Sales are crucial to your business’s success. What is a sales plan and why do you need it? A sales plan is a document that describes your strategy for selling your product/service.

It contains information about your target market and how you will reach them. It also outlines what products or services are available to you and how much profit you expect to make from each sale.

What is a sales plan? Why should you care?

Let’s answer the question: What is a sales strategy? A sales plan is a monthly forecast that shows how much you expect to sell and how you will do it. It includes past sales, market concerns, as well as your niches.

It also describes your customers and how you will find them, engage with them, and then sell to.

A sales strategy will help achieve your sales goals for the year. A sales plan template that is well-designed can help you to spend more time developing your startup and less on responding to sales calls.

It is possible to quickly identify potential problems, sales droughts, and opportunities using the information in your sales plan. Then, you can take action. Although it may seem daunting to create a sales planning template, once you have answered all of the questions, your sales (and brand) will be at its best.

You can take your sales (and brand!) to the next level.

Are you a sales manager? Sales executives, entrepreneurs, and managers all benefit from creating sales strategies for their company, department or team. You must know where you are going before you can reach your sales targets.

Next, you need to outline the strategies and tactics you will use. All of this information can be included in a sales plan. Learn how to create the right sales plan for your company.

This post will cover:

• What is a sales plan?
• What is the Sales Planning Process?
• What is a Sales Plan Template?
• How to create a sales plan

 

• Sales Plan Examples
• Templates for Strategic Sales Plans

What is a sales strategy?

A sales plan describes your goals, high-level tactics, and target audience. It also identifies potential obstacles. It is similar to a business plan, but it focuses on your sales tactics. A business plan sets out your goals, while a sales plan details how you will achieve them.

Sales plans often include information about the target customers, revenue goals, team structure, as well as the strategies and resources required to achieve those sales targets.

A sales plan that is successful should include the following:

• Your sales team should communicate your company’s goals.
• Your sales team should be given direction.
• Define the roles of your sales team, and your leadership.
• You can track the progress of your sales team toward reaching organizational goals.

 

Sales Planning Process

Sales planning does not only include creating a sales plan. It is important to have a high-level strategy in order for that document to be more than a book on the shelves.

 

You should:

• Find trends by analyzing sales data from the past year.
• Set sales targets to reach your revenue goals.
• Determine the success metrics.
• Assess your current situation and identify any weaknesses or strengths that could be a roadblock.
• Forecasting sales based on historical data and demand trends.
• Identify any gaps you need to fill in order to reach your goals.
• You may have opportunities that you missed in the past years and can now create new initiatives.
• Stakeholders from other departments, such as Marketing and Product, should be involved.
• Outline actions based on quota and capacity numbers.

Remember that sales planning should not end with the creation and distribution of the document.

To maintain your company’s sales excellence, you’ll need to repeat this process each year.

Now that you are committed to the sales plan process, let us dive into the written execution part of sales planning.

What is a Sales Plan Template?

 

These sections are typical of a sales plan:

• Target customers – Who your company wants to serve with its products or services.
• Revenue targets: The amount of revenue your team aims for each period.
• Strategies and tactics – The actions your team will take in order to achieve revenue targets.
• Pricing and promotions Documentation of your offer’s price and any future promotions that might convert customers.
• Deadlines and DRIs – List who is responsible to complete deliverables and outline important dates.
• Team structure – Who are your team members and what’s their role?
• Resources– The tools that your team uses to reach revenue targets.
• Market conditions– Relevant information about the industry and the competitive landscape.

Let’s now see how to create a business plan. HubSpot’s free template for a sales plan is available to help you get the most from this blog post.

 

How to write a sales plan

1. Background and Mission
2. Team
3. Target Market
4. Tools, Software, Resources
5. Positioning
6. Marketing Strategy
7. Prospecting Strategy
8. Action Plan
9. Goals
10. Budget

1. Background and Mission

Your company’s vision and mission should be included at the beginning of your sales strategy. A brief history of the company is also necessary. This will provide background information that will be used to create the plan.

 

2. Team

Next, describe the roles and members of your team. You might manage five salespeople and work closely with a sales enablement professional, or a sales ops specialist.

 

If you plan to increase headcount, include the number and job titles of all employees and the date you will be bringing them on board.

3. Target Market

It doesn’t really matter if this is your first or fifteenth sales proposal, it’s important to understand your target audience. Which are your most loyal customers? Are they all in the same industry?

Are they all from the same industry? You must meet the same challenge.

Depending on the product, you might have different buyer personas. HubSpot’s salespeople may sell marketing software to CMOs and sales software sales managers to sales managers.

This section of your sales strategy may change as you develop your solution, strategy, and adjust product-market fit. It is possible that you have had success selling your product to startups even though it was in its early stages. Mid-market companies are likely to be a better fit for your product now that it’s more robust and the price is higher.

It is important to continually review and update your personas.

4. Tools, Software, and Resources

Include a description about your resources. What CRM software are you planning to use? Are you able afford to sponsor sales contests?

This section will provide information about the tools your salespeople should have to succeed (e.g. documentation, training, sales enablement tools, etc.). ).

5. Positioning

Name your competitors. Describe your products in comparison to theirs, and where your products are stronger than theirs. Compare their pricing to yours.

Market trends should also need to be discussed. Vertical-specific software is becoming more popular in SaaS companies. If you sell advertising, you should mention the rise in programmatic mobile advertising.

These changes can have a significant effect on your business.

6. Marketing Strategy

This section will explain your pricing and any promotions you plan to run. What are the most important steps you can take to increase brand awareness Consider the impact on sales.

Here’s a mock-up:

• Product A– Increasing price starting at $40 a $45 February 2nd (2% decrease in monthly sales).
• Product A – Refer customers between Jan. 1-20 to receive a free upgrade (a 20% increase in monthly revenue).
• Product C– Decreasing price starting at $430 – $400 beginning March 1 (5% increase monthly sales).
• Product D: No change

7. Prospecting Strategy

How will your sales team qualify leads generated through your marketing strategy? Before prospects reach out to you, make sure they meet certain criteria.

Identify the outside and inbound sales methods your team will use to close more deals.

8. Action Plan

Once you have defined your goals, it is time to plan how you will achieve them. This section summarizes your strategy to reach your revenue targets.

Here are some examples.

A.

• Three-day workshop about referral techniques
• Referral sales contest:
• Referral sales increase by 5 percent to increase commission

B. Objective: Acquire 20 Enterprise logos

• Identify 100 potential prospects and assign a team to each.
• Two events for executives
• Bonus for the first team that wins 3 logos

9. Goals

Most sales goals are revenue-based. For example, you might set a target of $10,000,000 in annual revenue recurring (ARR).

You can also set volume goals. This could be 100 new clients or 450 sales. If your goal is not realistic, your entire sales plan will be ineffective.

Factor in the product’s price, total market (TAM), penetration, and resources (including your Sales Headcount and Marketing Support).

Your business goals should be closely related to your goal. If your company wants to grow upmarket, you might choose “Acquire 20 Enterprise logos” over “Sell a new business”. The former will encourage your company to chase deals and not concentrate on the right customers.

Most likely, you will have multiple goals. First, determine the most important goals and rank them according to priority.

If you have territories, assign one goal to each. This will make it easier to identify under- or over-performers.

Plan your timeline. Regular benchmarks will help determine if your progress is on track, ahead, or behind your goals.

Let’s assume that your goal for the first quarter of the year is to sell $30,000. Based on last year’s performance, you know that February and January are slower than March.

With that in mind, here’s your timeline.

• January: $8,000
• February: $8,000
• March: $14,000

If applicable, please also include the DRIs. Rep Carol may have a January quota limit of $5,000. Rep Shane, who is still ramping up, has a $3,000 per month limit. This allows people in smaller groups to not copy each other’s work or shift blame if targets aren’t met.

10. Budget

Describe the costs associated with reaching your sales goals. This typically includes:

• Commissions and salaries
• Sales training
• Tools and resources to support sales
• Contest prizes
• Activities to bond teams
• Travel costs
• Food

To budget accurately, compare your sales forecast with the budget for the sales plan.

These tips will help you create a highly successful sales strategy.

Tips for creating a successful sales plan

We have provided examples and mockups of what to include in a sales proposition.

These are some tips and tricks that will help you create a sales strategy that will help reach your goals and exceed your higher-ups’ expectations.

• Use industry trends to make your plan more effective. When presenting your plan to stakeholders, use industry trends to highlight its benefits.
• Indicate which technology you will use to measure success. This information can be used internally or to inform others about how you plan to measure success. There are two options: a CRM or a dashboard software.
• Support your budget proposal with hard facts. Create a budget as part of your plan. You can support it with sales forecasts or performance data.
• Make separate plans for each team. If you have a sales strategy to support business development, field sales, and outbound sales, you can be more precise and precise with your goals and KPIs.
• Ask marketing for their feedback. The success of your sales plan depends on how marketing and sales are aligned. Marketing input is essential to align your prospecting, lead generation, and nurturing efforts.
• Talk to your sales reps to discuss their challenges. It is easy to get lost in numbers and forecasts. To determine which sales reps will be most effective, it is important to understand their day-to-day activities.
• Conduct an analysis of the competition to help you create a plan that will move your company in a positive direction.

Sales Plan Examples

There are many sales plans that you can create for your business. Here are some examples.

30-60-90-Day Sales Plan

The general sales plan does not have a theme but is based on a time frame. There will be three goals: one for the 30-day mark, another for the 60-day mark, and the last for the 90-day mark. You can focus on quotas or reducing customer turnover by a specific percentage.

If you are new to the job, you can create a 30–60-90 day plan to track your progress over the first ninety days.

Marketing-Alignment Sales Plan

A traditional sales plan already aligns with marketing in many ways. If you have not yet aligned the two departments, you can create a marketing-aligned sales plan. The plan will be focused on creating ideal buyer personas, customer profiles, and aligning marketing messaging with sales messaging.

Business Development Strategic Sales Plan

Your strategic business plan will help you attract new business by networking with other businesses and sponsoring events. These outreach channels will be reflected in your sales plan’s KPIs.

Market Expansion Strategy

A market expansion plan is a list that lists tasks and targets to be completed when expanding into new markets. This plan is intended to target a specific market in a particular area. Distribution costs, time zone differences between sales reps, target customers, and other logistical considerations will all be taken into account.

New Product Sales Plan

If you launch a product, you will need a sales strategy. If you plan to launch a product using a channel-based model of sales, you will need to conduct a competitive analysis, create a sales strategy, strengthen brand positioning, and secure channel partners.

Example of a Strategic Sales Plan

These sales plan examples can be a great source of inspiration.

1. Sales Plan Template by HubSpot

This template outlines the key elements of a sales plan. This template will help you to create your own sales plan.

2. Sample Sales Plan by BestTemplates

Combining a sales plan will help you and your sales team achieve the goals and strategies that you have set. This template is 9 pages long and includes a section about goals before moving into more specific areas such as demand generation, measurement, and evaluation.

This template offers many options to help you create a concrete plan.

3. Asana Sale Plan

This template is compatible with Asana’s project-management software. This template can be embedded within your team’s workspace to ensure that everyone is on the exact same page about your sales strategy. You can track the progress of all tasks related to your goals in real-time.

4. 1-Page Business Planning by BestTemplates

A sales plan doesn’t have to be complicated. Your sales plan can be condensed to a single page. This template is a great example of keeping your sales plan short and sweet. This strategic sales plan is presented landscape mode.

It includes expected costs and sales, as well as key performance indicators and distribution strategy. It is easy to read because it uses a grid layout.

5. Online Sales Planning Map By Venngage

Choose a design that suits you and then create your sales strategy with Venngage’s interface. This interface supports custom charts, stock photos, and illustrations. You have many options for visually appealing options in one tool.

6. Small Business Sales Plan by FitSmallBusiness

Even if your company is small, it may not make sense to have a full-fledged team of salespeople. This template will help you to create a solid business strategy. This template will be useful for future hires.

Although this plan is simple, sometimes simpler is more. This plan has several sections that you can use to create your plan. You can fill in the boxes using Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

7. Sales Strategy Diagram from Creately

If you are visual-oriented than a person, a diagram can be very useful. Creately makes it easy to create a visually appealing marketing strategy by breaking down actions and values by category.

8. Sales Action Plan by BestTemplates

A sales action plan lets you dive into the details of your sales strategy. This sales action plan is very simple and clean. It focuses on the specific elements of achieving sales targets, such as positioning and strategic plays.

It is 8 pages long and can easily be customized in Word or Pages.

9. Template.Net 30–60-90 Day Sales Plans

Your sales plan can be customized to set goals for both the long-term as well as the short-term. This sales plan will outline tasks related to your sales goals.

You can review each box as you go to ensure you have a solid strategy.

10. TemplateLab Microsoft Word Sales Plan Template

This template will help you organize your goals into actionable items. It helps you organize your goals into action items and encourages you to set dates. It helps you to focus on multiple goals and gives a clear view on all the initiatives that you might be working on.

11. 90-Day Business Planning by Template.Net

This sample sales plan will allow you to look at your sales strategies for the next 90 days. This document will help you to break down your sales plan into phases and tasks. The last section contains a mindmap and pipeline strategies.

It is crucial to have a sales plan that grows with your business.

There is no single-size-fits-all sales plan. It is a mistake for a sales plan to be written at the beginning of a quarter or year and not be reviewed again. You should review your plan every quarter to keep it on track and on target.

Your plan can help you ensure that your company generates more income by being constantly improved.

Conclusion

What is a sales strategy? A sales plan is a document that describes your strategy for selling your product/service. It contains information about who your target market is, how to reach them, the products or services that you will offer, and how much profit each sale will bring in.

A solid sales plan will ensure your business achieves its full potential.