What is sales planning?
This planning includes an in-depth analysis of the market, a clear definition of the target audience and an understanding of the competition, as well as the creation of clear strategies and tactics to maximize revenues, guidelines for resource allocation, sales projections and indicators to evaluate performance.
Sales planning is a continually changing process and must be differentiated from a simple sales plan. While a sales plan is the result of initial planning, planning is a broader process that involves area leaders continually monitoring results, evaluating changing market conditions and creating new forecasts and strategies based on changing market data.
Importance of sales planning
If to sell your company's products or services it would be enough to hire a few salespeople and tell them to sell your products, it would be wonderful, but the reality is that it is not that simple. Sales planning is essential because it provides a clear roadmap to achieve business objectives and a clear plan of action not only for sales people but for the entire company as a whole.
Going to the market without a defined sales planning is like a captain setting sail on a ship without a map or compass, ignoring sea currents and weather conditions, but with a lot of enthusiasm and confidence that the waves will take him to his destination. He may sail for a while, but it is only a matter of time before he gets lost, hits an iceberg or ends up in the opposite place he wanted to reach.
Steps and components of a successful sales plan
The sales planning process includes numerous steps ranging from market research, to monitoring and making adjustments, passing through target setting, strategy design and resource allocation. We will examine these points one by one below.
🔎 Initial research and analysis
This process enables companies to understand the environment in which they operate, helps identify opportunities and lays the groundwork for preparing strategies tailored to the needs of the market and the target customer. This initial research process includes three key points: market analysis, competitor analysis and definition of the ideal customer also known as “buyer persona”.
- 🎯 Market analysis: This is a detailed assessment of the company's target market and the competitive landscape within a specific industry in order to understand industry trends and demand dynamics. This analysis allows projecting the success that can be expected when introducing products or services to consumers in the market.
The market analysis should answer questions such as: what products or services are most in demand, what factors are influencing purchasing decisions, whether there is seasonality in market behavior, and many others.
- 🚀 Competitive analysis: The analysis of the competition or benchmark is the study of the virtues and strengths of the company's closest competitors and is carried out in order to establish the basis for a strategy that can face them. At this point a large number of aspects must be analyzed, such as the competitors' prices, the quality of their products, who their customers are, what offers they make or the communication strategies they use, among many others.
- 🙋♂️ Definition of the ideal customer (buyer persona): The creation of the buyer persona is essential to segment sales efforts towards those who really need the product or service. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of the ideal customer based on demographics, buying preferences, problems and objectives. It is necessary to ask questions such as who buys the product, what motivates them to do so, and what are their pain points.
➡️ Setting of clear and measurable sales objectives
Knowing the market, the competition and target customers is all very well but if you don't have clear goals it is like navigating with perfect knowledge of weather forecasts and the location of dangerous currents but without a fixed course. Setting clear and measurable goals then is an essential step in developing a successful sales plan, it provides a clear focus and direction to follow.
To maximize their effectiveness, goals should comply with the SMART model and cover various dimensions of the business, such as revenue, sales volume, customer acquisition and retention. We'll look at what this is all about next:
- ⏱️ Smart goals: These acronyms first appeared in 1981 when author George T. Doran first defined them. A SMART goal means that it must meet five key characteristics. In the table below we can see each characteristic along with some examples:
| Quality | Details | Example |
| Specific | Clearly describes what needs to be achieved | Increase sales by 15% in the B2B market. |
| Measurable | Progress must be quantifiable | Acquire 50 new clients in the first semester. |
| Achievable | Goals should be realistic and aligned with the team’s capabilities | Doubling sales in a month may be unrealistic, but increasing by 10% in three months is feasible. |
| Relevant | Should align with the strategic objectives of the business | Increasing premium product sales is relevant if the company aims to position itself as a quality leader. |
| Time-bound | Must have a clear timeframe | Achieve 500,000 euros in revenue in the third quarter. |
- 📊 Sales targets based on different dimensions: Sales targets should cover several key dimensions to ensure business growth. These dimensions include revenue, volume of units sold, new customer acquisition and retention of existing customers. In addition, it is useful to define goals segmented by region or market to maximize reach.
♟️ Strategy and tactics design
The design of strategies and tactics in a sales plan is fundamental to convert objectives into concrete actions, it is the bridge between planning and execution. This process defines how the product or service will be positioned in the market, the channels that will be used to reach customers and the specific tactics to capture their attention. Let's look at these points one by one:
- Defining the value proposition: the value proposition explains why the product or service is superior to those of the competition and how it satisfies the customer's needs.
- Choosing the most effective sales channels: the choice of sales channel will depend on the target audience. For example, in a B2B sales plan the most effective sales channels could be sales representatives that directly contact target companies while in a sales plan for a B2C market, the priority channels could be digital strategies such as the use of social networks, ads on platforms such as Instagram or Google Ads and online stores that allow to massively and directly reach individual consumers interested in the product or service.
- Design of specific tactics to approach prospects: tactics are practical tools that facilitate contact with customers, including strategies such as cold calling, inbound marketing, email marketing and sales presentations.
💻 Resource allocation
Planning is important but if adequate resources are not allocated, planning alone will get you nowhere. Adequate human resources must be in place, which includes a sales team that is trained, motivated and aligned with the defined strategies.
Technological resources must also be allocated, which include tools such as CRM systems to manage customer relationships, automation platforms to optimize processes and analysis software to evaluate results.
Finally, a budget should be detailed, estimating the costs associated with marketing campaigns, training for the team, the acquisition of the necessary technological tools and the other elements involved in the planning.
Expert Accounting Help | EasyBiz
Payroll services and accounting from €90. Expert team ready to help.
Learn more📶 Sales projection
Every b2c or b2b business plan should include a section within the sales plan dedicated to forecasting future demand. Having the best sales strategies, knowing the market and having a robust marketing strategy are of no use if the demand is not estimated, the stock is quickly reduced to zero and there is no way to meet the demand.
The sales estimation process is based on previously conducted market analysis, defined strategies, historical data and established objectives. Tools such as spreadsheets, analysis platforms or specialized software can be used to make accurate calculations.
✔️ Definition of key performance indicators (KPIs)
In the commercial field, KPIs are essential to evaluate the performance of the sales team, identify areas for improvement and make decisions based on concrete data.
There is a wide variety of indicators to measure performance in the sales area, some of the most relevant are the closing or conversion rate, the dropout rate, the average value per customer and the customer satisfaction index.
🔄 Monitoring and adjustments
Finally, proper sales planning must include a constant monitoring and adjustment process to make sure everything stays on track. Following our analogy of the captain of the ship, if the ship encounters an unexpectedly strong storm, he will surely have to take measures that were not foreseen or he will end up at the bottom of the sea. Things do not always go according to plan and adjustments are necessary.
Through the periodic review of KPIs it is possible to identify deviations in performance, evaluate areas for improvement, make adjustments to planned strategies and tactics, and modify the allocation of resources to optimize results under the new conditions. This is why sales planning goes beyond the initial sales plan and extends throughout the entire life of the business project.
