How to set sales goals for employees

Start with the team goal

Set the store’s number first, then share it out. The usual starting point is the same month last year plus the growth you are aiming for — the same month, because most salons are seasonal. If last October was $11,000 and you want 10% growth, this October’s team goal is $12,100.

Four ways to share it out

1. The same number for everyone

Simple, and unfair as soon as schedules differ. Someone working three shifts a week is chasing the same target as someone working six. They know it, and stop trying.

2. Each person’s own history plus growth

Last year’s figure for that person, plus a percentage. It respects individual differences, but it punishes last year’s best performer with the highest bar and gives new hires nothing to go on.

3. A share by scheduled hours

Each person’s goal is the team goal times their share of the scheduled hours. Fair to part-timers and easy to explain. It does assume every hour is equally busy, which a Tuesday morning and a Saturday afternoon are not.

4. A share by clients served

Each person’s goal is the team goal times their share of the clients the team served. Whoever sees more people has more chances to sell, so they carry more of the goal — and the goal adjusts itself to how busy each person’s shifts actually were.

The catch: everyone’s goal moves a little whenever anyone serves a client, so people need to see it updated rather than worked out once on the 1st.

Prorate part months

Someone who starts on the 16th of a 30-day month has half the month to sell. Scale their goal by the share of the month they were employed — Ben’s $1,440 becomes $720 — or the goal is out of reach before they begin.

How hard should it be?

If nobody hits goal, it is decoration; if everybody hits it easily, it is a formality. A useful test is that around half the team reaches it in a normal month. Pair it with a minimum to earn — for example commission starts at 50% of goal — and be clear about what happens at each line. The threshold guide explains how a minimum changes behaviour.

Show the pace, not just the goal

A goal tells people where the finish line is. Pace tells them whether they are on track: on day 15 of a 30-day month, anyone under 50% of their goal is behind. Seeing “62% of goal, pace 50%” on the 15th is what turns a goal into a plan for the rest of the month.

CommissionBoard sets each person’s goal as their share of the team goal by clients served, prorates part months, and shows each person their progress against pace on their phone — see how it works. Related: running a sales leaderboard.