A sales plan is similar to a business plan, however it is solely focused on sales operations. It’s a comprehensive playbook that explains everything a salesman needs to know about the goals they’re pursuing at their organization, including:
- Adopting strategies or approaches
- Following are the steps to take.
- Team members, their responsibilities, and the abilities needed to complete their tasks
- Obstacles and problems that may arise
- Individual and team-wide goals, as well as short- and long-term objectives
An effective sales planning strategy should be highly detailed, outlining all of the activities — and their potential results — that your salespeople will need to perform in order to contribute to the company’s goals.
A sales plan, like a business plan, is a customisable document that should reflect your company’s or small business’s unique characteristics. What you put in the document — and how you make it — will be specific to your situation.
With that in mind, there are a few rules and best practices to follow to guarantee your sales strategy is as successful as possible. All of these will be covered later in this text.
Let’s start with some of the reasons why creating a sales plan is so vital.
What Is the Purpose of a Sales Plan?
Closing transactions is the name of the game for many sales agents. In the rush to convert as many leads as possible, it’s easy to lose sight of the process.
However, it is necessary to strengthen and systematize the sales process. Creating a sales planning strategy will enable you to:
- Determine which ideas and methods are most effective with your target market to increase the efficiency of your sales process.
- Set a variety of targets and goals for your sales staff, and encourage them to work hard to achieve them.
- Track individual and group performance statistics at each stage of the sales process to fine-tune your sales process and calculate your budgeting requirements.
Though it may take some time and work up front, developing a sales strategy will pay off handsomely in the long term.
Systemize
Your sales force can’t achieve optimal performance if they aren’t efficient in their sales activities, no matter how skilled or talented they are.
It will be able to reach their sales targets more quickly and easily if you have a disciplined strategy in place. Your sales associates won’t have to waste time thinking what to do next, wondering if what they’re doing is working, or calculating how close they are to hitting their targets thanks to the sales plan’s precise roadmap.
Motivate
Expertly created sales goals are one of the most effective methods to inspire a sales agent. It’s critical that your objectives are ambitious and will propel your company ahead, but they must also be attainable.
It’s a long process, but it’s well worth it. If you establish unattainable goals, your reps will become burned out and eventually give up. Setting the bar too low is a surefire way to fail.
Track
After you’ve set effective goals using the OKR Platform, you’ll need to be able to evaluate which steps and actions are assisting you in meeting them, and which ones need to be tweaked.
This, too, may appear to be a futile effort, but keeping track of your KPIs has numerous advantages.
KPIs are used in the sales plan.
It’s critical that your sales team realises that this isn’t intended to be a micromanagement endeavour. Instead, as the company grows, this data will assist the organisation in determining where to spend its efforts and resources.
How to Make a Sales Plan + What to Include
Although your sales strategy will be unique to your company’s present operational condition and future goals, most sales managers can follow a fairly typical procedure to construct one that meets their needs.
These seven steps will assist you in determining where to begin — and what to include — in your sales strategy.
1. Positioning & Mission Statement
It’s critical to have a clear knowledge of the big picture before you start nailing down the specifics of your goals and sales actions. What is the goal of your business? Are your responsibilities and why do you do them? What are the core values of your company?
Creating a mission statement requires all hands on deck. Many departments contribute to the development of your company’s mission.
It’s also crucial to identify your company’s current market position at this point. What are your key rivals? What makes you unique is the value you provide. This isn’t essential part of your mission statement, but it does assist your sales team in understanding their present position in the market.
2. Objectives
It’s time to get into the nitty-gritty now that you’ve zoomed out and acquired a handle on your company’s higher-level ideals and beliefs.
A large part of your sales strategy will be defining your short- and long-term objectives. Individual, team, and company-wide targets should all be addressed in these goals, which should be data-driven and based on historical sales data. Revenue acceleration, profit margin, total volume, and conversion rate are all examples of goals.
This is not the time to cut corners. The more detailed your goals are, the better, and you should consider defining smaller, more targeted goals for each stage of the sales funnel.
A high-level target would be to close 100 agreements in a month, for example. That’s a solid start toward a SMART goal, but push yourself to take it a step farther. Reverse engineer those 100 deals to see all of the procedures that led up to the close that helped you get there.
How many cold emails were sent before a deal was closed? Many phone calls do salespeople make before qualifying a lead? How active are you on social media? Your sales process map can assist you in identifying and focusing on each particular phase in the process, allowing you to set smaller, stepping-stone objectives.
3. Sales Team Structure and Organization
This is where you’ll lay down your team’s lineup, so to speak. This component of your sales plan should begin with a description of your present sales team, as well as each team member’s specific tasks and responsibilities.
It should also include a list of the precise talents and/or training that your sales agents now possess, as well as what they (ideally) still require to be successful. You should also consider providing future growth predictions or sales team openings. Similarly, you would want to include your remuneration plan in your sales strategy.
Some of this section will be forward-looking and budget-dependent; don’t rule out something just because it isn’t happening right now or appears to be too costly. These forecasts can help you refine your income targets and budget more effectively.
This component should heavily rely on your sales reps’ self-reports. Take the time to speak with each of them about how they see their function and what they are now responsible for in the sales process.
Because there are no right or incorrect answers, make sure your salespeople understand that this isn’t a performance review.
4. Customer Avatars and Target Market
It’s just as crucial to outline things from the customer’s perspective as it is to comprehend the inside workings of your sales process.
Your sales strategy should include specific details about your target market and consumer personas. If you have a lot of different items or services, you can use as many avatars as you want. Define your target customer’s profile, including their demographics, difficulties, and ambitions, as well as how your USP meets their demands and alleviates their pain points. Make sure to update or expand your target markets and consumer personas as your small business expands.
