CREATING YOUR SALES PLAN
6
Steps To Creating
Your Sales Plan
T
he biggest problem most companies face when it
comes to a sales plan is that they don’t have one to
begin with. They only look to build a sales plan when
they need to search for investment capital or talk to
their banker. Building your sales budget is not the
same as building your sales plan. If you want to achieve your
business goals, it is very important to have a sales plan with the
right tactics and strategies that can help you achieve it.
Here are six steps to building a flawless sales plan for your busi-
ness:
1
2
ESTABLISH A SALES PLANNING TEAM
Establish a sales team. There should be many stakeholders
to help you achieve your sales goals. Get them involved.
Your sales team may consist of the individuals from mar-
keting, sales, operations, accounting, and service.
USE THE OLD DATA AS THE BASE OF YOUR PLAN
Your sales plan is the methodology you will use to achieve
your goals and reach your target number. The best indica-
tor you can use as the baseline to get you to your desired
result is to look at the past. By looking at what you have
done in the past, you can set goals for the future.
3
4
5
6
KNOW YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
This is known as customer profiling. Profiling poten-
tial customers is based on your market research, or best
guesses if you own a new business. Where do potential
customers live? Who are they? What do they do for work?
All of this information is vital.
MARKET SUPPORT
Make sure you will have enough support from your target
market to succeed.
MARKETING STRATEGY
Use a proper marketing strategy to determine how many
prospects you actually need to achieve your sales goal.
Your salespeople, referrals, Internet advertising, direct
mails, and trade shows can all be a part of your resources
for marketing.
EVALUATE THE SALES TEAM
Look at the skills of your sales team. If you feel they are
lacking certain skills, arrange a training session to get
them up to speed.
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