What Is A Sales Plan?
Many professionals confuse a company’s business plan with its sales plan. The former details an organization’s higher objectives, while the latter identifies ways to achieve those goals. A sales growth plan should include certain components that aim to get people to buy your product. Starting with ideas, your sales professionals outline methodologies and tactics to generate leads and increase revenue. For instance, they may indicate a few successful sales pitches that close deals quickly. Remember that your processes should be detailed so team members can turn to them whenever they need direction. This way, you streamline your activities and ensure smooth operations. How about tools and tactics? A strategic marketing plan should include them to help sales reps convince potential buyers. The bottom line is that sales plans help sales teams understand a company’s goals, how they can achieve them, and how they will be evaluated for their efforts.
Does this sound a bit intricate? Keep reading to get a better understanding of how companies start with a sales business plan template to craft a strategy and tactics that accelerate growth.
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Sales Process Vs. Sales Strategy
When it comes to sales, even professionals in the field confuse processes with strategies. They may sound similar, but their core differences are crucial. A sales planning strategy answers who, what, and why and aligns with a company’s overall business objectives. Who is your ideal customer that should be targeted? What sets you apart from your competition, and why should they choose you? Your strategy should include the metrics that measure your success and failure. Also, it must forecast some difficulties and hurdles you might face within the next 12–36 months and the actions you’ll take to overcome them. When you fill out your marketing plan template with clarity and actionable tips, you equip your team with tools that lead to high sales and exceptional customer service.
On the other hand, a sales process answers the how and when of your strategy, meaning what the best timing and methods are to facilitate your plan. Your processes should be centered around your customers and their needs and not appear salesy. Your entire team of sales professionals must be dedicated to fostering loyal and trusting relationships with clients on a regular basis, not only when your sales drop. Every employee needs to know when they can begin the sales cycle and which tactic to use during each stage to accelerate growth. Yet, you should not apply a one-size-fits-all approach, as each client has unique needs. Lastly, you should measure and test your sales processes regularly and make alterations based on market changes and customer behaviors.
Key Differences Between Transactional Sales And Strategic Sales
Transactional sales are focused on generating purchases from as many customers as possible without having to worry about fostering long-term relationships. Businesses want to achieve quick, high-volume sales, while buyers look for short-term solutions that don’t require investment. Businesses in retail, automotive, and eCommerce belong to this sales model. On the contrary, strategic sales concentrate on building detailed strategies and demand generation campaigns that align with trends and customer behaviors. They train their sales forces on how to handle each client and their queries, and they use analytics and data to improve their tactics. Additionally, they track their competition’s methods and evaluate why past processes failed.
Essentially, then, the first difference between the two sales models is purpose. Strategic sales wish to craft loyal, long-term relationships with returning customers. Transactional sales don’t care about longevity, but quick sales with one-time customers. That’s why their sales cycle is very short, as people buy something whenever they need it. Strategic sales, though, need to nurture leads, prove credibility, and close deals, a process that may take weeks or even months to conclude. While both models’ goal is to get more customers, transactional sales care more about keeping prices low and not so much about high value. However, strategic sales care about offering unique products of high value at competitive prices. That’s why customers may be slower to come but easier to retain, while in transactional sales, customers may disappear after one purchase. Thus, sales reps in the strategic sales model are well-trained so they can build trusting relationships with long-term clients, but transactional sales reps move on to the next client once they close a deal.
6 Elements Every Sales Plan Should Include
1. Revenue And Customer Targets
Let’s start with your ideal customer. Do you know who they are and what their pain points and needs are? Chances are you have more than one customer profile you need to cater to with your content marketing ideas. You can conduct customer profiling to identify demographics, locations, and behaviors. Then, you can create content that resonates with their requirements and appeals to decision-makers and stakeholders. Furthermore, you should account for your revenue targets during the sales planning process. Based on the previous year, you can anticipate how much monetary growth you’ll have. This percentage helps your sales reps strive for particular results. You may also include the special offers and discounts you plan on enforcing within a year so employees can focus on the right customers to have the best revenue possible.
2. Deadlines
Your sales development plan is tied to certain goals. Each one of these SMART goals should also be tied to deadlines. Knowing when it’s time to measure your efforts allows you to keep track of your sales strategy and make appropriate alterations. While you must try to stick to your deadlines, don’t be too strict with them. If you feel like you need to allocate extra time for more accurate results, do so. However, if the results of your small business content marketing are inefficient, you should be flexible enough to make changes and fix areas that don’t produce. That’s why most sales plans are segmented into four quarters, so you can manage your efforts more easily.
3. Strategies And Tactics
A sales strategy refers to the master plan you’ll follow to achieve your revenue goals. Your strategy includes various tactics and techniques you’ll enforce to materialize it. Content marketing for B2B typically relies on various promotional channels, including content creation, referrals, lead magnet ideas, and social media promotions. You may also implement paid advertising to appeal to larger audiences that may or may not know about your brand. A tactic some companies utilize is retaining customer information from their POS systems. In addition, email marketing, cold calling, and direct mail are still quite popular, depending on your niche. If you are interested in starting exclusive email blasts, you can partner up with eLearning Industry to promote your messaging to our thousands of dedicated subscribers.
4. Budgeting And Pricing
Adding your budget to your sales strategy template is necessary so you can keep track of your spending. No matter how limited or extended your resources are, you should account for marketing spending, employee wages, tools, tech, and travel expenses. Also, you must forecast unexpected spending and set priorities in case you exceed your budget. Where are you going to cut back? Or maybe you can reserve additional resources in case that happens. Furthermore, you should include your product’s pricing and promotions. This way, you can predict your earnings along with your spending. Make sure not to overdo it with special discounts, as you may seem appealing to customers but have disappointing ROI. And keep in mind that your budget should be tied to your business action plan.
5. Team Structure
Don’t forget about adding your team members to your sales plan. Start by mentioning each employee and their job position. What are their strengths, and what are their roles in your project? Each professional should understand clearly what they are expected to do and what results they should strive for. Clarity is necessary so no confusion or responsibility overlap arises. This is particularly crucial since managers can’t oversee every little detail of everyone’s work. Perhaps this is feasible with smaller sales teams, but larger corporations employing dozens of people must rely on them to perform their duties independently. Additionally, while building a sales plan, you should highlight any skill gaps. It’s possible you need to hire new people that will bridge those gaps and bring extra revenue.
6. Market Analysis
The future of digital marketing keeps changing simply because your niche market’s needs and preferences don’t stay the same. With new technologies arriving daily and trends changing the landscape, you need to research your market frequently. If you are breaking into a new market, you should understand who the ideal customer is and what their needs are. You also have to investigate what your competitors do to stay successful. If, on the other hand, you are loyal to the same niche, you should regularly track your audience to see what trends they follow and where they’re losing interest. Maybe your current sales plan tactics are ineffective and you need to incorporate new techniques that resonate with current needs.
How To Create A Revenue-Generating Sales Plan
Define Your Objectives
To begin creating your sales plan, you should actually start at the end: your goals. To track and measure your content marketing performance, you should set your KPIs and metrics. Some of the most crucial ones are churn rate, average conversion time and rate, customer lifetime value (CLV), and annual or monthly recurring revenue (ARR and MRR). You can set your goals based on the previous year’s results. After you’ve highlighted your end goal, you can set smaller milestones with strict deadlines for your sales reps. As a result, they are motivated to work hard and reach attainable goals on their way to completing the full puzzle. To create these milestones, you can ask your team of trained professionals what a typical work day or week looks like for them and how much workload they can take. Therefore, you can adjust your expectations and set realistic goals.
Craft A Mission Statement
A mission statement is what helps your team members understand what you want to achieve. It’s not so much about offering direction about how they should work to achieve your objectives but about providing them with motivation and reasoning behind your goals. It’s your idealistic perspective that creates a powerful company culture and camaraderie. Many companies include their mission statement on their About Us page, though we think it’s better to add it to your sales plan template to instill trust and inspiration in your team.
Pinpoint Your Target Market And Buyers
B2B content marketing and sales initiatives are doomed to fail if you don’t know who you’re targeting. When doing your sales plan presentation, you should be able to answer a few questions. Who are your target buyers, and what common pain points do they face? If they have varying needs, how can you cater to all of them? Do they belong to the same industry and business size? You may need to craft various buyer personas that describe the needs and challenges of all potential customers. If your clients are spread across a few industries, it’s wise to pick the one where you already have leverage. You should also account for your strengths and preferences. It’s important to feel confident and comfortable promoting your services in an industry you know well. Don’t be afraid to pick a specific niche. It does not limit you; it gives you focus.
Create A Buyer Map
Whatever lead generation techniques you enforce, aim to push potential clients down your sales funnel and convert them into paying customers. Your content marketing efforts start by building brand awareness and showing clients that you have a viable solution for their needs. As you nurture them, they start appreciating your abilities and credibility. The next stage of their journey is conversion, meaning that they decide to purchase your product. However, this is not the last stage of strategic sales. You should maintain a friendly post-sale relationship to help clients navigate your services and upsell and cross-sell. In addition, you can send them feedback requests and surveys so they can highlight any weaknesses. Keeping customers happy after purchase helps you create advocates who not only refer others to you but also gift you with valuable case studies and testimonials. eLearning Industry can help you publish and promote your case study articles and increase your brand visibility.
Craft Your USP
Your unique selling point (USP) or value proposition is what sets you apart from your competition and makes you stand out. What do most people buy from your company, and why do they choose your competitors? What can you do to improve your services and be successful? Many companies make the mistake of talking about their businesses in their USP instead of their products. Remember that customers buy services, not features. Highlight why your product is unique and beneficial and what makes it better than other similar solutions on the market. Adding this part to your marketing and sales plan template helps you stay focused on your goal. It also allows the sales team to conduct research regarding market changes and needs and even influence the direction of a product or your entire business.
Organize Your Sales Team
Each member of your sales team should have a clearly defined role with specific responsibilities. There are three main structures for sales teams. Starting with the “island,” this is the least organized structure, as reps are given basic training and selling tips and are expected to close deals on their own with little manager supervision. They work mostly independently and are tasked with guiding clients from awareness to the conversion stage. The assembly line structure is more specialized, as every sales rep has a specific role. We have qualifiers, who are usually sales development reps; closers, who are account executives; and farmers, who are account managers. Once each member performs their responsibilities, they pass a client on to their colleagues. Lastly, we have the pod structure, which is quite similar to assembly lines. The only difference is that smaller pods or groups of professionals form as they handle the journey of specific customers.
Create A Prospect List
Your marketing leader is in charge of enforcing various content marketing techniques to generate leads and attract new clients. They may use gated content to lure customers and get them to hand you their contact details. This is a great way to start building your prospect list, including people and companies that look like they could use your products. Other ways you can do prospecting are by joining industry networks and forums and communicating with your peers. You may also attend conferences and relevant events and greet important figures in your niche. Try to target up to five people at each company to have better odds of converting them. You can then invest time in cold emailing or calling.
Define Your Tools And Software
Your sales plan is the ideal place to mention sales tools, software, and other resources your team can use for sales enablement. For example, you can add CRM software that stores all customer data and sales tools that streamline lead generation through automated email sequences and lead scoring. You may also include the internal communication software that helps your sales reps handle calls and delegate tasks to more experienced colleagues. Many companies use sales enablement tools that accelerate ramp-up time and maintain consistent messaging. Last but not least, don’t forget to add any engagement tools you might have at your disposal so your team can foster better client relationships.
Why Content Creation Is Pivotal For Sales Success
Whether you are in strategic or transactional sales, setting up a powerful content marketing strategy is essential in attracting, engaging, and converting leads. Based on your target audience’s needs and preferences, you should craft compelling content that resonates with them. Depending on the platforms you use the most, you can create a variety of content forms, including blog posts, infographics, webinars, eBooks, podcasts, video tutorials, how-to guides, and case studies. Use your SEO skills to elevate the performance of your content and boost its ranking. Content is significant during all buyer journey stages as people watch and read your material to educate themselves and decide whether they’ll buy your products. Promoting your content on social media plays a massive role in boosting visibility, credibility, and popularity. eLearning Industry can help you in many ways. We can republish your blog posts, eBooks, webinars, and podcasts and promote you to our extended network. Not to mention, our team of marketing experts can guide you in crafting complete content plans with SEO optimization.
How And When Should You Develop A Sales Plan?
We have already mentioned what a strategic sales plan should include and how you should craft it. Let’s talk a bit more about what you should and shouldn’t do. While filling out your annual sales plan template, you may be overly optimistic or pessimistic and miscalculate your projected revenue and marketing results. Don’t alter your goals, though. You may have been wrong in your projections and forecasting, but you should still use the results to improve your performance—based on the data, you can update and optimize your tactics. Additionally, before you finalize your sales plan, ask experienced colleagues to review it. It can be a senior accountant or one of your sales reps, who might notice errors that you missed. Let’s not forget about setting individual goals, too. It’s not only your company that should reach its targets, but also your salespeople. Based on their performance and weaknesses, assign them goals that push them to improve.
So, when should you utilize a sales strategy plan? Whether you’re launching a new product or service or you want to boost sales, sales planning can help you tremendously. It’s not only a comprehensive compass for sales reps to generate more purchases but also a guide for setting up your promotional campaigns. The same applies if you are launching a new product in a few months and want to have a powerful strategy in place. Just make sure to take your time and prepare your marketing strategy thoroughly, setting all necessary key metrics and data. Finally, you should oversee and update your sales plan quarterly to align with industry trends.
The Tremendous Benefits Of Creating A Sales Plan
How can a sales team achieve their goals if they don’t know what the sales action plan is? Sticking to specific timeframes, goals, and metrics helps them facilitate your company’s objectives and improve audience engagement. Strict deadlines also allow professionals to organize their time and resources accordingly and utilize the best tactics possible to close deals. For instance, when a deadline is approaching and they need to act quickly, they may use a more aggressive and time-sensitive tactic. Therefore, their individual and company ROI improves. Moreover, team members aren’t always aware of your business’s reasoning behind every goal. A sales strategy plan helps them understand not only what they need to do but also why they do it. As a result, they are motivated to act swiftly and in the right direction. Lastly, a good plan accounts for possible hiccups and hurdles sales reps may encounter and tricks to overcome them. So, your employees can stay in control of situations no matter how hard they get.
Inbound Vs. Outbound Sales Strategies
How do you make sales even after you’ve completed your marketing and sales plan template? Inbound and outbound marketing help you connect with your target audience and existing clients. With inbound marketing, it’s customers who initiate contact with you because they are interested in what you offer. There are many ways you can generate leads and kickstart the sales cycle. Educational SEO-optimized blog posts and eBooks, industry-relevant webinars, podcasts, YouTube videos, and social media posts are a few of the top choices. You may also enforce paid search ads on Google and specific social media platforms that appeal to your core audience. eLearning Industry and its team of seasoned professionals can offer you a multitude of inbound marketing options, including hosting webinars and podcasts and promoting your expert blog posts to its readers.
On the other hand, outbound marketing targets people who may not know your brand or the services you offer. Companies without in-house marketing teams employ agencies offering content marketing services that help them craft and promote engaging material. Apart from cold calling, which is a traditional outbound method, high-performing marketing teams can create banners and pop-up ads to appeal to new customers. They may also enforce email marketing to reach potential buyers, provide them with informative content, and instill credibility. They can even connect with prospects on social media platforms and start fostering positive relationships. If you are interested in outbound marketing activities, eLearning Industry can help you create eye-catching ads and feature you in our email sequences.
Key Takeaway
Sales planning isn’t just a solid tool for increasing your revenue; it’s a necessity for all team members to get a sense of direction. Whether you are in strategic or transactional sales, professionals must understand what their roles are and how they fit into your vision. The goal isn’t to get local customers but to research and use persona keywords so you can appeal to your ideal customer profiles. You also need to define your end goal and set deadlines for every smaller project. As a result, employees can keep track of their performance and adjust their efforts and overall marketing plan to drive improvement. And don’t forget that you need to position yourself in your niche and differentiate your offerings from those of your competition.
If you don’t have an in-house marketing team to take care of your promotional needs, you can delegate the task to an external collaborator, like eLearning Industry. They can give your content the boost it needs to be seen by thousands of people and create ads that generate traffic. Iterative testing helps them try out different options before choosing the one that has the largest potential for success.
