What Is a Sales Plan?
Business success built on two things: the quality of your product or service and the thought put into your business plans.
Your sales plan is a key part of your business strategy, and to help you get started I'll explain what is a sales plan and how to write yours.
A sales plan outlines your goals and strategies for acquiring new business, growing existing business and growing your sales quota.
Your sales plan will help you evaluate the strength of your sales and your company.
If your sales are on tract with your plan that's great, if not, it's a chance to find out what's not working and fix it.
Your sales plan will be divided into two sections: New business: Typically, you want 75% of your sales quota to come from new business contacts.
A quota is the number of sales you plan/want/need to make within a given period of time.
You can (and should) set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly quotas to keep track of how your business is performing.
Now it's time to think about your plan to acquire new business and the steps you'll need to take.
For example your plan could be to double your monthly sales quota from last year.
Here are some ways you might do that:
Your plan to increase orders from your existing customers could involve some of the following:
For each section of your business plan, outline what you want to achieve and specifically how you will achieve it.
Your goals can be increasing overall revenue, increasing your customer base, selling a specific number of units or earning more profit.
Once you've written your sales plan, keep it handy.
Plug your quotas and goals into your calendar and refer to your plan constantly to stay on track.
Now you know what a sales plan is, what are your sales goals for the rest of 2012 and how do you plan to achieve them? Share yours now!
Your sales plan is a key part of your business strategy, and to help you get started I'll explain what is a sales plan and how to write yours.
A sales plan outlines your goals and strategies for acquiring new business, growing existing business and growing your sales quota.
Your sales plan will help you evaluate the strength of your sales and your company.
If your sales are on tract with your plan that's great, if not, it's a chance to find out what's not working and fix it.
Your sales plan will be divided into two sections: New business: Typically, you want 75% of your sales quota to come from new business contacts.
A quota is the number of sales you plan/want/need to make within a given period of time.
You can (and should) set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly quotas to keep track of how your business is performing.
Now it's time to think about your plan to acquire new business and the steps you'll need to take.
For example your plan could be to double your monthly sales quota from last year.
Here are some ways you might do that:
- Contact 50 potential wholesale customers each month
- Join your local chamber of commerce to meet new retailers face-to-face
- Become an expert in your niche on LinkedIn as a method of attracting new business customers
Your plan to increase orders from your existing customers could involve some of the following:
- Touch base with each customer monthly.
Find out why they buy your product and what you can do to make their lives easier - Revitalize your e-newsletter.
Provide content retailers and customers can actually use.
If you only have one newsletter, consider writing separate letters for your 2 main customer bases, as they have different needs and interests - Ask for referrals.
Offer existing retail customers a 10% discount for referring a friend as a new customer, call your wholesale customers and ask if they can suggest a new wholesale client, or consider joining an affiliate marketing site
For each section of your business plan, outline what you want to achieve and specifically how you will achieve it.
Your goals can be increasing overall revenue, increasing your customer base, selling a specific number of units or earning more profit.
Once you've written your sales plan, keep it handy.
Plug your quotas and goals into your calendar and refer to your plan constantly to stay on track.
Now you know what a sales plan is, what are your sales goals for the rest of 2012 and how do you plan to achieve them? Share yours now!
