--- title: What It Takes To Make Your Number | The Sales Blog description: Selling isn’t easy. From quarter to quarter, you have to make your number. That requires that you take all kinds of different activities and produce all kinds of outcomes. Managing your time, your focus, your activities, and your outcomes is critical to making your number. Here are three places to focus to make your number. […] image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_66119191-copy.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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From quarter to quarter, you have to make your number. That requires that you take all kinds of different activities and produce all kinds of outcomes. Managing your time, your focus, your activities, and your outcomes is critical to making your number. Here are three places to focus to make your number. #### Disciplined Prospecting to Open Relationships That Open Opportunities There aren’t many things that will prevent you from making your number more than a lack of disciplined, focused, [prospecting](http://thesalesblog.com/2011/02/on-research-and-prospecting-separating-tasks-by-outcome/). Without opening the relationships that you need to open, you can’t create or obtain the opportunities that you need to make your number. Salespeople who fail to make their number are the salespeople who fail to prospect. Prospecting is the life’s blood of sales opportunities. I once had a terribly unpolished salesperson work for me. She had no [business acumen](http://thesalesblog.com/2011/04/develop-your-three-pound-power-plant-of-sales-success/), and she had a list of personal problems that would require a year’s worth of blog posts to describe. But, she sat down at her desk and made call after call, day after day, week after week, month after month. Her disciplined prospecting produced all kinds of sales meetings, and lots of people liked her enough to give her a chance to compete for their business. She produced better than average numbers simply because she was hard to [outwork](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/to-outsell-them-outwork-them). With prospecting comes relationships. With relationships comes opportunities. With opportunities comes sales. #### Build a Pipeline Big Enough That You Can Afford to Lose To make your number, you have to be able to [afford to lose](http://thesalesblog.com/2010/01/how-to-make-sure-you-can-afford-to-lose-and-still-make-quota/). It’s easy to open the big deal dream client opportunity and to be consumed with it. It’s easy to be consumed with the huge opportunity, especially the one that will make your whole annual quota. But, you get to control your actions; you don’t get to decide whether or not you win the opportunity or when. Truth be told, your big opportunity isn’t taking 40 hours of your workweek. In all likelihood, it’s taking a few hours. It’s likely that you’re just spending the other thirty-eight hours thinking about it (been there, done that!). I have seen countless salespeople miss their number because they obtain the one big opportunity they need to make their number and then stop building their pipeline. By failing to build their pipeline, they put themselves in a position where they cannot afford to lose. But many do lose. And others are fortunate enough to close their big opportunity, but far later than they needed it to close, causing them to miss their number. #### Meaningful Sales Meetings that Advance Opportunities [Activity](http://thesalesblog.com/2010/07/activity-doesn%e2%80%99t-cure-all-sales-problems-but/) isn’t enough to make your number. To make your number, you need [effective](http://thesalesblog.com/2009/07/activity-does-not-precede-sales/) activities that produce real outcomes. The desired outcome of sales meetings is to advance an opportunity from target to close. Too few sales meetings, and you are unlikely to make your number. Too many meaningless meetings that don’t create any value for you or your dream client, and you are unlikely to make your number. It’s easy to chase activity and to be busy with work that looks and feels like sales work. Appointments are good, right? Meetings are great, right? Responding to [RFP’s](http://thesalesblog.com/2010/11/why-requests-for-proposals-are-unhealthy-for-salespeople-and-buyers/) is important work—and it has a deadline; it must be important work! Then there are all those emails . . . Making your number means making choices to use your time effectively. The best place to spend your time is face-to-face with your dream client, engaged in activities that will produce the outcomes that [advance your opportunities](http://thesalesblog.com/2010/04/always-be-advancing/). Meaningful, purposeful sales meetings, professionally planned, and professionally executed to advance the opportunity. Nothing less. #### Questions What are the keys to making your number? What are the activities that open the opportunities that you need in order to make your number? What does your pipeline need to look like? What do you have to do with and for your dream client in order to create enough value and trust to advance your opportunity? How are you going to make your number? ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2011](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2011) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on April 14, 2011 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. You can email Anthony at [iannarino@gmail.com](mailto:iannarino@gmail.com) [Follow me on my website](https://www.thesalesblog.com/anthony-iannarino) [Follow me on Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/thesalesblog) [Follow me on LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/iannarino/) [Follow me on Twitter ](http://www.twitter.com/iannarino) [![AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27.jpg?width=400&height=400&name=AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27.jpg)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/authority) [![ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1.jpg?width=318&height=179&name=ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1.jpg)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/free-cold-calling-video) ![salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover (1)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover%20(1).jpg?width=768&height=994&name=salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover%20(1).jpg) ### Free Sales eBook: Sales Call Planner Planning your sales call improves the likelihood of making a successful call, and it demonstrates to your dream client your professionalism. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2024-08-28T3:51:07 AM", "datePublished" : "2011-04-14 21:10:52", "description" : "Selling isn’t easy. From quarter to quarter, you have to make your number. That requires that you take all kinds of different activities and produce all kinds of outcomes. Managing your time, your focus, your activities, and your outcomes is critical to making your number. 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