Every business needs a business plan as well as more detailed road maps that offer guidance to each department working toward that common goal. As the revenue-generating engine of your company, the sales department should be a top priority for this type of document, aptly named the "sales plan." This guide introduces the concept of a sales plan and gives you all the guidance you need to create a sales plan that works for your business.
A sales plan details the overall sales strategy of a business, including the revenue objectives of the company and how the sales department will meet those goals. This may also include revenue goals, the target audience, and tools the team will use in their day-to-day. In addition, the sales plan should include examples of the hurdles and pain points the team might encounter, as well as contingency plans to overcome them.
"A sales plan helps individual reps understand the priorities of the business as well as the measurements by which they will be evaluated."
Business plans vs. sales plans
Business plans, and sales plans are closely linked. A sales plan, though, should outline the actions that the sales department will take to achieve the company’s broader goals. A sales plan differs from a business plan, though both work toward the same end.
"A business plan is a ‘what’ [and] a sales plan is a how," said James R. Bailey, professor of management and Hedberg Professional Fellow of Leadership Development at the George Washington University School of Business. "Business plans are where a firm wants to go. A sales plan is a part of how they can achieve that. A business plan is direction; a sales plan is execution."
For example, a software company that developed a new mobile application might state in its business plan that the app will be installed by 1 million users within a year of launch, while the sales plan describes how that will actually be achieved.
- Targeted accounts: Assign each salesperson a few key accounts to focus on, and grow from that base.
- Targeted verticals: Sales teams might focus on specific market segments or verticals, such as a particular industry.
- Salespeople should emphasize certain SKUs or inventory items rather than get lost in a broad catalog of merchandise to sell.
- Sales and marketing coordination: Sales and marketing teams should work together to create promotions to help generate sales.
- Every company has a road map, and each product should have a road map that shows the plan and direction for a product offering over time, to chart out when a product will launch and when it might sunset or be replaced by a newer model.
- Sales Forecasts: Sales forecasting is the projection of sales volumes and expectations by comparing them historically to sales of previous years, and then conducting market comparisons to determine where sales will fall against the competition.
Sales plans should be unique to the company. However, there are key components they should always include. Because there is somewhat of a formula, you can use a template.
Templates are extremely helpful, Gibbs said. "It creates uniformity for the team, as well as a yearly or quarterly sales plan to present to senior management."
Gibbs added that templates can easily be customized to meet the needs of a particular business or sales team.
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