Creating a sales plan doesn’t need to be difficult. You don’t need pages upon pages of information to sort through to reach your goals. All you need is a simple, clear plan with your strategy. Today, we will discuss what a sales plan is. We will also share how to create a sales plan that will be easy to follow and use.
What is a Sales Plan?
A sales plan is basically the amount of sales you want to accomplish within a specific period of time. When you create a simple sales plan for your business, your goal is to identify opportunities you have been missing or overlooking.
Your sales plan should always answer basic questions. Those questions are usually:
- Who is your ideal client/customer?
- What products or services do you offer?
- Where do you plan to focus your marketing efforts to increase sales?
- When do you plan to achieve your goal of higher sales?
- Why do people want or need your product or service?
- How will you achieve your goal of making your product or service more appealing to your ideal clients/customers?
How to Create a Sales Plan
Now that you know the basics of a simple sales plan and what needs to be included in one, it is time to sit down and complete your plan. Our step-by-step guide of how to create a sales plan will make this process simple.
- Outline Realistic Goals
The very first section in your simple sales plan should include realistic goals. These goals should also be definable instead of too broad.
At Centify, we utilize the SMART goals method.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-Bound
It is important to be as specific as possible when creating your goals. This will give you a better chance of reaching those goals. Make your goals into smaller ones instead of larger one to manage them more easily.
Make sure when you are setting your goals, you have a way to track and measure them. If you don’t, you will never know how close, or far, you are from obtaining the goals you have set.
- Create Deadlines and Milestones
Above, we mentioned creating smaller goals within larger goals. This ties in with this section of your simple sales plan. Those smaller goals are normally referred to as actionable tasks, or steps, you need to take to reach those larger goals.
At this point, you will need to create deadlines and milestones for every task of the goals you are setting. You may need to do a little research to determine how long certain goals should take to achieve.
You don’t want the deadline to be too far in the future. Yet, you don’t want it too soon, because then you may get discouraged when you don’t reach it in time.
- Define Your Ideal Client/Customer
Depending on how long you have been in business, you may not be completely sure who your ideal client or customer is. Writing your simple sales plan is the perfect time to redefine your ideal client/customer.
Consider age, demographics, location, income, as well as other factors. In the end, you will finally know who you should be marketing to. This will then allow you to market your products and services accordingly.
- Define Your Value
It is important to know why people should be choosing your products or services over competitors. In your simple sales plan, write down exactly why a person should purchase what you are selling. Be as specific as possible.
Then consider why people wouldn’t want to purchase what you are selling. This will allow you to look at those negatives and possibly make changes so more people will want to purchase from you.
- Evaluate Your Sales Tools and Systems
You should always evaluate your sales tools and systems when you are searching for more sales and revenue. If you aren’t utilizing a CRM, which is a customer relationship management software, now may be the time to implement one in your business.
A CRM can help you manage sales, measure performance, and access information quickly. The best part is all of this is completed in real time. So, you have the most up to date numbers all the time.
- Establish a List of Potential Clients/Customers
You now know who your ideal client or customer is. Plus, you know your value and have a CRM in mind. Therefore, it is now time to establish a list of potential clients or customers.
This section of your simple sales plan may take a little longer than all the others. After all, building this list isn’t as simple as writing only a few names of relatives down.
You will need to utilize online search engines, engage on social media networking sites, and network at business events. Every time you make contact with a person who you realize is your ideal client or customer, you can write their name down.
It is best to have a list of five to ten people in your simple sales plan. The goal is to share more about your business with them, so they can then share the news with others. Word of mouth marketing is always one of the best ways to gain more sales.
Six steps is all it takes to create a simple sales plan for your business. It is important to revisit your sales plan every quarter. This will allow you to make necessary adjustments for things that are not working. You may even realize that something you didn’t think would work actually does, and add that to your new sales plan.
Sales plans don’t need to be lengthy. They only need to include the information you need to clarify and reach your goals. If you are struggling with creating a simple sales plan, our team is ready to help. Click here to schedule a consultation today.
