What is a Sales Plan?:
A sales plan lays out your objectives, high-level tactics, target audience, and potential obstacles. It’s like a traditional business plan but focuses specifically on your sales strategy. A business plan lays out your goals — a sales plan describes exactly how you’ll make those happen.
Sales plans often include information about the business’ target customers, revenue goals, team structure, and the strategies and resources necessary for achieving its targets.
Sales Plan Components:
An effective sales plan should do the following:
- Communicate your company’s goals and objectives to your sales team.
- Provide strategic direction for your sales team.
- Outline roles and responsibilities for your sales team and leadership.
- Monitor your sales team’s progress to organizational goals.
A typical sales plan includes the following sections:
- Target customers— Who your company aims to serve with its products and services.
- Revenue targets— How much revenue your team aims to bring in each period.
- Strategies and tactics— The specific actions your team will take to reach revenue targets.
- Pricing and promotions— Documentation of your offering’s prices and any upcoming promotions that can convert customers.
- Team structure— Who is on your team, and what their role is.
- Resources— The tools your team uses to reach revenue targets.
- Market conditions— Pertinent information about your industry and the competitive landscape.
One thing to keep in mind is that sales planning shouldn’t end with the creation of the document. You’ll want to reiterate this process every year to maintain your organization’s sales excellence.
Long Beach Sales & Marketing:
The greatest challenge in developing a Sales Plan is the freeing up the time necessary to step back, do the research and create a comprehensive plan without cutting corners. There is great value to a Sales Plan but often times corners get cut and the true value of the planning process becomes lost.
Let us help you navigate this process and develop a comprehensive sales plan. Long Beach Sales and Marketing.