What is Sales Planning? How to Create a Sales Plan

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Sales planning is a fundamental component of sound selling. After all, you can't structure an effective sales effort if you don't have, well, structure. In my experience, everyone - from the top to the bottom of a sales org - benefits from having solid, actionable, thoughtfully organized sales plans.

This kind of planning offers clarity and direction for your sales team. It covers everything from the prospects you're trying to reach to the goals you're trying to hit to the insight you're trying to deliver on.

But putting together one of these plans isn't always straightforward. To help you out, I've compiled this detailed guide to sales planning - including expert-backed insight and examples - that will ensure your next sales plan is fundamentally sound and effective.

Table of Contents

• What is a sales plan?
• Sales Planning Process
• Importance of the Sales Planning Process
• What goes in a sales plan template?
• How to Write a Sales Plan
• Tips for Creating an Effective Sales Plan
• Types of Sales Plans
• Strategic Sales Plan Examples

Sales plans often include information about the business's target customers, revenue goals, team structure, and the strategies and resources necessary for achieving its targets.

What are the goals of an effective sales plan?

The purpose of your company's sales plan is to:

1. Communicate company goals and objectives.
2. Provide strategic direction.
3. Outline roles and responsibilities.
4. Monitor your sales team's progress.

1. Communicate your company's goals and objectives.

Goals and objectives are the lifeblood of successful sales efforts. You can't know what you're working for or whether you've achieved anything meaningful if you don't have them in place.

Your sales reps need to have a solid sense of what's expected of them. You can't go to your team and just say, "Sell." In my experience, you have to establish clear benchmarks that are both practical and ambitious.

And if - or more likely when - those goals change over time, you need to regularly communicate those shifts and the strategic adjustments that come with them to your team.

2. Provide strategic direction.

Your sales strategy keeps your sales process productive. It offers the actionable steps your reps can take to deliver on your vision and realize the goals you set. So naturally, you need to communicate it effectively - a sales plan offers a solid resource for that.

For instance, your sales org might notice your SDRs are posting lackluster cold call conversion rates. In turn, you might want to have them focus primarily on email outreach. Or you could experiment with new sales messaging on calls.

Regardless of how you want to approach the situation, a thoughtfully structured sales plan gives both you and your reps a high-level perspective that would inform more cohesive, effective efforts across the team.

3. Outline roles and responsibilities.

An effective sales org is a machine, where each part has a specific function that serves a specific purpose that needs to be executed in a specific fashion. Everyone who comprises that org needs to have a clear understanding of how they specifically play into the company's broader sales strategy.

In my opinion, outlining roles and responsibilities while sales planning lends itself to more efficient task delegation, overlap reduction, and increased accountability. All of which amount to more streamlined, successful sales efforts.

4. Monitor your sales team's progress.

Sales planning sets the framework for gauging how well your team is delivering on your sales strategy. It informs the benchmarks and milestones reps use to see how their performance stacks up against your goals and expectations.

I've also found it gives sales leadership a holistic view of how well a sales org is functioning as a whole, giving them the necessary perspective to understand whether they have the right people and tools in place to thrive.

Sales Planning Process

Sales planning isn't (and shouldn't) be limited to the actual sales plan document it produces. If that document is going to have any substance or practical value, it should be the byproduct of a thorough, well-informed, high-level strategy.

In my experience, there are some key steps you need to cover when planning sales. These include:

• Gathering sales data and searching for trends.
• Defining your objectives.
• Determining metrics for success.
• Assessing the current situation.
• Starting sales forecasting.
• Identifying gaps.
• Ideating new initiatives.
• Involving stakeholders.
• Outlining action items.

When putting this list together, I reached out to Zach Drollinger, Senior Director of Sales at Coursedog, to ensure the examples detailed below are sound and accurate.

Step 1: Gather sales data and search for trends.

To plan for the present and future, your company needs to look to the past.

What did sales look like during the previous year? What about the last five years?

Using this information helps you identify trends in your industry. While it's not foolproof, it helps establish a foundation for your sales planning process.

How to Collect Sales Data

Let's say I'm a new sales director for an edtech company that sells curriculum planning software to higher education institutions. My vertical is community colleges, and my territory is the East Coast.

Once I assume this new role, I'm going to want to gather as much context as possible about my vertical and how my company has approached it historically. I'll pull information about how we've sold to this vertical:

• How much new business have we closed within it in the past five years?
• How does that compare to how we perform with other kinds of institutions?
• Are we seeing significant churn from these customers?

I'll also want context about the general needs, interests, and pain points of the kinds of institutions I'm selling to. Plus, look for insights into figures like degree velocity, staff retention, and enrollment.

The idea is to have a comprehensive perspective on my sales process - a thorough understanding of where I stand and what my prospects are dealing with.

Step 2: Define your objectives.

How do you know your business is doing well if you have no goals and objectives? Once you've defined them, you can move forward with executing them.

How to Determine Sales Objectives

Extending the example from the previous step, I'd leverage the context I gathered through the research I conducted about both my and my prospect's circumstances. I'll start setting both broader goals and more granular operational objectives.

For instance, I can set a goal of increasing sales revenue from my vertical. From there, I'll start putting together the kind of specific objectives that facilitate that process. Think: connecting with administrators from at least 30 community colleges, booking demos with at least 10 schools, and successfully closing at least five institutions.

Obviously, those steps represent a streamlined (and unrealistically straightforward) sales process, but you get the idea.

Additionally, I'll set a concrete goal, supplemented by SMART objectives, that will serve as a solid reference point for my org's efforts as the sales process progresses.

Step 3: Determine metrics for success.

Every business is different, yes. But, we can all agree that every business needs metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for success.

What are you going to use to determine if your business is successful? KPIs differ based on your medium, but standard metrics are gross profit margins, return on investment (ROI), daily web traffic users, conversion rate, and more.

Sales Rep KPIs vs. Sales Manager KPIs

For sales reps, KPIs zero in on metrics that shape their daily grind and productivity. Like these:

• Number of calls made: This one keeps reps on their toes, ensuring they're hustling and maintaining a high level of outreach.
• Conversion rate: Tracks how many prospects become customers, revealing the power of their pitches.
• Average deal size: Monitors the average revenue per deal, pushing reps to close bigger, better sales.
• Sales cycle length: Helps reps streamline their processes and identify ways to speed things up.

For sales managers, KPIs take a broader, more strategic view of team performance. Key metrics include:

• Total revenue: Measures the team's overall revenue, keeping an eye on progress towards sales targets.
• Pipeline value: Shows the total value of deals in the pipeline, giving insight into future revenue.
• Win rate: Indicates the percentage of deals closed successfully, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement in the sales process.
• Employee retention rate: Keeps track of team stability and satisfaction - crucial for long-term success.
• Training and development progress: Monitors the effectiveness of training programs, ensuring continuous skill development.

How to Identify Sales Metrics

I kind of covered this step in the previous example, but it still warrants a bit more elaboration.

The "M" in SMART goals ("measurable") is there for a reason. You can't tell if your efforts were successful if you don't know what "successful" actually means.

In my edtech sales example, I'm assuming ownership of an existing vertical and getting more out of it. So, it's fair to assume that sales growth rate - the increase or decrease of sales revenue in a given period, typically expressed as a percentage - would be an effective way to gauge success.

I can also structure my goals and objectives around a sales growth rate of 20% Y/Y within my vertical. I'll make sure my org is familiar with that figure and offer some context about what it would take to reach it - namely, how many institutions we would need to close and retain.

Step 4: Assess the current situation.

How is your business fairing right now? This information is relevant to determining how your current situation holds up to the goals and objectives you set during Step 2. What are your roadblocks? What are your strengths?

Create a list of the obstacles hindering your success. Identify the assets you can use as an advantage. These factors will guide you as you build your sales plan.

How to Evaluate Current Business Standing

Continuing the edtech example, I'll use the historical context I gathered and the objectives I set to frame how I look at my current circumstances.

For instance, I might start by considering my goal of increasing revenue by 20% Y/Y. In that case, I'd look at the company's retention figures. Ideally, this would give me a sense of whether that needs to be a major area of focus.

I'd also try to pin down trends in the colleges that we've already closed. Are there any pain points we consistently sell on? I'll take a closer look at how we demo to see if we might be glossing over key elements of our value proposition. Maybe I can use conversation intelligence to get a better sense of how reps are handling their calls.

Ultimately, I would try to identify why we're performing the way we are, the inefficiencies that might be resulting from our current strategy, and how my team can best set ourselves up to sell as effectively as possible.

Step 5: Start sales forecasting.

Sales forecasting is an in-depth report that predicts what a salesperson, team, or company will sell weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. While it's finicky, it helps your company make better decisions when hiring, budgeting, prospecting, and setting goals.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, economics have become less predictable. StrActGro owner Claire Fenton states, "Many economic forecasters won't predict beyond three months at a time." This makes sales forecasting difficult.

Luckily, there are tools at your disposal to create accurate sales forecasts.

For sales managers, I find HubSpot's forecasting tool invaluable for tracking team progress toward goals. It forecasts revenue based on deal stages and their likelihood of closing. Plus, you can set up forecast categories to group deals and adjust them based on your team's insights.

How to Forecast Sales

Following our edtech example, I'd approach this step by estimating how my sales org might fare with the specific vertical we're pursuing in the allotted time window.

The method I choose will depend on several factors. Think: the number of concrete opportunities, available historical data, reps' performance, and our insights about potential customers.

Let's say I consider those factors and decide to run a multivariable analysis. Here's how I'd go about it:

First, I'd take stock of the opportunities my reps have lined up. Then, I'd examine the reps working on those deals, their typical win rates, and the time they have to close. For example, if a rep is working with a large institution and has a 50% chance of closing within the timeframe, I'd attribute 50% of the potential deal size to our forecast.

By repeating this process for all opportunities, I'll get a solid sense of the expected revenue within the allotted window.

Step 6: Identify gaps.

When identifying gaps in your business, consider your company's current and future needs. First, identify the skills you feel your employees need to reach your goal. Second, evaluate the skills of your current employees.

Once you have this information, train employees or hire new ones to fill the gaps.

How to Identify Selling Gaps

In our edtech example, let's say my forecast turned up results that weren't in keeping with what we need to achieve our goals. To tackle this, I'd take a holistic look at our process, operations, and resources to find inefficiencies or areas for improvement.

Say I discover that our sales content and marketing collateral are outdated, with case studies missing our product's newest and most relevant features. Meanwhile, our reps are booking demos, but the demos aren't converting because of a lack of training and inconsistent messaging.

Finally, I notice that misalignment with marketing leads to prospects expecting unrealistic outcomes that our sales team can't deliver. Once I've identified those gaps, I'll focus on ways to remedy those issues and improve those elements.

Step 7: Ideate new initiatives.

Many industry trends are cyclical. They phase in and out of "style." As you build your sales plan, think about initiatives you might have overlooked in the past.

Did your business rely solely on word-of-mouth and social media marketing before? Now might be the time to try webinars or special promotions.

How to Ideate New Sales Initiatives

In our ongoing edtech example, I would ideate initiatives based on the gaps I identified in the previous step. This might involve updating our sales content and marketing materials to make them top-notch.

Next, I'll introduce new training programs to help our team excel at conducting effective demos. Finally, I'll start working on a plan with marketing to ensure our messaging is aligned with theirs - so our prospects have realistic and clear expectations.

The key is to turn gaps into concrete, actionable plans. Just saying, "We're going to be better at demos," isn't a plan - it's a sentiment, and sentiments don't translate into hard sales.

Step 8: Involve stakeholders.

Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations with a vested interest in your company. They are typically investors, employees, or customers and often have deciding power in your business.

Towards the end of your sales planning process, involve stakeholders from departments that affect your outcomes, such as marketing and product. It leads to an efficient and actionable sales planning process.

How to Involve Stakeholders

Once I've pinpointed the key issues blocking my edtech startup's sales team, it's time to get the right people on board.

First, I'll reach out to stakeholders handling our sales content and marketing collateral. They're the ones who can create new, relevant case studies and whitepapers for the institutions we work with.

Next, I'll go to middle management. Depending on the situation, I might offer more direction for coaching on demos. Or bring in a third-party training service for professional insights.

Finally, I'll connect with marketing leadership to make our message clearer. Aligning on the benefits and outcomes we highlight during pitches ensures the schools we target have realistic expectations of our product.

Step 9: Outline action items.

Once you've implemented this strategy to create your sales planning process, the final step is outlining your action items.

Using your company's capacity and quota numbers, build a list of action steps that take you through the sales process. Think: writing a sales call script, identifying industry competitors, and strategizing new incentives or perks.

How to Create a Sales Action Plan

In our edtech example, some key action items might be:

• Revamp our prospecting strategy via more involved coaching and re-tooled sales messaging.
• Revamp administrator and college dean buyer personas.
• Conduct new training on demoing our software.
• See our new prospecting strategy from ideation to execution.
• Align with our sales enablement stakeholders for new, more relevant case studies and whitepapers.

Obviously, this list isn't exhaustive - but those are still the kinds of steps we would need to clarify and take to structure a more effective high-level strategy to produce different (ideally much better) results than we've been seeing.

One thing to keep in mind is that sales planning shouldn't end with creating the document.

I recommend you reiterate this process every year to maintain your organization's sales excellence.

Importance of the Sales Planning Process

Sales strategies based more on intuition than data might work sometimes, but they will always lack consistency and scalability. Having a clear sales planning process, on the other hand, aligns the entire team toward common goals, ensuring effective and more cohesive collaboration.

I remember when my client's sales numbers were consistently below target. Unsurprisingly, team morale was low.

After analyzing their processes, the sales manager realized the company lacked a coherent sales plan. So, they introduced a detailed sales planning process that included:

• Setting realistic targets.
• Identifying key prospects.
• Implementing regular performance reviews.

Within six months, the client saw a 27% increase in sales. Moreover, their team was more motivated and engaged than ever before.

Below are the key benefits of having a sales planning process.

Clarity and Direction

In my experience, implementing a detailed sales plan changes everything. You'll have a clear path to follow, with defined goals and milestones that align everyone on your team. Without a clear plan, it's difficult to prioritize leads. You'll often find yourself scrambling at every month end to meet targets.

Improved Resource Allocation

You can identify where to allocate your resources most effectively, whether it's personnel, budget, or time. The same client I mentioned before used to spread their resources thinly across numerous prospects. Once they started planning, they knew better - they focused efforts on high-potential leads, which led to better conversion rates and increased revenue.

Predictable Revenue

One of the most significant benefits of sales planning is predictability. When I have a predictable revenue stream, I can budget better and invest strategically in growth areas. In fact, according to a Logility report, companies that do effective sales planning see a 31% improvement in forecast accuracy.

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Enhanced Team Performance and Morale

As I mentioned, my client's sales team was also struggling with low morale due to unclear targets and objectives. When they introduced a comprehensive sales plan, they were able to define clear goals and milestones. This led to improved team morale and nurtured a sense of purpose and motivation, which led to boosted performance and job satisfaction.

Continuous Improvement

Sales planning establishes benchmarks and performance metrics essential for accountability and continuous improvement within the team.

I always champion monthly review meetings where teams can regularly assess progress against the established plan. You can identify areas for improvement, recognize high performers, and address issues promptly.

Now that you're committed to the sales planning process, let's dive into the written component of sales planning.

Ready to write your own plan? Download HubSpot's Free Sales Plan Template.

What goes in a sales plan template?

A typical sales plan includes the following sections:

• Target customers.
• Revenue targets.
• Strategies and tactics.
• Pricing and promotions.
• Deadlines and DRIs.
• Team structure.
• Resources.
• Market conditions.

Once again, I consulted Zach Drollinger to ensure the examples below are practical and accurate.

Target Customers

Your target customers are the people your company wants to serve with its products and services. They're the ones most likely to buy from you. You identify them by breaking down your target market into smaller, more focused groups based on geography, behavior, demography, and more.

You also need to know the types of contacts you'll be dealing with and their decision-making authority. Each persona you target will have different pain points, interests, and preferences. You need to address all these unique elements when dealing with various stakeholders in the companies you're selling to.

How to Identify Your Target Audience

Let's continue with our edtech example for this section, too.

As mentioned, my territory is the East Coast, and my vertical is community colleges - so my target market is community colleges on the East Coast.

That's clear, but my target customers aren't just the institutions. I need to know the specific points of contact when selling to these colleges.

Modern buying decisions often involve multiple stakeholders, especially in large organizations like community colleges. So, my understanding of target customers needs to be more detailed than just "representatives from the school."

I'd likely deal with administrators and deans when selling curriculum scheduling software - two personas with different responsibilities. I need to understand both types of customers for effective sales planning.

I'd also consider factors like their daily tasks, the pain points from those tasks, how my software could help, and why their lives would be easier with my product.

Revenue Targets

Target revenue is how much money your company aims to bring in during a given time. You can set them by adding a growth percentage to add to the previous year, estimating revenue based on employee capacity, or totaling the sales quota from your team.

How to Set Revenue Targets

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I would pull directly from the SMART goals defined earlier to set this up. I'll look at the revenue figure we need to hit to achieve the 20% revenue increase we aimed for earlier.

Strategies and Tactics

Strategies and tactics are the specific actions your team will take to reach those revenue targets. Consider using social media to generate leads, asking associates for referrals, or maintaining relationships with past clients. These tactics form the backbone of a solid sales plan.

How to Create Effective Sales Strategies

To create effective sales strategies, I'll consider our organization's goals and how responsibilities are allocated. We might leverage conversation intelligence to coach SDRs better and improve sales messaging. We could also focus on enabling our account management team to retain existing customers. Lastly, I'll revamp our demo process to highlight our most popular and impressive features.

Pricing and Promotions

Pricing and promotions typically hold the most interest for customers. It documents your offering's price and any upcoming promotions for converting customers.

A free trial is a go-to promotional tactic used by Amazon and Hulu to reel customers in, hoping they'll stick around after the trial ends. Be strategic with your pricing and promotions. Find that sweet spot where you're profitable yet appealing to your target audience.

How to Set a Pricing Model

My sales team will thoroughly review our pricing model to ensure it aligns with our market position and revenue goals. I'd compare our prices with competitors to see if we're too expensive or too cheap.

The goal is to find a price that's reasonable for our target institutions without compromising our product's perceived value. With a deep understanding of our market and a quality product, we aim to hit the right price point to meet our revenue targets.

Deadlines and DRIs

Deadlines and Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs) outline any critical dates for deliverables and list who is accountable for their completion. There are many moving parts to a business. Creating a timeline and assigning responsibility to each task is necessary to keep your sales org running successfully.

How to Establish DRIs

In our edtech example, some DRIs might include:

• Director of Sales Development, who will ensure that our prospecting strategy is as productive as possible.
• Account Executives, who will be demoing the software and closing deals with the institutions.
• Account Managers, who will be responsible for ensuring our existing accounts stay on board.

Team Structure

Your team structure often depends on the size of your company. Smaller businesses tend to have a small team, and that can potentially exacerbate issues with overlap and confusion.

As your company grows, you'll need more employees. And the more employees you have, the harder it can be to manage these different members. Your sales plan needs to outline the members of your team and what their specific role is to provide clarity.

Resources

Your team members are your most powerful asset for executing your sales plan, but they need the right resources to function and meet revenue targets.

For instance, you can use project management tools like Monday or Asana to keep track of deadlines. Design programs like Adobe Photoshop and Canva help create compelling graphics for prospects.

Market Conditions

Market conditions cover crucial info about your industry and competitive landscape. What's trending? Where are customers losing interest? Which competitors are gaining traction and why? Understanding the market helps shape your sales plan.

Next, let's dive into writing a sales plan. Be sure to follow along with HubSpot's free Sales Plan Template to make the most of this blog post.

Again, I worked with Zach Drollinger to detail the examples used below.

1. Create a mission statement.

Start your sales plan with a mission statement - a concise, straightforward distillation of what your business hopes to accomplish from a fundamental, more idealistic perspective.

You don't want to get too hung up on detailing the "how" behind your business here. Offer your vision - not your "About Us" page.

How to Create a Mission Statement

In our edtech example, the company's mission statement might say something like:

"Our mission is to empower higher education institutions to empower their students - maximizing schools' abilities to help their students realize their full potential by facilitating timely graduation and seamless class scheduling."

2. Define your team's roles and responsibilities.

Next, describe who's on your team and their roles. Perhaps you manage five salespeople and work closely with a sales enablement professional and a sales ops specialist. If you're planning to hire more, note their roles and when you'll bring them on board.

How to Define Team Roles and Responsibilities

Here's a cursory overview of what a team structure might look like in the context of our edtech example:

• Joan (Director of Sales Development) will ensure that our prospecting strategy is as productive as possible.
• Bobby and Sally (Account Executives) will be demoing the software and closing deals with the institutions.
• Roger and Peggy (Account Managers) will be responsible for ensuring our existing accounts stay on board.
• Don, Trudy, Bert, and Betty (Sales Development Representatives) will connect with institutions to book demos.

3. Identify your target market.

Whether you're writing your first sales plan or your 15th, knowing your target demographic is crucial. What do your best customers look like? Do they all belong to a specific industry? Exceed a certain size? Struggle with the same challenge?

Different products might mean different buyer personas. For example, HubSpot's salespeople might primarily sell marketing software to CMOs and sales software to sales directors.

Note that this section of your sales plan can also change dramatically over time as your solution and strategy evolve and you adjust product-market fit.

In the very beginning, when your product was in its infancy and your prices were low, you may have found success selling to startups. Once the product is more robust and you've raised the price, mid-market companies are likely a better fit.

That's why it's important to review and update your personas consistently.

How I Determine the Target Market

Again, I covered this one in the previous section, but for the sake of you not having to scroll back up, I'll say it again:

In our edtech example, my target market is community colleges on the East Coast. But it's not just about the institutions. I need to know the points of contact I'll be dealing with at these colleges.

Modern buying decisions typically involve multiple stakeholders, especially in large organizations like community colleges. I'll likely interact with administrators and deans when selling curriculum scheduling software - each with unique responsibilities. I need to understand both personas well when planning sales.

4. Outline your tools, software, and resources.

Include a description of your resources, not just software. Detail key tools like your CRM and sales tools. Additionally, don't ignore other elements like budget for contests, training materials, and sales collateral.

How to Outline Your Tech Stack

In our edtech example, I might find we're using:

• A CRM to provide a centralized repository of our prospect and customer data.
• Sales tools to streamline lead generation and prospecting through features like email automation and tracking, lead scoring, pipeline management, and more.
• Conversation intelligence software to guide better-structured, more effective coaching for our sales calls.
• Sales enablement software to centralize and manage our sales enablement resources.
• Additional budget that could be allocated for aspiff to motivate SDRs to book more demos.
• Case studies that speak to how other community colleges have successfully leveraged our software.
• Any other resources we might have available that can be used to educate buyers or enhance our sales professionals' efforts.

5. Analyze your position in your industry.

Now, name your competitors. Compare your products to theirs, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Discuss their pricing versus yours. Keep an eye on market trends too. If you're in SaaS, note which vertical-specific software is gaining traction.

If you sell ads, mention the rise in programmatic mobile advertising. Try to predict how these changes will influence your business.

How to Evaluate Industry Positioning

In my edtech company, I'd look closely at the types of institutions that buy from us. What are their enrollment figures? If we had tiered pricing, which price points are they choosing? What are their typical budgets? Most importantly, what pain points drive them to seek our solution?

Next, I'd examine our competitive landscape - ideally, gathering the same information for our competitors and their customers. By pinning down these elements, I'd know what kind of buyers gravitate to each solution in our market. This will show us how prospects perceive our offering and where we stand in the competitive landscape.

Having this insight helps my team understand their selling position, identify which institutions will be most receptive to our efforts, and determine the best approach for each engagement.

6. Plan your marketing strategy.

Next, describe your pricing and any promotions you're planning on running. What key actions will you take to increase brand awareness and generate leads? Note the impact on sales.

Here's a mock version:

• Product A: Increasing price from $40 to $45 on February 2 (2% reduction in monthly sales).
• Product B: Free upgrade if you refer another customer from January 1-20 (20% increase in monthly sales).
• Product C: Decreasing price from $430 to $400 on March 1 (15% increase in monthly sales).
• Product D: No change.

How to Approach Marketing Planning

For our edtech company, let's say we intend to lean heavily on an inbound marketing strategy.

In that case, leadership at the company would want to invest in a company blog that covers trends and concepts in the education industry. Ideally, that resource will produce a steady stream of leads while simultaneously establishing our business as a trusted authority in the space.

7. Develop your prospecting strategy.

How will your sales team receive and qualify the leads generated by your marketing strategy? Don't forget to include the criteria prospects should meet before sales reps reach out.

How to Create an Effective Sales Prospecting Strategy

Imagine our hypothetical edtech company's inbound marketing infrastructure development pans out. We're able to maintain a reputable blog about the education industry that brings in a steady stream of leads. That could provide the basis for an effective prospecting strategy.

Our content marketing department can produce and qualify warm leads to pass to our sales team. Ideally, we'll have more effective, focused criteria to determine whether and how to reach out to those leads. From there, we can elect to focus primarily on email outreach - a plan that could be complemented by a more conventional cold-calling strategy.

8. Create an action plan.

This section summarizes your game plan for hitting your revenue targets.

Once you've outlined where you want to go, you must figure out how you'll get there. Try to be thorough but concise when detailing these steps - and try to support any items you detail with a clear, viable timeline.

How I Create a Sales Action Plan

Here's what part of the action plan might look at our hypothetical edtech company:

Objective: Increase revenue in our East Coast community college vertical by 20% Y/Y.

• Revamp our prospecting strategy via more involved coaching and re-tooled sales messaging (Timeline: Q1).

• Leverage conversation intelligence to shadow calls - offering more perspective on effective elements of current strategies and areas for improvement.

• Revamp administrator and college dean buyer personas (Timeline: Q1).

• Reference historical data in CRM for trends in successful and unsuccessful sales engagements with these kinds of contacts.

• Implement a new training framework for demos (Timeline: Q1).
• Conduct email outreach to inbound leads (Timeline: Q1-Q4).

I can flesh this plan out to cover the key actions that are going to shape our high-level strategy and guide the more granular aspects of its implementation. Committing plans to writing is crucial in sales, including action items in your sales plan.

9. List your goals.

Most sales goals are revenue-based. For instance, you might aim for $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Alternatively, you can set a volume goal, like acquiring 100 new customers or closing 450 sales.

Regardless of your approach, make sure your objective is realistic. Otherwise, your entire sales plan won't hold much value.

Consider your product's price, total addressable market (TAM), market penetration, and available resources (including your sales team and marketing support). Your goal should align closely with your broader business objectives.

How to Define Your Goals

For example, if our edtech company aims to move upmarket, our goal might be to "Acquire 20 Enterprise logos" rather than just "Sell X in new business." This approach encourages targeting the right customers rather than just chasing numbers.

You'll likely have multiple goals. Identify the most important, then rank the rest by priority. If you have territories, assign specific sub-goals to each. That will make it easier to identify over- and under-performers.

Don't forget to lay out your timeline. Regular benchmarks indicate if you're on track, ahead, or falling behind. Say your first-quarter sales goal is $30,000, and you know from last year's performance that January and February are slower months. Your timeline might look like this:

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

Include DRIs if applicable. For instance, Rep Carol might have a January quota of $5,000, while Rep Shane - who's still ramping up - might have a $3,000 quota. This approach helps smaller teams avoid duplicating efforts and prevents blame-shifting if targets aren't met.

10. Set your budget.

Describe the costs associated with hitting your sales goals. That usually includes:

• Pay (salary and commission).
• Sales training.
• Sales tools and resources.
• Contest prizes.
• Team bonding activities.
• Travel costs.
• Food.

Compare the sales plan budget to your sales forecast for accurate budgeting.

If you want to take your plan to the next level, read on to learn some tips for creating a highly effective sales plan.

Tips for Creating an Effective Sales Plan

We've gone over what you should include in a sales plan, including some examples and mockups.

Now, I'll share some tips and tricks for creating a sales plan that helps you hit target numbers and exceed your higher-ups' expectations.

• Use industry trends to strengthen your plan. When presenting your sales plan to a stakeholder, use industry trends to highlight why your plan will be effective.
• Specify the technology you'll use to track success. You can do this for internal reference or let stakeholders know how you'll measure success. Some tools you can consider include CRM and dashboard software.
• Support your budget proposal with hard facts and data. If you're creating a budget as a part of your plan, support it with previous performance data and sales forecasts.
• Create different plans for each team. If you create a sales plan for business development, inbound sales, outbound sales, field sales, and so forth, you can get even more granular and specific in your goals and KPIs.
• Get marketing's input. Marketing and sales alignment is critical for the success of your sales plan. The more input you have from marketing, the more you can align your lead generation, prospecting, and nurturing efforts.
• Talk with your sales reps to understand their challenges. It might be easy to get lost in numbers and forecasts, but it's important to know your sales representatives' day-to-days to understand what will and will not prove effective or feasible.
• Complete an in-depth competitive analysis. You must know what the competition is doing well to create a plan that nudges your company in that direction.

Types of Sales Plans

You can create a few different types of sales plans for your organization. I've gathered some examples so you can find the right fit for your needs.

30-60-90-Day Sales Plan

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This general sales plan is defined not by theme but by time frame. You'll create three goals: one for the 30-day mark, another for the 60-day mark, and the last for the 90-day mark. You can choose to focus on quotas or reducing customer churn by a certain percentage.

Consider this plan if you're new to the role since you can use it to track your progress during your first 90 days. A 30-60-90 day plan can also be useful for a new business that's still figuring out its sales goals.

Peggy Ratcliff McKee, an executive career coach at Career Confidential, describes the 90-day plan as "a great starting point… [where] you may end up speeding up your goals or extending them depending on the specific needs of your new company."

Marketing-Alignment Sales Plan

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In many ways, a traditional sales plan is already aligned with marketing. Still, you can create a marketing-alignment sales plan if your organization has not yet aligned both of these departments.

The plan's focus will be on establishing ideal customer profiles and buyer personas and aligning marketing's messaging with sales' product pitch. A strong marketing-sales alignment ensures everyone within your organization is on the same page and reduces miscommunication down the line.

Business Development Strategic Sales Plan

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A strategic sales plan for business development will focus on attracting new business to your company by networking with other companies, sponsoring events, and doing outreach. In your sales plan, you'll want to choose the right KPIs that best reflect performance for these specific outreach channels.

In my experience, business development is imperative for long-term success because it will help your organization better understand your industry's competitive landscape and strategize on how to stand out. Plus, it ensures that everyone at your company is working toward a common goal.

Market Expansion Plan

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A market expansion plan outlines a task list and target metrics when expanding into a new market or territory. This type of sales plan is specifically concerned with addressing a target market in a new geographical area.

You'll typically take into account distribution costs and, if applicable, time zone differences between your sales representatives and target buyers, as well as other logistical factors.

New Product Sales Plan

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If you're launching a new product, create a sales plan specifically to generate revenue from the new launch.

In my experience, it is crucial to carry out competitive analysis, determine a sales strategy, strengthen your brand positioning, and secure channel partners if you're shifting to a channel sales model.

Strategic Sales Plan Examples

If you need some more inspiration, take a look at these sales plan examples.

1. Sales Plan Template by HubSpot

We've created a sales plan template that outlines the key elements of a sales plan. This template will walk you through each of the steps to write a sales plan of your own.

Our plan allows you to easily communicate to your organization what your goals are, how you'll accomplish them, and what support you need.

2. Sample Sales Plan by BestTemplates

Organizing your strategies and goals with a sales plan will make it easier for you and your sales team to stick to the targets you've set. This template is nine pages long and provides plenty of opportunities to create a concrete action plan.

I like it because it includes a goals section before breaking it down into more specific areas such as demand generation, implementation, and measurement and evaluation.

3. 1-Page Sales Plan by BestTemplates

A sales plan doesn't need to be hundreds of pages long. Try consolidating your sales plan into a page or two. I think this template is an excellent example of making it short and sweet while still communicating the most important elements of the plan.

In landscape mode, this strategic sales plan includes a channel, expected costs and sales, distribution strategy, and KPIs in an easy-to-read grid layout.

4. Strategic Distribution Sales Action Plan Template by Venngage

Choose a design that fits your needs and create your sales plan using Venngage's interface, which includes custom charts, stock photos, and illustrations. You'll have several visually interesting options, all available in just a single tool.

I like this plan because it's organized by type of sale: in-store, online, and wholesale. This makes it easier to identify each sales channel's needs and which departments contribute to their success.

5. Small Business Sales Plan by FitSmallBusiness

If you run a small business, you may not yet have a fully stacked sales team. You and your employees likely wear many hats, so it's important to establish a strong sales strategy for your company that future hires can build off of.

Sometimes simpler is better, I think, and this plan relies on several standard sections to draw up your plan, with boxes that can be easily filled out using Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

6. Sales Strategy Diagram from Creately

If you're more of a visual person, creating a diagram for your sales strategy can be helpful. Use Creately to create an attractive sales strategy to share with your team.

I like this template because it allows you to map out the key elements of your strategy by breaking action items and values down by category.

7. Sales Action Plan by BestTemplates

Dive into the details of your sales strategy with a sales action plan. This one has a minimalistic but super clean layout.

I think this sales action plan is effective because it focuses on the more concrete elements of achieving your sales goals, such as positioning and strategic plays. It is eight pages long and fully customizable in either Word or Pages.

8. 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan by Template.Net

I love 30-60-90 day plans because they allow you to set a realistic pace for accomplishing your goals, whether they are short- or long-term.

This sales plan does some of the work for you by outlining tasks related to your sales goals. You can check off boxes as you complete each item to ensure you're creating a sound sales strategy.

9. Microsoft Word Sales Plan Template from TemplateLab

This template breaks down goals into action items, helps you think about how to assign responsibilities, and gets you to commit to specific dates.

I think the best part is that it focuses on multiple goals, giving you a bird's eye view of several initiatives you may be putting together.

10. 90-Day Sales Plan by Template.Net

Look ahead at your sales strategies for the next 90 days using this sample sales plan. In this document, you'll be able to break your sales plan down into phases, tasks, and key questions for your sales goals. The final section is a mind map for your sales process and pipeline strategies, which is especially great for brainstorming.

Create a Sales Plan That Grows With Your Business

There's no one-size-fits-all sales plan. The only wrong way to use a sales plan is to write it at the start of the year or quarter and never touch it again. You should periodically review and update it as time goes on to ensure you're focused and on track. By continuously improving on your plan, you can ensure your company generates revenue more effectively than it ever did in the past.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Topics:Sales Strategy

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