Sales plan 2021 | Compilation chart - 23 tips, example, sample

Nikita Zhestkov, the founder of the marketing agency In-scale, at one of his seminars asked the participants if they were planning a sales department. Only 20% of the audience raised their hands. The rest said that either they cannot determine it, or they have specific sales that are difficult to predict. But experts say these are typical objections and a plan is possible in any business. We talked with practitioners and figured out how to make the right small business sales plan.

Why do you need a sales plan

According to experts, this document has several functions.

to structure the company (it notes the responsibilities of each department),
analyze sales,
motivate staff,
scale up the business (if the company is in a stable plus, then it can expand).

Sales Planning Methods

There are subjective and objective methods for forecasting sales. Subjective ones are based on the personal opinions of different people. These can be sellers, company managers, and potential buyers. Objectives include those that are based on analytical data: market analysis, time series analysis, statistical analysis of demand, etc.

Our experts noted that in small businesses the most popular of the subjective methods are the opinion of staff and the opinion of managers. And from the objective - the statistical analysis of demand. Let's see how to use them correctly.

Subjective opinion

Cheap and fast method. But its disadvantage is low objectivity. There are two options for setting a sales plan using this method:

Interview the sales force and find out how many products or services each employee expects to sell in a given period of time.
Informal survey of managers. If the points of view of the respondents differ greatly, then they are brought together in a group to discuss future indicators, where a common decision is made during the discussion.

Statistical analysis of demand

A laborious method, but it gives an objective result. It is necessary to collect all the data of past sales, conduct an economic analysis of indicators and draw conclusions. At the same time, you need to take into account the factors that affect the volume of transactions. For example, if a company produces tents for tourists, then you need to take into account the seasonality, because in spring and summer demand will increase.

Here's how to create a monthly sales plan to set achievable goals for your employees.

Andy Dufrein couldn't have escaped from the toughest Shawshank prison for life prisoners without a plan.

Since a plan is a process of achieving a goal, your business cannot do without it, in particular, without a marketing one.

Therefore, what is a marketing plan, who is it for and how to develop it on our own, we will analyze in this article.

The marketing plan is the future steps of marketing activities and communications aimed at achieving the long-term goals of the company, with the calculation of all costs, risks and strategies.

Often, business owners underestimate the effectiveness of such a plan, considering it a waste of money and time.

After all, the product is on sale, there are customers, and everything is fine. But it was not there. You yourself know that the market is still that uncertainty. The giant will come in tomorrow, and only your heels will sparkle from your clients.

Therefore, in order to prevent such a situation, and in addition to analyze the current state of your company, its capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, you need a marketing plan.

And in the picture below you can see an example of a marketing plan (looking ahead).

highlights

Now on to the most basic questions. The article will not be a boring classification of marketing plans, only practice and examples.

A sales plan is a document that allows you to forecast the amount of revenue in a company.

As a rule, it is an integral part of the company's budget and is required when generating a profit and loss statement (also known as a statement of financial results) of a company and a cash flow statement. If the company does not have management accounting, then it can exist as an independent document.

Formation of any forecast begins with the formation of the company's commercial strategy. The management of the company, as a navigator, must ask: new markets or existing ones, product A or product B, geography of regions (scale up sales or expand), etc. After evaluating internal indicators (which the company can influence) and external (macroeconomic) indicators, a final strategy is formed for at least a year. Only with the availability of input data and with a clear understanding of the vector of the company's development can one proceed to drawing up budget documents.

Types of product sales plans. Usually the sales plan of products is for a year, but options are possible - a quarterly, monthly sales plan. Also, the sales plan can be rolling - i.e. This is an annual sales plan, with a quarterly or monthly revision of plans for the period of time remaining until the end of the year. This takes into account the actual data received for the past period.

Who should draw up the sales plan?

Depending on the size of the enterprise, it can be made by the head of the company himself or the head of the sales department. There are several approaches to the formation of a sales plan "Top-down" and "Bottom-up", as well as their combination.

"Bottom-up" - when managers themselves form the volume of sales for a given period and present it to the management.
"Bottom-up" - when the management sets the sales volumes and lowers the performer.

The combined approach implies that managers first provide data to the company's management, and then the managers correct the data. This approach is used most often, which is easy to explain. Managers tend to play it safe and underestimate targets, for example, in order to get a bonus for sure. The task of the manager is to adjust the sales plan, taking into account the general strategy of the company (segments, new products), but at the same time to keep employees motivated. Overestimated plans can initially reduce employee motivation and the company's sales will fall, even under good market conditions. How to increase sales?

Reporting

After choosing the approach that you plan to use when drawing up a sales plan, you need to develop a prototype or report form. For this, MS Excel or Google Sheets are quite suitable. Next, you should think over in what analytical sections will be formed, and subsequently the analysis and assessment of sales is carried out.

What is a sales plan

A sales plan is a tool for the development of a company. In short, this is a plan of how a business can get a specific amount of profit over a specific period of time.

But do not confuse a plan with a forecast. The plan is based on clearly defined goals and actions that need to be taken to achieve them. Its foundation is concrete figures, analysis and careful calculations. There are a number of ways you can develop a realistic and achievable sales plan. From the simplest to the most complex. Their choice depends on the required accuracy, detail and resources available to develop and implement the plan.

The more detailed the sales plan, the easier and more realistic it is to execute it. Close-ups need to be decomposed into smaller ones. And those, in turn, are even smaller. Including in certain areas and products. In addition to the sales plan for company managers, separate plans are drawn up for branches, divisions, departments, and even personal plans for managers and ordinary salespeople.

The sales plan must necessarily be measured in money, but it can also be measured in concrete actions. This is useful for trades with a long cycle, too. You can also make plans for them for periods that are multiples of sales cycles with a decomposition into smaller periods and units of measure in the form of actions: calls, real estate displays, the number of events organized.

A business that does not draw up sales plans most often does not survive or grow. If it grows, it is non-systematic, more due to episodic luck. Any companies that do not properly analyze data and do not set clear goals for their employees with an understandable plan of action carry high risks of receiving serious losses, including business bankruptcy. Especially in an era of exponentially accelerating change.

Who needs a sales plan and why

Only about 17% of companies in the small business segment regularly draw up a sales plan. The rest either do not use it at all, or are planning "by eye". You can often meet the objection that it is unrealistic to plan sales in some area. Allegedly wrong niche, long transaction cycles, unpredictability of demand, etc.

This is usually not true. The sales plan can and should be successfully applied in virtually every commercial niche. As for companies engaged in the sale of goods wholesale or retail, and selling services. For all kinds of business models: sale, commission, subscription, etc.

Companies of medium and large business necessarily plan sales volumes. That is why they grow successfully. If a small business uses similar approaches to planning, then it has a significantly higher chance of moving to a medium or large cohort, developing steadily.

Having a sales plan allows you to clearly define the scope of specific actions of each employee of the organization, as well as its departments, departments and working groups.

The sales plan as one of the key aspects is important for business management and planning the activities of the entire enterprise. A sales plan for the year, a sales plan for a month and a week, a sales plan for the manager - their presence specifies the goals and objectives for both the owner and the commercial department, marketers and all other team members.

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As a rule, a company's sales plan is developed on the basis of market analysis, taking into account the portrait of an ideal buyer, positioning, growth rates, sales channels and tools used. It should be remembered: if the business develops and changes, then the development plan of the sales department should also change.

If there is a sales development plan, then it is the basis for determining the marketing strategy, advertising costs, staffing needs, etc. But let's take everything in order.

Sales plan: objectives, components, benefits

Why do you need a sales plan

If the overall business plan defines the company's goals, then the sales plan describes the steps to achieve them. That is, it should clearly indicate how much you want to earn in 2021, and how to do it.

Typically, a sales plan contains data on the target audience, department structure, tools and resources needed to achieve the goals.

Sales Plan Tasks

Drawing up a sales plan is necessary to:

first, to convey the goals and objectives of the company to the sales department,
second, to provide strategic direction for the work of managers,
thirdly, to define the functional responsibilities of the team and the ROP,
and, finally, to monitor the efficiency of the commercial department as a whole and each employee separately.