salespeople often benefit from clear expectations and ambitious goals. A demanding target can create urgency, improve focus and encourage people to look differently at their pipeline.
The problem begins when the number becomes more important than how it is achieved.
Harvard Business Review has examined how demanding performance goals can contribute to unethical behaviour when people feel intense pressure to achieve them.
Most sales teams will never reach that extreme, but the underlying principle matters.
Pressure changes choices.
A salesperson who is comfortably on track may protect margin and qualify an opportunity properly. The same person, significantly behind target in the final week of the month, may behave differently.
They might:
- Offer a discount before understanding the objection.
- Push an opportunity that is not ready to close.
- Spend excessive time on deals that inflate short-term revenue.
- Ignore smaller opportunities with stronger future potential.
- Promise delivery dates or outcomes that operations will struggle to meet.
- Keep weak opportunities in the pipeline because removing them makes the forecast look worse.
None of these behaviours improve sales effectiveness.
Sales target setting should create healthy commercial tension without encouraging people to sacrifice good judgement.
If the team is regularly making poor decisions near month-end or quarter-end, management should examine the target structure rather than assuming the problem is simply discipline.
Revenue Targets Can Encourage Too Much Discounting
One of the clearest examples of targets influencing behaviour is discounting.
Suppose the salesperson receives full credit for a £20,000 deal whether the customer pays £20,000 or whether the salesperson originally had to defend a £25,000 price.
From the salesperson’s perspective, reducing the price may feel rational.
The deal closes faster. Revenue moves towards target. The difficult value conversation disappears.
The business, however, has lost £5,000.
Repeat that across a team and the cost becomes significant.
Management may then conclude that the sales team is not selling value. That may be true, but the target system may also be helping create the problem.
If salespeople are repeatedly rewarded for revenue without sufficient consideration of margin, quality of business or customer fit, they learn what the organisation genuinely values.
Sales target setting needs to support the commercial behaviour leaders expect.
If you want people to protect value, they need the skills to explain value and a performance structure that does not punish them for taking time to do it properly.
This is where Sales training for teams and sales management need to work together. Training people to stop discounting will have limited impact if their targets continue encouraging exactly that behaviour.
Activity Targets Can Create Busy Salespeople Instead Of Better Salespeople
Calls made. Emails sent. Meetings booked. Proposals issued.
These numbers are easy to measure, which makes them attractive management tools.
But activity is not the same as progress.
If a salesperson is told to make 50 calls every day, hitting 50 calls can become the objective. Whether those calls lead to useful conversations may become secondary.
If the target is ten appointments, people may book meetings with prospects who are unlikely to buy.
If proposals are measured, proposals may be sent before opportunities have been properly qualified.
The dashboard looks active while sales conversations are not converting.
Activity measures can still be useful. A manager needs visibility into what is happening before revenue arrives. But sales target setting should distinguish between useful leading indicators and arbitrary activity, particularly when sales admin overload is stealing your team’s selling time.
Ask what each measure tells you.
Does it identify a behaviour strongly connected with better results?
Can the salesperson influence it?
Does increasing the number automatically improve the quality of the pipeline?
If the answer is no, it may be a management statistic rather than a meaningful target.
Effective Sales team training should help salespeople improve the quality of conversations, qualification and follow-up rather than simply producing more activity.
Individual Targets Can Damage Team Selling
Many B2B opportunities require several people to contribute.
One salesperson may create the opportunity. Another brings specialist knowledge. A sales manager already dealing with a heavy workload helps with strategy. Someone from operations explains implementation. An account manager may already hold the customer relationship.
But individual targets can turn collaboration into competition.
If salespeople believe helping a colleague takes time away from their own number, teamwork becomes commercially unattractive.
Information gets protected.
Opportunities may not be shared.
Experienced salespeople have less incentive to coach newer colleagues.
Customers can even receive different messages from different parts of the sales team.
Sales target setting should recognise how sales are actually won.
This does not mean removing individual accountability. Salespeople still need clear expectations. But leaders should consider whether the target structure encourages people to work together when collaboration improves the customer outcome.
This matters particularly when businesses want a repeatable sales process and consistent sales communication.
B2B sales training can create a common approach across the team, but the management system also needs to reward people for using it.
Targets Can Make Salespeople Focus On The Wrong Opportunities
Not every opportunity deserves the same amount of attention.
Strong salespeople constantly make decisions about where to spend their time, which becomes harder when sales capacity planning fails and teams run out of capacity.
Which prospect has a genuine problem?
Which buyer has the authority and motivation to change?
Which opportunity fits the business?
Which deal is unlikely to progress regardless of how much effort is invested?
Targets influence those decisions.
If the target rewards volume of new accounts, salespeople may prioritise smaller easy wins over strategically valuable customers.
If it rewards revenue only, one large opportunity can consume weeks of attention even when the probability of winning it is low.
If every opportunity in the CRM helps make pipeline coverage look healthier, salespeople may avoid disqualifying weak deals.
The result is a sales process that appears stronger than it really is, especially when sales process exceptions destroy consistency.
Then the forecast misses.
Sales management responds by asking for more pipeline.
More weak opportunities are added.
And the cycle continues.
Better sales target setting encourages quality as well as quantity.
Salespeople need permission to qualify out poor opportunities and concentrate their effort where they can genuinely create value.
This is an important part of Sales communication training: asking enough useful questions to understand whether an opportunity deserves to progress rather than trying to sell to everybody.
Sales Managers Need More Than One Number
Revenue matters.
Businesses need sales and salespeople need accountability.
The answer is not to replace commercial targets with a huge collection of measures that nobody understands.
But one number rarely explains sales performance.
A manager needs enough information to understand what is happening before the final result arrives.
Useful measures might include:
- Revenue or gross profit.
- New business won.
- Conversion rates between meaningful sales stages.
- Average deal value.
- Sales cycle length.
- Discount levels.
- Qualified pipeline coverage.
- Customer retention where relevant.
- Progress against agreed development goals.
The exact measures will depend on the sales model.
A salesperson handling complex enterprise opportunities should not necessarily have the same indicators as someone working with a short transactional sales cycle.
Sales target setting needs context, including sales role clarity because unclear roles can cost sales.
The purpose of supporting measures is not to create another spreadsheet. It is to help managers diagnose performance accurately.
If conversion has fallen, coaching may be needed.
If deal value has fallen because the team keeps discounting, value selling may be the issue.
If opportunities are entering the pipeline but rarely progressing, qualification or sales communication may need attention.
Numbers should help managers identify the conversation they need to have.
That is also why Sales coaching for teams is more effective when managers can connect performance data with observable selling behaviours.
How To Set Sales Targets Without Encouraging The Wrong Behaviour
Good sales target setting begins with the commercial outcome the business actually wants.
Do you want profitable growth?
More new customers?
Higher customer retention?
Better penetration of strategic accounts?
Improved conversion without sacrificing margin?
Once the outcome is clear, work backwards.
Check whether the salesperson can influence the target
People should be held accountable for outcomes they can meaningfully affect.
If territory potential, product availability, pricing decisions or lead flow vary dramatically between team members, identical targets may not represent identical expectations.
Consider the behaviour the target will reward
Before introducing a target, ask how a rational salesperson might try to achieve it.
Could they hit it by discounting?
Could they hit an activity target without improving conversations?
Could they protect their own number by refusing to support colleagues?
If there is an obvious shortcut, expect someone eventually to use it.
Balance results with useful leading indicators
Revenue tells you what happened.
Leading indicators can help explain why.
Choose a small number that genuinely relate to success rather than measuring everything because your CRM allows it.
Keep the target understandable
A complicated incentive plan can be almost as damaging as a poor one.
Salespeople need to understand what is expected and how their actions affect the outcome.
Review unintended consequences
Sales target setting should not become permanent simply because the same structure was used last year.
Look at the behaviour it created.
If discounting increased, pipeline quality fell or people stopped collaborating, the target may need changing.
A strong Corporate sales training programme can improve sales capability, but targets, coaching and management need to reinforce the same behaviours if those improvements are going to last.
Targets Should Support Better Sales Conversations
A target does not make a buyer buy.
The customer does not care that it is the end of your quarter.
They care about their problem, the decision they need to make and whether they trust your team to help.
This is where sales leadership sometimes loses sight of the customer.
Internal pressure travels down the organisation.
The board wants growth.
The sales director needs the forecast.
The manager needs the team to hit target.
The salesperson feels pressure to close.
And eventually the prospect feels pressure too.
That is the wrong direction.
Sales target setting should provide internal focus without changing the quality of the external conversation.
A salesperson still needs to ask good questions, understand the problem, explain value clearly and allow the buyer to make an informed decision.
The target should never become more important than the customer conversation.
Businesses that combine sensible performance measures with Consultative selling training can create a healthier balance. Salespeople remain accountable for results while learning how to achieve those results through better conversations rather than pressure.
Sales Target Setting Should Measure The Performance You Actually Want
Targets are powerful because people respond to them.
That is exactly why they need careful thought.
Poor sales target setting can create a team that appears busy while conversion falls. It can encourage discounting while leaders talk about value selling. It can create competition when the business needs collaboration and reward short-term revenue at the expense of long-term customer value.
Good targets do something different.
They give salespeople clear direction.
They support the sales strategy.
They help managers identify problems early.
And they reinforce the behaviours the business genuinely wants repeated.
Before setting the next target, ask one simple question.
If every salesperson behaved exactly as this target encourages them to behave, would we be happy with the result?
If the answer is no, changing the number will not solve the problem.
The design of the target needs to change.
Effective sales target setting is not simply about demanding more from a sales team. It is about making sure the measures used to drive performance do not accidentally undermine the sales process, sales culture and customer experience needed to achieve sustainable growth.
Frequently Asked Questions About Sales Target Setting
What is sales target setting?
Sales target setting is the process of defining measurable outcomes for a salesperson or sales team. These might include revenue, gross profit, new business, conversion rates or strategic account growth. Effective targets create focus while supporting the sales strategy. Poorly designed targets can encourage activity or behaviour that improves the number without improving overall sales performance.
Why can sales targets drive the wrong behaviour?
Sales targets drive the wrong behaviour when achieving the measure becomes more important than achieving the commercial outcome behind it. A revenue-only target, for example, may encourage excessive discounting. Activity targets can encourage low-quality calls or meetings. Good sales target setting considers how rational salespeople are likely to respond to each measure.
Why is my sales team hitting target but still discounting too much?
If salespeople receive full credit for revenue regardless of margin, discounting can become the easiest way to reach target. The team may be behaving rationally within the system you created. Review incentive measures alongside value selling skills, sales coaching and commercial expectations so protecting margin matters as much as closing the opportunity.
Can unrealistic sales targets cause a sales team to underperform?
Yes. Targets that consistently feel impossible can reduce motivation and encourage poor decisions. Salespeople may chase unsuitable opportunities, manipulate pipeline data or discount aggressively near reporting deadlines. Challenging targets can help performance, but they need credible assumptions, suitable territory potential and sufficient sales capability if they are going to create productive pressure rather than frustration.
How do you improve sales team performance through better targets?
Start by identifying the commercial outcome you genuinely want, then choose measures that support the behaviours required to achieve it. Combine final results with a small number of meaningful leading indicators. Managers should then use sales coaching to investigate gaps in conversion, qualification, value selling or pipeline quality rather than simply demanding more activity.
Should salespeople have individual or team sales targets?
That depends on how your sales process works. Individual targets create accountability, but team measures can encourage collaboration where several people contribute to winning business. Many B2B organisations need a sensible balance. The key is ensuring sales target setting does not encourage salespeople to protect opportunities or avoid helping colleagues because collaboration harms their personal number.
What sales targets should a B2B sales team measure?
B2B sales teams commonly measure revenue, gross profit, new business, conversion rates, average deal value, qualified pipeline and sales cycle length. The right combination depends on the sales model. Avoid measuring everything available in the CRM. Each target should help management understand performance or encourage a behaviour that contributes directly to sustainable sales growth.
Why does my sales team keep missing targets?
Missing targets can result from poor pipeline quality, weak conversion, unrealistic expectations, inconsistent sales conversations, limited sales capability or insufficient market opportunity. Management needs to diagnose the cause before prescribing more activity. If salespeople are consistently missing targets, examine conversion by sales stage, deal quality, coaching, territory potential and whether the target itself is credible.
How can sales managers stop targets encouraging discounting?
Review whether the performance system rewards revenue without considering margin or deal quality. Salespeople also need confidence explaining value and handling price conversations. Combining sensible sales target setting with value selling, coaching and clear discount authority makes it harder for price reduction to become the default method of converting opportunities and hitting short-term numbers.
Should sales activity be included in sales targets?
Activity can be useful when it is genuinely connected with sales performance, particularly as a leading indicator. But calls, emails or meetings should not become objectives simply because they are easy to measure. Managers should focus on meaningful activity, quality conversations and progression through the sales process rather than encouraging salespeople to maximise numbers without commercial purpose.
How often should sales targets be reviewed?
Formal targets may remain annual, quarterly or monthly, but managers should review their effectiveness regularly. Look for unintended consequences such as increased discounting, weak pipeline quality, poor collaboration or inconsistent sales behaviour. Market conditions and territory potential can also change. Sales target setting should remain stable enough to provide direction but flexible enough to remain commercially sensible.
Can corporate sales training help a team achieve targets?
Yes, when the underlying performance gap involves sales capability. Training can improve questioning, qualification, value communication, objection handling and sales consistency. However, training cannot compensate for unrealistic targets, weak territories or poor management. The strongest results come when sales training, coaching, sales process and performance measures all encourage the same effective behaviours.
How do you know if sales target setting is working?
Look beyond whether the final number was achieved. Check margin, conversion rates, pipeline quality, customer fit, sales cycle length and the behaviours used to win business. If revenue improves while discounting rises or customer quality falls, the target may be producing the wrong outcome. Effective sales target setting improves performance without creating damaging shortcuts.
Why are sales conversations not converting even when activity is high?
High activity does not guarantee effective sales conversations. The team may be speaking to poorly qualified prospects, asking weak questions or failing to explain value clearly. Activity targets can hide these problems because dashboards remain busy. Review conversation quality, conversion between meaningful sales stages and sales coaching rather than automatically increasing call, meeting or proposal targets.
What makes a successful sales target?
A successful sales target is clear, commercially relevant, achievable with strong performance and connected to outcomes the salesperson can meaningfully influence. It should encourage the behaviour management wants repeated rather than create obvious shortcuts. Good targets also give sales managers useful information for coaching, forecasting and improving sales effectiveness across the team over time.
We offer corporate sales development that helps businesses improve communication, confidence, and sales performance. Our corporate sales courses, corporate sales workshops, and business sales training are tailored to your organisation and focus on real business conversations rather than generic theory. Our training develops stronger sales skills, clearer messaging, and more effective conversations that lead to better commercial outcomes. We work with businesses across the UK that want to win more of the right opportunities without relying on high-pressure selling.
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