8 Examples of Strategic Sales Plans

8 Examples of Strategic Sales Plans

Casey O'Connor

What Is a Strategic Sales Plan?

When you should implement a strategic sales plan, what to include in your sales plan, 8 examples of plans to implement your sales strategy, how yesware can help your team put your sales plan into action.

A strategic sales plan is a must-have for any business that’s looking to increase their sales, amp up their revenue, bring a new product to market, or branch into a new territory.

In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about strategic sales plans: what they are, when to create one, and exactly what it needs to include. We’ll also show you a handful of real-life, tangible examples of really effective sales plan components.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

A strategic sales plan is designed to guide a sales organization through their overarching sales strategy. It provides them with access to the resources needed to prospect, pitch to, and close new accounts.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: action plan

Strategic sales plans can include any combination of the following:

  • Ideas: If you utilize a certain sales methodology — consultative selling or target account selling , for example — you might outline its key principles and a few tactical examples of it in action in your strategic sales plan. Your strategic sales plan should also include an overview of your target customer.
  • Processes: In order for your sales team to reach maximum productivity, it’s important that your sales processes are clearly defined and standardized. Your sales team — both new hires and seasoned vets alike — should be able to refer to your sales plan for a repeatable, scalable process that’s backed by solid metrics. The processes should provide direction to sales reps that allow them to contribute to the company’s goals.
  • Tools & Tactics: The best strategic sales plans are more than just high-level strategy and goals. They also include specific, step-by-step strategies that sales reps can implement in sales conversations, as well as the specific tools and content that reps need to close more deals.

Sales plans also typically spell out the organization’s revenue and overall business goals, as well as the KPIs and benchmarks that sales managers and other stakeholders will monitor to determine whether or not those goals are being met.

They should also outline management’s strategic territory design and quota expectations, with specific indicators and data to back those decisions. 

Finally, these sales plans should take into account your current team’s sales capacity, and should specifically address the acquisition plan for any resources that are not yet available but that may be necessary for future growth.

If your sales team doesn’t already have a strategic sales plan in place — that is, one that’s referenced and updated regularly, and is the product of careful data analysis and inter-team collaboration — you may want to consider creating one. 

Research shows that the majority of the highest-performing sales teams operate under a formalized, closely monitored sales structure. 

On the other hand, most underperforming sales teams lack this structure. 

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: sales structure

It’s clear that a well-defined sales plan is one of the prerequisites to optimized sales productivity and success; every salesforce should strive to create and adopt one if they want to meet their sales goals more efficiently.

That being said, there are a few key indicators that signal a need for more urgency in putting a strategic sales plan in place. 

You’re Trying to Increase Sales

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: sales pipeline

A strategic sales plan will help your sales and marketing teams align their processes so that your outreach efforts are tailored to your target audience.

You’re Looking to Amp up Your Revenue

For startups and small businesses, attaining as many new customers as possible is usually the name of the game.

For larger or more established businesses, however, the business plan may instead emphasize revenue goals. In other words, the deal size starts to matter much more than deal volume. 

A sales strategy plan can help salespeople target and nurture higher-value accounts. Sales planning can also boost your revenue by illuminating untapped potentials for revenue growth within your existing customer base through cross-selling, upselling , and referrals.

You’re Gearing Up to Launch a New Product

A sales strategy plan is crucial for businesses that are preparing to bring a new product to market.

Thoughtful sales planning will ensure your go-to-market strategy is optimized and designed for short-term and long-term success by clearly defining and speaking to the pain points of your ideal customer profile. 

Strategic Sales Plan Example: Go-To-Market Strategy

One last note: for businesses that already use strategic business planning (or for those on their way after reading this article), be sure to update your plan at least yearly. Many businesses at least review their plan, if not update it more formally, on a quarterly basis.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: The Buyer's Journey

Consider including the following components in your strategic business plan.

Mission Statement

A company’s mission statement speaks to its purpose and values, as well as the strategy, scope, and standards of its business doings.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: mission statement

Consider a company’s mission statement like its North Star; it can act as a guiding force for decision-making that’s consistently aligned with the ethics and values of the company.

Industry & Market Conditions

Great sales planning cannot be performed in isolation. It’s important that your plan also takes into account the current market conditions, including any challenges, recent disruptions, or upcoming notable events.

Organization Chart

A sales org chart can range in scope from very simple, like the one above, to more complicated. Some go as far as naming individual employees and outlining their specific responsibilities. 

A detailed org chart is especially helpful for efficiently onboarding new hires.

Product Info & Pricing

No sales plan would be complete without a one-sheet that outlines the features, benefits, and value proposition of your product or service.

It’s also helpful to include information about pricing tiers, as well as any discounts or promotions available for leverage at a sales rep’s discretion.

Compensation Plan

While we have no doubt that you’ve hired only the most intrinsically motivated salespeople, remember the bottom line: cash is king.

Money is the primary motivator for most salespeople, regardless of how truly loyal and hard-working they may be.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: golden rules of sales compensation

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to include your company’s compensation plan and commission structure in your sales plan. This is a surefire way to motivate your team to continuously improve their sales performance. 

Target Market & Customer

One of the single most important components of your strategic sales plan will be your ideal customer profile and/or your buyer persona .

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Personas

Sales Enablement

With the tremendous rise in content marketing, it can be challenging for salespeople to keep track of the various materials available for generating new business.

Your strategic sales plan should direct your sales team to the many resources available to them to leverage throughout the sales cycle. It should also highlight the tools, software, CRM, and training — collectively known as sales enablement tools — available to and expected of them.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: sales enablement

Branding & Positioning

The strategic sales plan should offer at least a high-level overview of your brand and messaging specifics, including social media presence. Take the time to optimize your company’s LinkedIn presence — it’s a goldmine of new business opportunities.

Marketing Strategy

In today’s day and age, it’s unlikely that your sales and marketing team are working in isolation from one another. At a certain point, sales and marketing strategies start to flow together until they (ideally) perform in harmony.

Still, it’s important to outline the perspective of the marketing team within your strategic sales plan. This will help your salespeople fine-tune their sales pitch and speak more meaningfully to the needs of the customer. 

Prospecting Strategy

Most salespeople report that their number one challenge in lead generation is attracting qualified leads. 

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: B2B lead generation challenges

Prospecting can certainly be daunting, but it’s worth the effort to get it right. Tweak and fine-tune the process until you’re sure it’s as efficient as possible. Make sure it’s repeatable and scalable, and map it out within your sales plan.

Action Plan

Any good strategic sales plan will also include a step-by-step section, much like a playbook. Here, you’ll outline the specific tactics and processes — including scripts, demos, and email templates — that have been proven to move prospects through the sales funnel . 

Be as specific as possible here. This will act as a blueprint for the day-to-day sales activities for your team.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: SMART Goals

It can be tempting to leave the numbers with the finance department, but financial transparency can go a long way in creating a culture of trust among your sales team.

You don’t need to go through every line item in the spreadsheet, but it’s not a bad idea to include a high-level look at where the dollars are flowing. 

KPIs, Metrics, and Benchmarks

Be sure to give your team a snapshot of how they’re currently performing, with real numbers to back it up. This will help them self-initiate regular SWOT analysis of their own sales actions and processes. This will give them an opportunity to right the course if things aren’t going according to plan. 

Remember that your company’s strategic sales plan will be highly unique. It may take some time and tweaking to find the components and format that best meet the needs of your business.

Below are a few components that you might consider including in your sales plan.

Buyer’s Guide

A buyer’s guide is a short, simple information sheet that describes your product or service, its features and benefits, and its use. Below is an example of a buyer’s guide from Wayfair .

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: buyers guide

In many cases, this document is as useful internally as it is for the customer. 

Customer Profile

One way to avoid wasting time on unproductive leads is to include an ideal customer profile (ICP) in your sales plan.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: ideal customer profile

30-60-90 Day Plan

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: 30-60-90 day sales plan

Microsoft Word Sales Plan Template

Here’s a great example of a sales plan goals template , easily accessible through Microsoft Word.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: sales plan template

Battle Cards

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: Battle Cards

Territory Design

Well-designed sales territories see a 10% – 20% increase in sales productivity. Pictured below is a basic example of a territory design map.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: territory map

When designing your territories, keep in mind the following best practices .

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: territory plan

Your compensation plan (including a specific commission structure) is one way to motivate your sales reps.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: compensation plan

While it may seem controversial or sensitive, the compensation plan is an important component of a strategic sale plan.

Marketing Plan

Your salespeople should be extremely familiar with the marketing strategies your company is using to attract new leads. Here’s a great example of a template you can use in your sales plan that outlines the different campaigns at work.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: marketing plan

This kind of resource will help your reps know who to contact, when, and with what kind of content throughout the sales cycle .

Yesware is the all-in-one sales toolkit that helps you win more business. It can be an invaluable resource for putting your sales plan into action in a way that’s streamlined, productive, and intuitive.

Communication

Yesware’s meeting scheduler tool helps you skip the back-and-forth when scheduling meetings.

Meeting Scheduler integrates with your Outlook or Gmail calendar and helps your clients automatically schedule meetings with you during times of availability. New events are automatically synced to your calendar. 

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: meeting scheduler

​ It can also create meeting types for common calls, like a 30-minute intro call or a 60-minute demo call. These templates can be automatically saved and generated with custom descriptions and agendas, so everyone can come prepared. 

Prospecting

One of Yesware’s most popular features is its prospecting campaigns.

These features enable salespeople to create automated, personalized campaigns with multi-channel touches. The tool tracks communication and engagement throughout the process and helps move prospects through the pipeline with little administrative effort from the sales team.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: prospecting campaigns

Yesware’s attachment tracking feature helps you find your winning content by tracking which attachments are most often opened and read by your prospects. You can use these insights to sharpen your content and increase your engagement.

Strategic Sales Plans Examples: presentation report

The reporting and analytics tools are also extremely valuable in optimizing your sales plan.  These reports enable salespeople to use data to win more business. The feature generates daily activity, engagement data, and outcomes to show you what is/isn’t working across the board.

Try Yesware for free for 14 days to see how it can help your sales team carry out your sales plan today.

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How To Build a Strategic Sales Plan + 10 Examples

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  • May 28, 2023

LinkedIn

Every sales team has some sort of plan, even if it’s just “sell more of the product/service that you’re employed to sell.”

A sales plan is a portfolio that includes a layout of your processes, target audience, objectives and tactics. It’s used to guide your sales strategy and predict cost and returns. 

Yet without a codified sales plan, it can be difficult to give a sales team the motivation and purpose they need to successfully engage customers and continue to generate revenue.

Not having a sales plan that’s written down and signed off on by stakeholders can lead to confusion around what sales reps should and shouldn’t be doing , which can be demotivating.

It might seem daunting or time-consuming to put together an entire sales plan, but it doesn’t need to be. Here’s how to create a thorough sales plan in 10 simple steps. 

What Is a Sales Plan? 

A successful sales plan defines your target customers, business objectives, tactics, obstacles and processes. An effective plan will also include resources and strategies that are used to achieve target goals. It works similarly to a business plan in the way it’s presented, but only focuses on your sales strategy. 

A sales plan should include the following three components: 

  • Ideas: If you use specific business methodologies, you may choose to outline key principles and examples of them in action within your sales plan. An example could be conversation tactics when pitching your product to your target customer. 
  • Processes: In order to streamline productivity and business strategy, you’ll want to make sure your processes are defined within your sales plan. Your sales team should be able to refer to the sales plan when they’re in need of direction. 
  • Tools and tactics: The most effective sales plans include not only high-level business strategies, but also step-by-step approaches for your sales team to utilize. These tools can include key conversation pieces for your sales reps to use when pitching a product or content to close out a deal. 

Solidifying a sales plan is crucial for a strong business model. Taking the time to narrow in on the components above will set you and your business up for success down the road. 

Sales Planning Process

Sales Planning Process

It’s important to keep in mind that sales planning isn’t just about creating a sales plan document. A sales plan should be a go-to item that’s used every day by your team, rather than sitting on your desk collecting dust. Creating an effective sales plan requires high-level strategy.

You should: 

  • Decide on a timeline for your goals and tactics
  • Outline the context
  • Write out the company mission and values
  • Describe the target audience and product service positioning
  • Include sales resources
  • Draw out an overview of concurrent activities
  • Write an overview of your business road map
  • Outline your goals and KPIs
  • Outline an action plan
  • Create a budget 

 Below we dive into each of these steps to create your ideal sales plan. 

1. Decide on Your Timeline

Setting goals and outlining tactics is not going to be productive if you’re not working toward a date by which you’ll measure your efforts.

Determining the timeline of your sales plan should therefore be your number one consideration. When will you be ready to kick-start your plan, and when is a reasonable time to measure the outcomes of your plan against your SMART goals?

Remember that you need to give the plan a chance to make an impact, so this timeline shouldn’t be too restrictive. However, you also want to make sure that you’re flexible enough to adjust your plan if it’s not producing the desired results.

Most sales plan timelines cover about a year, which may be segmented into four quarters and/or two halves to make it a little more manageable.

2. Outline the Context

Use the first page of your sales plan to outline the context in which the plan was created.

What is the current state of the organization? What are your challenges and pain points? What recent wins have you experienced?

Do you have tighter restrictions on cash flow, or does revenue appear to be growing exponentially? How is your sales team currently performing?

While you’ll discuss your business plan and road map later in the document, you can also outline the long-term vision for your business in this section. For example, where do you want to see the business in five years?

Tip: Comparing the current situation with your vision will emphasize the gap between where you are now and where you need to be. 

3. Company Mission and Values

It’s essential that you put your mission and values at the heart of your business. You need to incorporate them into every function – and this includes your sales plan.

Outlining your mission and values in your sales plan ensures that you remember what the company is striving for, and in turn helps ensure that your approach and tactics will support these objectives.

Remember: A strong brand mission and authentic values will help boost customer loyalty, brand reputation and, ultimately, sales.

4. Target Market and Product/Service Positioning

Next, you’ll need to describe the market or markets that you’re operating in.

What is your target market or industry? What research led you to conclude that this was the optimal market for you?

Who within this industry is your ideal customer? What are their characteristics? This could be a job title, geographical location or company size, for example. This information makes up your ideal customer profile .

If you’ve delved further into audience research and developed personas around your target market, then include them in here, too.

5. Sales Team and Resources

This step is simple: Make a list of your sales resources, beginning with a short description of each member of your sales team.

Include their name, job title, length of time at the company and, where appropriate, their salary. What are their strengths? How can they be utilized to help you hit your goals?

You should also include notes around the gaps in your sales team and whether you intend to recruit any new team members into these (or other) roles.

Tip: Communicate the time zones your team members work in to be mindful of designated work hours for scheduling meetings and deadlines. 

Then, list your other resources. These could be tools, software or access to other departments such as the marketing team – anything that you intend to use in the execution of your sales plan. This is a quick way to eliminate any tools or resources that you don’t need.

6. Concurrent Activities

The next step in creating your sales plan involves providing an overview of non-sales activities that will be taking place during the implementation of your sales plan.

Any public marketing plans, upcoming product launches, or deals or discounts should be included, as should any relevant events. This will help you plan sales tactics around these activities and ensure that you’re getting the most out of them.

7. Business Road Map

For this step, write up an overview of your business’s overall road map, as well as the areas where sales activities can assist with or accelerate this plan. You’ll need to collaborate with the CEO, managing director or board of directors in order to do this.

In most cases, the business will already have a road map that has been signed off on by stakeholders. It’s the sales manager’s job to develop a sales plan that not only complements this road map, but facilitates its goals. 

Tip: Highlight areas of the road map that should be touchpoints for the sales team. 

Ask yourself what your department will need to do at each point in the road map to hit these overarching company goals.

8. Sales Goals and KPIs

Another important part of the sales plan involves your sales goals and KPIs.

Outline each goal alongside the KPIs you’ll use to measure it. Include a list of metrics you’ll use to track these KPIs, as well as a deadline for when you project the goal will be achieved.

It’s vital to make these goals tangible and measurable.

A bad example of a goal is as follows:

Goal 1: Increase sales across company’s range of products and services.

A better goal would look something like:

Goal 1: Generate $500,000+ in revenue from new clients through purchases of X product by X date.

9. Action Plan

Now that you’ve laid out your goals, you need to explain how you will hit them.

Your action plan can be set out week by week, month by month, or quarter by quarter. Within each segment, you must list out all of the sales activities and tactics that you will deploy – and the deadlines and touchpoints along the way.

Tip: Organize your action plan by department – sales, business development and finance. 

While this is arguably the most complex part of the sales plan, this is where sales leaders are strongest. They know which approach will work best for their team, their company and their market.

Budgets vary from team to team and company to company, but whatever your situation, it’s important to include your budget in your sales plan.

How are you going to account for the money spent on new hires, salaries, tech, tools and travel? Where the budget is tight, what are your priorities going to be, and what needs to be axed?

The budget section should make references back to your action plan and the sales team and resources page in order to explain the expenditures.

6 Strategic Sales Plan Examples 

You can create different types of strategic sales plans for your company, depending on how you want to structure your sales plan. Here are a few examples.   

Customer Profile 

A customer profile outlines your ideal customer for your service or product. It will usually include industry, background, attributes and decision-making factors.  

Creating a customer profile helps narrow in on the target customer your sales team should focus on while eliminating unproductive leads.  

Buyer’s Guide

A buyer’s guide is an informational sheet that describes your company’s services or products, including benefits and features. This document is useful both for your sales team but also for a potential customer who requires more information on the product before purchasing. 

30-60-90-Day Plan

This plan is organized based on time periods. It includes outlines of goals, strategy and actionable steps in 30-day periods. This is a useful sales plan model for a new sales representative tracking progress during their first 90 days in the position or meeting quotas in a 90-day period. 

This type of sales plan is also ideal for businesses in periods of expansion or growth. It’s helpful to minimize extra effort in onboarding processes. 

Market Expansion Plan

A market expansion plan clarifies target metrics and list of actions when moving into a new territory or market. This sales plan model is typically used with a target market that resides in a new geographical region. 

You’ll want to include a profile of target customers, account distribution costs and even time zone differences between your sales representatives. 

Marketing-alignment Plan

Creating a marketing-alignment sales plan is useful if your organization has yet to align both your sales and marketing departments. The goal of the sales plan is finalizing your target customer personas and aligning them with your sales pitches and marketing messages. 

New Product/Service Plan 

If your organization is launching a new service or product, it’s best to create a sales plan to track revenue and other growth metrics from the launch. You’ll want to include sales strategy, competitive analyses and service or product sales positioning. 

Sales Plan Template

4 additional sales plan templates.

Here are some additional templates you can use to create your own unique sales plan. 

  • Template Lab 
  • ProjectManager

5 Tips for Creating a Sales Plan 

Now that you’ve seen and read through a few examples and a sales plan template, we’ll cover some easy but useful tips to create a foolproof sales plan. 

  • Create a competitive analysis: Research what sales strategies and tactics your close competitors are using. What are they doing well? What are they not doing well? Knowing what they are doing well will help you create a plan that will lead to eventual success. 
  • Vary your sales plans: First create a base sales plan that includes high-level goals, strategies and tactics. Then go more in depth on KPIs and metrics for each department, whether it’s outbound sales or business development . 
  • Analyze industry trends: Industry trends and data can easily help strengthen your sales approach. For example, if you’re pitching your sales plan to a stakeholder, use current market trends and statistics to support why you believe your sales strategies will be effective in use. 
  • Utilize your marketing team: When creating your sales plan, you’ll want to get the marketing department’s input to align your efforts and goals. You should weave marketing messages throughout both your sales plan and pitches. 
  • Discuss with your sales team: Remember to check in with your sales representatives to understand challenges they may be dealing with and what’s working and not working. You should update the sales plan quarterly based on feedback received from your sales team. 

When Should You Implement a Strategic Sales Plan? 

Does your organization currently not have a sales plan in place that is used regularly? Are you noticing your organization is in need of structure and lacking productivity across departments? These are definite signs you should create and implement a sales plan. 

According to a LinkedIn sales statistic , the top sales tech sellers are using customer relationship management (CRM) tools (50%), sales intelligence (45%) and sales planning (42%) .

Below are a few more indicators that you need an effective sales plan. 

To Launch a New Product or Campaign 

If you’re planning to launch a new service or product in six months, you should have a concrete marketing and sales strategy plan to guarantee you’ll see both short- and long-term success. 

The sales plan process shouldn’t be hasty and rushed. Take the time to go over data and competitor analysis. Work with your team to create objectives and goals that everyone believes in. Your sales plan should be updated formally on a quarterly basis to be in line with industry trends and business efforts. 

To Increase Sales

If your team is looking to increase revenue and the number of closed sales, you may need to widen and define your target audience. A sales plan will help outline this target audience, along with planning out both sales and marketing strategies to reach more qualified prospects and increase your sales conversion rate. 

Now that you’ve seen sales plan examples and tips and tricks, the next step after creating your sales plan is to reach those ideal sales targets with Mailshake . Connect with leads and generate more sales with our simple but effective sales engagement platform.

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Sales | How To

How to Create a Sales Plan in 10 Steps (+ Free Template)

Published March 9, 2023

Published Mar 9, 2023

Jess Pingrey

REVIEWED BY: Jess Pingrey

Jillian Ilao

WRITTEN BY: Jillian Ilao

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This article is part of a larger series on Sales Management .

Manage Sales With CRM

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  • 1 Establish Your Mission Statement
  • 2 Set Sales Goals & Objectives
  • 3 Determine Your Ideal Customer
  • 4 Set Your Sales Budget
  • 5 Develop Sales Strategies & Tactics
  • 6 Implement Sales Tools
  • 7 Develop Your Sales Funnel
  • 8 Create Your Sales Pipeline
  • 9 Assign Roles & Responsibilities
  • 10 Monitor Progress & Adjust Accordingly
  • 11 Examples of Other Free Small Business Sales Plan Templates
  • 12 Sales Planning Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
  • 13 Bottom Line

Sales plans enable businesses to set measurable goals, identify resources, budget for sales activities, forecast sales, and monitor business progress. These all contribute to guiding the sales team toward the company’s overall strategy and goals. In this article, we explore how to create a sales plan, including details on creating an action plan for sales, understanding the purpose of your business, and identifying your ideal customers.

What Is a Sales Plan? A sales plan outlines the strategies, objectives, tools, processes, and metrics to hit your business’ sales goals. It entails establishing your mission statement, setting goals and objectives, determining your ideal customer, and developing your sales strategy and sales funnel. To effectively execute your sales plan, assign roles and responsibilities within your sales team and have metrics to measure your outcomes versus your goals and objectives.

Ten steps to creating an effective sales plan

Download and customize our free sales planning template and follow our steps to learn how to create a sales plan to reach your company’s revenue goals.

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Free Sales Plan Template

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💡 Quick Tip:

Once you’ve created a sales plan, give your sales team the tools to execute it effectively with robust customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Use a CRM like HubSpot CRM to help your sales team collaborate on deals, develop sales reports, track deals, and create custom sales dashboards

1. Establish Your Mission Statement

A mission statement summarizing why you’re in business should be part of your action plan for sales. It should include a broad overview of your business’ products or services and your brand’s unique selling proposition. For example, you wouldn’t say, “We provide customers with insurance policies.” Instead, you might frame it as “We provide customers with cost-effective financial risk management solutions.”

It’s essential to fully understand your unique selling proposition before creating a mission statement. This allows you to learn why you’re different from competitors in your industry. It also helps you determine how your unique proposition suits a niche market better.

Steps on how to create a unique selling proposition

For instance, using the same insurance example above, you may realize specific markets are easier to sell based on that selling proposition. Therefore, it’s a good idea to narrow in on your mission statement by saying, “We provide startup businesses with cost-effective risk management solutions.”

2. Set Sales Goals & Objectives

Once you have summarized why you’re in business in a mission statement, begin setting sales goals . Typically, business goals will include one year, but may also include three- or five-year projections.

Steps on how to set sales goals

Here are a few options for how to set sales revenue goals for your business:

  • Set sales amount: You may have a specific amount in mind for a sales goal. For instance, you may determine that $200,000 is a reasonable sales goal based on prior sales and your company’s ability to generate new business.
  • Desired profitability: First, calculate the total anticipated expenses for the set time period to find the break-even point. From there, you can calculate how much revenue your team needs to bring in to make a certain profit margin. For example, if annual operating costs are expected to be $100,000, and you want to make a 30% profit, your sales goal is $130,000.
  • Projected sales forecast: Based on an industry-standard or estimates you attained by running a sales forecast, you may find it’s better to use a projected sales forecast as your sales goal.

Pro tip: Projecting sales can be challenging without a suitable sales forecasting model. Our free sales forecast templates help you create simple, long-term, budget-based, multi-product, subscription-based, and month-to-month business sales forecasts. Some customer relationship managers (CRMs) like Freshsales have sales goal-tracking functionalities that allow you to set and assign sales goals for your team.

Five-year sales forecast template example.

Five-year sales forecast template example (Source: Fit Small Business )

Freshsales sales goal tracking filter options.

Sales goal tracking in Freshsales (Source: Freshsales )

Sales goals must reflect new business revenue and sales from existing or recurring customers. Then, you must add specific sales objectives that identify and prioritize the sales activities your team needs to complete to meet sales goals. This creates an objective way to measure success in hitting goals at all levels: organizational, sales department, team, and individual sales rep, which is an essential part of sales management .

For example, imagine your total revenue goal is $200,000 in year two and $300,000 in year three. You then add an objective, such as stating you want your business’ revenue from existing customers to grow 15% in year three. This can be measured by evaluating your percentage of revenue from existing customers in year three compared to year two.

3. Determine Your Ideal Customer

Determining the ideal customer or target market is the next step of your business plan for sales reps. It may have been accomplished when you developed your mission statement, but also when you set your sales goals and discovered how broad your market needs to be to reach them. Describing your ideal customer helps dictate who you’re selling to and your selling approach.

One way to establish your ideal customer is by creating a series of unique customer profiles . Each profile specifies key demographics, behaviors, interests, job positions, and geographic information about one of your ideal buyer types. Based on your customer profiles, you can then develop more targeted marketing strategies for lead generation and nurturing to move leads through the sales process more efficiently and close more deals.

Pro tip: Making a customer persona can be challenging, especially if it is based on the wrong data or if you just focus on the demographics. Check out our article on creating a customer persona to help you define your company’s ideal buyer types and guide your lead generation and marketing activities.

4. Set Your Sales Budget

After establishing your objectives and identifying your ideal customer personas—and before developing your actual strategies and tactics—you must identify a sales budget to work with. It should include estimated expenses for salaries, travel expenses, and the cost of any software tools or service providers used to help with sales and marketing. While these are meant to be estimates, research and due diligence should be done to avoid financial errors.

One way to set your sales budget, particularly for software tools and services you may be interested in, is to create and issue a request for proposal (RFP). Issuing an RFP allows you to post a summary of your needs to solicit proposals on potential solutions. In addition to providing accurate budget estimates from various qualified vendors and contractors, it may also help you discover cost-effective or high-performing options you were previously unaware of.

5. Develop Sales Strategies & Tactics

A sales strategy explains how you plan to outsell your competitors and accomplish your sales goals. It defines specific, detailed tactics your team will use to pursue your sales goals. These may involve using Google Ads, cold calling, and drip email marketing campaigns as part of a lead generation strategy. Available strategies differ depending on your company’s resources, skill sets, sales operation, and product or service offerings.

Strategies and tactics should be personalized for your ideal customers based on their unique interests, behaviors, and the best ways to connect with them. For example, some customer profiles show your ideal buyer generally only makes purchases based on trusted referrals. In this case, you could implement a referral strategy that provides incentives to generate more customer referrals .

Plus, different sales strategies will be needed to acquire new business vs keeping existing customers. When selling to existing customers, for example, your strategy could include cross-selling tactics where additional products are recommended based on prior purchases. The short-term cross-selling tactics could require customer service reps to send 30 emails per week recommending a complementary product to existing customers.

For a new business strategy, sales reps might rely on emotional selling methods when using cold calling as a tactic. Instead of product features, cold calling scripts would be geared to evoke feelings that lead to buying decisions. Tactics could reflect the objective of having reps make 15 cold calls each week. They could use a script that opens with a story about how a purchase made a customer feel or how someone felt because they didn’t purchase the product.

Pro tip: Ensuring your strategies are properly executed requires excellent sales leadership and a healthy environment for sales reps to operate in. Our how-to guide for building a positive sales culture shows you how to create an environment that promotes high job satisfaction, low employee turnover, and profitability.

6. Implement Sales Tools

Your sales strategy template should reference the software, hardware, and materials you use to manage the sales operation and make each team member more efficient. One of the most notable tools to include is the customer relationship management (CRM) system . It allows your team to organize contact information, streamline sales tasks, and facilitate communication with customers and leads.

HubSpot CRM , for instance, makes it easy to organize information about leads, contacts, and deal opportunities. Additionally, from a HubSpot CRM lead profile, you can initiate a conversation with that contact by calling, emailing, or scheduling an appointment.

HubSpot CRM sample lead profile.

HubSpot CRM contact profile (Source: HubSpot )

CRMs are also used to monitor and report sales progress. For example, many have dashboards and functionality, such as alerts, which make it easy to identify where your team may be underperforming. These could also tell you which leads are most likely to convert and should be focused on. Sales information such as deals closed, revenue generated, and leads created can be presented in a detailed report .

These types of insights can also be shown on the CRM’s system dashboard . Pipedrive is an example of a CRM that has a customizable dashboard that displays both activity information and performance-based data. Activity data include emails sent, received, and outstanding tasks to be completed. Performance-based data, on the other hand, have deals lost or the average value of won deals.

Pipedrive’s customizable dashboard (Source: Pipedrive )

Other sales enablement tools can make your sales team more effective. These include voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone systems , lead generation platforms, email campaign tools, content creation platforms, and task automation software. These tools can be found within CRM software or through CRM integrations and standalone applications.

In addition to technology tools, sales and marketing templates should be used to streamline outreach initiatives. Scenario-based, premade sales email templates , for instance, allow salespeople to have an email already crafted for their specific situation.

Creating and storing business proposal templates in your CRM also streamlines the contact procurement and business proposal generation process . This way, whenever a prospect says they’d like to receive a quote or you’re responding to a request for a proposal, you already have a customizable template ready to go.

Pro tip: Effective cold calling scripts sales reps can use as a guide when placing calls to new leads is a tremendous sales tool to include in your action plan for sales. Get started using our guide for writing a cold calling script , which includes examples and free templates.

7. Develop Your Sales Funnel

Setting up a sales funnel within your sales strategy template lets you visualize the stages of the customer journey, from becoming aware of your business to buying from it. By creating and understanding the different statuses of your leads, you can track progress and determine how effective you are at converting leads to the next stages in the funnel.

Using a sales funnel with conversion rates also makes it easier for you to adjust your sales strategies and tactics based on how effectively you’re getting leads through the funnel. For instance, let’s say you have 100 leads in the awareness stage of the funnel. You decide to cold call 50 of them and write a sales email to the other 50 to qualify leads by setting up a product demonstration.

After each campaign, you find you were able to qualify seven of the leads that were cold-called and only two of the leads you had emailed. Based on these funnel conversion rates of 14% (7/50) from cold calling and 4% (2/50) from emailing, you would likely adjust your tactics to focus more on calling instead of emailing.

Do you need help creating a sales funnel for your business? Our guide to creating a sales funnel explains the step-by-step sales funnel creation process and provides free templates and specific examples.

8. Create Your Sales Pipeline

Once your sales process’ sales funnel stages are identified, develop the sales pipeline stages . These stages include your team’s sales activities to move leads through the funnel. For example, you need to get a lead from the sales funnel stage of brand awareness to show interest in learning more about one of your services. To do this, you could add a sales pipeline activity like setting up a demo or presentation appointment through a cold call.

Adding your sales pipeline to your sales strategy is essential because it describes all the activities your sales reps need to do to close a sales deal. CRM systems like Freshsales allow you to create and track the pipeline stages for each lead or deal within the lead record.

Funnel view of Freshsales’ deal pipeline (Source: Freshsales )

Listing each pipeline stage also helps you identify tools and resources needed to perform the activities for each stage. For example, if you use phone calls to initiate contact with or introduce a product to a lead, you could develop outbound sales call scripts for your team.

After the initial contact by phone, you may use email to follow up after a call and then nurture leads throughout the sales process. As part of your follow-up, create and automate a sales follow-up email template to get them to the next pipeline stage.

The sales funnel shows where a lead is in the sales process. The sales pipeline, on the other hand, lists activities needed to drive leads to the next stage in the sales funnel. Both should be used in your sales strategy when defining the repeatable steps required to generate leads and close deals. Check out our article to learn how to create a winning sales process with insights on both creating a sales process and measuring its success.

9. Assign Roles & Responsibilities

Regardless of the size of your business or sales operation, your business plan for sales reps should include the role and responsibility of each person in the sales team. Each role should have a name, such as someone being a sales development representative (SDR). There should also be a summary of their responsibilities, such as “the SDR is responsible for setting up sales appointments using the activities listed in the sales pipeline.”

Measuring the performance of any sales position is simple through key performance indicators (KPIs). Specific KPIs should be used to measure performance for each role and should be included in your plan. Below are some examples of KPIs that can be used by the members of the sales team and their respective responsibility:

  • Sales development representative: Responsible for introducing products and services, qualifying leads, and setting up appointments for the account executive. Performance is measured by calls placed, emails sent, and appointments generated.
  • Account executive: Responsible for nurturing qualified leads, delivering the sales pitch , sending quotes, and closing deals. Performance is measured by business proposals sent, the average time in the proposal consideration stage, deals closed, and deal closing rate.
  • Customer service representative: Responsible for managing customer needs, handling billing, and managing service tickets by assisting customers. Performance is measured by customer satisfaction, retention rates, and total tickets resolved.
  • Sales manager: Responsible for the entire sales operation or team for a specific region or product/service line. Performance is measured by job satisfaction rates of sales reps, pipeline and funnel conversion rates, team sales deals closed, and team revenue growth.

While assigning roles in your plan, a sales rep’s territory could be based on geography, industry, potential deal size, or product/service line, creating more specialization for better results. Our six-step process on proper sales territory management is an excellent resource for segmenting, creating, and assigning sales territories.

This section of the business plan is also a prime spot for individually setting sales quotas for each rep or team needed to hit your organizational sales goals. Sales quotas should be a specific KPI for that sales role and be set based on the experience, skill level, and resources of that individual or team. These quotas should also be based on your organizational, department, and team goals and objectives.

10. Monitor Progress & Adjust Accordingly

Once the strategic business plan is in motion, monitor its progress to make any required adjustments. For instance, while your sales operation is running, you may find certain sales tactics are working better than expected, and vice versa. Your sales goal template should account for using that tactic more, as well as any new sales tools, budgetary changes, new roles, and possibly even a new sales goal.

As in the earlier example, if you found that cold calling was significantly more effective than emailing, reduce or abandon the email method in favor of cold calling. You could also invest in sales tools especially useful for cold calling, such as power dialing using a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone system, or hire additional staff to place calls. All of these will be part of your updated business plan.

Pro tip: Focusing on the big picture by creating, executing, and adjusting a strategic business plan is one of the most critical traits of an effective sales leader. For more insights on what it means to be a sales leader and how to become one, check out our ultimate guide to sales leadership .

Examples of Other Free Small Business Sales Plan Templates

Apart from our free downloadable sales strategy template, other providers have shared their version of a free strategic sales plan examples. Click on our picks below to see if these templates fit your business process better:

HubSpot’s free sales planning template helps users outline their company’s sales strategy. It contains sections found in most sales plans, as well as prompts for you to fill out your company’s tactics and information. These include company history and mission, team structure, target market, tools and software used, positioning, market strategy, action plan, goals, and budget.

HubSpot sales plan template

HubSpot sales strategy template (Source: HubSpot )

HubSpot’s sales plan template with the mission, vision, and story of the company

HubSpot’s sales goals template with the mission, vision, and story of the company (Source: HubSpot )

Visit HubSpot

Asana’s free sales plan template helps organizations analyze their current sales process, establish their sales objectives, identify success metrics, and plan actionable steps. The sales business plan template is embedded within Asana’s platform, automatically integrating aspects such as goals and measuring them against results or sales performance.

Asana sales plan template

Asana sales plan example (Source: Asana )

Visit Asana

Sales Planning Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is sales planning.

Sales planning is creating a document that outlines your sales strategy, objectives, target audience, potential obstacles, and tools to achieve goals within a specified period. This may include your daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly, and long-term revenue objectives.

What is included in a sales plan?

A sales strategy plan template typically includes the following key elements:

  • Target customers, accounts, or verticals
  • Stock-keeping units (SKUs)
  • Revenue targets or forecasts
  • Strategies and tactics
  • Pricing and promotions
  • Deadlines and directly responsible individuals (DRIs)
  • Team structure and coordination
  • Market conditions

What are the different types of strategic sales planning?

The type of strategic planning for sales that you choose for your team ultimately depends on different factors. These include your revenue goals, available resources, the ability and bandwidth of your sales team, and your personal commitment to your plans. Once you have determined the details of these factors, you can choose from these types of strategic sales planning:

  • Revenue-based sales action plan template: This is ideal for teams aiming for a specific revenue goal. It focuses on in-depth sales forecasting, improvement of conversion rates, and closing more deals.
  • Sales business plan based on the target market: This plan is best for businesses that cater to several markets that are different from each other. In this situation, you must create separate sales goal templates for enterprise companies and small businesses.
  • Sales goals plan: This focuses on other goals such as hiring, onboarding, sales training plans, or sales activity implementation.
  • New product sales business plan: This plan is developed for the launch and continued promotion of a new product.

Bottom Line

While any business can set bold sales goals, creating a sales plan outlines how your team will achieve them. By following the best practices and 10-step process laid out above, your sales goal template defines what your sales process will look like. It will help establish baselines for accountability and identify optimal strategies, tactics, and the tools needed to make your team as efficient as possible.

About the Author

Jillian Ilao

Jillian Ilao

Jill is a sales and customer service expert at Fit Small Business. Prior to joining the company, she has worked and produced marketing content for various small businesses and entrepreneurs from different markets, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Singapore. She has extensive writing experience and has covered topics on business, lifestyle, finance, education, and technology.

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Stratechi.com

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SALES STRATEGY

The big picture on sales strategy.

Conceptualize, measure and understand the opportunities to improve your customer pipeline and journey.

SALES STRATEGY: "HOW DO WE GET MORE CUSTOMERS TO BUY OUR STUFF?"

Growing Customers with Sales Strategy

WHAT DOES A SALES STRATEGY LOOK LIKE?

Sales is simply a series of interactions & conversations.

When you strip out all of the noise, from a customer's point of view, their journey to purchase is a series of interactions and conversations. A customer is trying to solve a problem, and in their journey to solve it, they may become aware of your potential solution, show interest by seeking more information, consider the solution versus other competitors, and hopefully convert into a customer and a loyal repeat customer.

These interactions could be through a company's website, app, online content, stores, salespeople, partners and distributors, and other customers. You can conceptualize this series of customer & company interactions in two ways. From the perspective of the customer, you can codify the interactions in a customer journey map. From the perspective of a sales team, you can conceptualize the interactions in a  sales pipeline.

The first step in developing a strong sales strategy is to abstract the performance of the sales pipeline by applying a series of longitudinal metrics to each stage of the pipeline. How many potential targets are there, suspects, prospects, customers, or repeat customers? How long do they stay in each stage? How many drop off in each stage? How valuable are they in each stage? How have the metrics evolved over time?

Like any process , if you can't measure it, it becomes challenging to improve it. High-performing sales teams automate much of this data through a well-utilized and updated sales CRM system. If your company can't systematically report on the sales pipeline, then developing the capability, infrastructure, and discipline to measure and improve the pipeline should be an initiative in your sales strategy.

TAKING SALES INSIGHT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

The 4 ways to grow sales.

There are four ways to grow sales through a customer pipeline:

  • Increase Addressable Market - put more people through the mouth of the funnel
  • Accelerate Deal Velocity - make each step/stage shorter for the customer
  • Improve Stage Gate Success - have the customer say yes to the next step more often
  • Increase Deal Size - upsell and focus efforts on the larger deals

Understanding how these four growth metrics evolved over time is a good starting point for diagnosing customer pipeline issues and opportunities.  These four growth metrics are outputs of the sales growth drivers, which we go into next.

THE 3 SALES GROWTH DRIVERS

Sales growth comes down to better customer interactions and conversations, more of them, along with a better value proposition and marketing . To make these things a reality, there are three main components to a strong sales strategy:

1. Improving the alignment between the target customer , the differentiated value proposition , marketing, and distribution

2. Incorporating corporate growth strategy initiatives in the sales strategy

3. Developing a strong sales team strategy to improve the sales process and interactions executed by the salespeople, infrastructure, and partners

1. DON'T PASS GO UNLESS YOU HAVE A KILLER VALUE PROPOSITION

Many CEOS misdiagnosis their weak sales by concluding, "it must be the sales team."  

A strong sales team is important, but the most important driver of sales is a killer value proposition that creates more value than the competition for target customers. Once you have a killer value proposition, then you need the right messaging, marketing, and distribution that clearly amplifies the value proposition to the target customers.

So, the first thing any sales strategy should address is to make sure there is a clearly defined and articulated target customer, a killer value proposition for the target customer, and impactful messaging, marketing, and distribution focused on the target customer. Alignment on a target customer will make everyone's efforts more focused, efficient, and effective, while differentiation will make customers say yes more often.

Seriously, don't overlook this point. Pretty much every company that grows for decades and becomes a leader in their industry has and continually improves a killer value proposition that creates more value than competitors for the target customers. It is the heart that makes the sales flow for any strong sales team.

Now, we often hear, "well, that isn't under my control."  Well, you better figure out how to influence it, because, without alignment and differentiation, the customer will more often than not choose not to do business with your company.

2. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE BIG PICTURE STRATEGY STUFF?

Hopefully, you have a killer value proposition and aligned marketing and distribution, now what? Well, you need to think through how the high-level corporate growth strategy is going to affect sales and the sales team. Is the company expanding into new markets , customer segments, and geographies? Are there new and improved products , services, and pricing ? Are there new distribution channels or marketing campaigns? While it may be a lot to think through, growth expansion initiatives can have a significant impact on sales and the sales team.

Now, a few words of caution. First, be careful not to go after too many options , which can quickly overextend the sales team and the entire company. Companies that fail often go after too many new markets , customer segments, and geographies at the same time. Inevitably, the ambitious agenda creates fragmented efforts, massive complexity , opportunity cost , and ultimately failure. Second, while sales leadership should have a sizeable role in shaping the corporate growth strategy, it should not lead the effort. We see too many companies that try to say yes to everything sales wants to do, which often leads to a lot of running in place and going nowhere. Successful companies have a strong and balanced leadership team stewarding the big decisions and execution around corporate growth strategy.

Growth strategy initiatives are significant inputs into the last part of sales strategy, which is the sales team strategy. The big question is how growth strategy initiatives will affect sales and the sales team. Is there a need for new processes, people, partners, and technology? What is the expected impact on sales, quotas, customer metrics, and pipeline dynamics? This is one of the reasons why sales strategy is so complicated since there are so many dimensions that ultimately need to be addressed by the sales team, with the ultimate goal of having better customer interactions and conversations and more of them.

3. WHAT THE HECK ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THE SALES TEAM?

Now to the heart of sales strategy, which is the sales team strategy. Any team, including a sales team, is simply a collection of processes executed by people, infrastructure, and partners. And, strategy is simply the goals we choose and the actions we take to achieve those goals. So, sales team strategy comes down to the sales team goals and the portfolio of initiatives to improve the processes, people, infrastructure, and partners to a level necessary to achieve the goals.

Below are some options to focus those sales team strategy initiatives on. We'll go over the high-level framing of some of the strategic options .

GET THE PROCESS RIGHT AND THE SALES WILL FOLLOW

Everything every member of a sales team does is a process, whether acknowledged as one or not. Has your sales team documented their processes, measure them? If not, that is a great place to start.

There are four main levels of a sales process outlined below.

At the highest level is the sales team governance , which includes the processes that strategically manage the sales strategy, forecasting, opportunities, overall pipeline, and sales operations. It typically involves weekly or monthly pipeline reviews, quarterly business reviews, and annual strategic planning , budgeting, and forecasting. The better the governance , the better the accuracy of forecasts, sales strategy, performance, and understanding of cause and effect.

The next level of the sales process is the customer journey, which includes every aspect of the journey customers take through an organization's processes to discover, evaluate, purchase, and consume the company's services and products. Strategic initiatives typically target reducing customer effort (e.g., self-help, automation , digital enablement), leaning out the customer processes, and increasing the rate of success on prioritized pipeline stages.

The sales methodology is one of the most critical processes for a sales team. The sales methodology is the overall sales approach between sales team members and customers to drive deal velocity and success. Most sales books focus on sales methodologies, such as spin selling , solution selling , MEDDIC , key account selling , GAP selling , and many others. We'll go a little deeper and synthesize all those books into a handful of important questions to quickly qualify and accelerate a deal.

The last level of the sales process to solve for is the daily, weekly, and monthly activity at the team and individual levels, which typically includes the day-to-day activity management and reporting to drive productivity and deal velocity through the pipeline.

ANSWER THE BASIC QUESTIONS TO ACCELERATE & CLOSE DEALS

There are hundreds of good books on sales methodology, but most of the methodologies come down to answering the basic 5 Ws (who, what, where, why, when) and 1 H (how) questions of a deal to qualify, accelerate and close the deal.

Once again, sales growth is driven by better customer interactions and conversations, and more of them. Weaving these questions into customer interactions, and recording and addressing the answers will help deals get through the pipeline. If you don't have a strong sales methodology, then start developing one that asks and answers the basic customer questions necessary to get a deal done.

TAKE A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO THE PEOPLE PART OF A SALES TEAM STRATEGY

For many B2B companies, sales expense, in the form of salary and commission, is often their largest financial expense, making it especially important to elevate and realize the potential of salespeople and the collective sales team.

There are many questions to answer about the people part of a sales strategy, which all fall into the various categories of our people strategy framework:

  • Org Design ( Mission , Corporate Strategy, Structure, Roles & Competencies)
  • Employee Journey (Recruiting, Hiring, Onboarding , Development, Evaluation, Advancement)
  • Culture (Comp & Benefits, Environment, Norms, Values )

For a complete overview, visit our entire section on organizational strategy , hr strategy - org design , and hr strategy - employee journey & culture . Below, we'll cover some of the more unique elements of sales team strategy.

WHAT SHOULD THE SALES ORG LOOK LIKE?

A challenging question that typically comes up is, "what should the sales org look like?" 

There is a lot of art and science in answering this question. Regarding the size of the sales org, utilize benchmarks on revenue productivity per sales team member and percent of sales spend to revenue. You should also analyze the span of control, where each manager should have 8-12 direct reports. You also need to solve for the right amount of levels to the org, the fewer, the better. Finally, there are the actual roles and accountabilities , which we'll get into a bit more next.

HOW SHOULD WE ORGANIZE THIS SALES TEAM?

For many sales teams, better customer conversations and interactions necessitate a high level of specialization to address the needs of specific customer segments , markets, geographies, or stages within the sales funnel. This specialization leads to sales teams organizing around one or more of these dimensions (customer segments, markets, geography , sales funnel stages). What dimensions to organize around is a function of the customer experience, specialization, economics, and complexity.

Many companies are constantly reorganizing their sales team from one dimension to another, such as reshuffling the team from a segment focus to a geographic focus. These reorganizations often fail, due to the ensuing chaos. Most existing sales teams have optimized and refined their multitude of internal and external processes based on their existing organizational dimensions. When a sales team reorg happens, a sales team has to reconfigure its processes, infrastructure, and partners. If the change management of the sales reorg isn't stellar, often the customer journey and sales team devolves into a bit of chaos.

THE LOW HANGING FRUIT OF A SALES TEAM STRATEGY

The adage goes "it's all about the people."   We like to expand that to it's all about the recruiting, hiring, onboarding, development, evaluation, and advancement of the people. Improving the employee journey is essential in any sales strategy. The first place to start is to establish best practices in recruiting and hiring. The lowest hanging fruit is typically increasing the number of candidates you recruit and interview while professionalizing the interview and hiring process with standard interview guides and scorecards, group and immersive interviews, and team decision-making .

When it comes to the rest of the employee journey , one of the most impactful exercises is to survey team members about their employee journey, which not only creates a baseline but also solicits good ideas while providing built-in buy-in to improvements. Furthermore, there are a ton of established best practices in each stage of the employee journey.

YOU GET WHAT YOU REWARD

Creating a sales strategy.

In developing a sales strategy, always keep in mind you are solving for two things: 1.  the goals the sales team will strive to achieve, and 2. the strategic sales initiatives necessary to achieve the goals.

Whether it takes a few days, a few weeks, or a few months, there are typically four steps in developing a sales strategy, which is:

  • Generate insights into the sales pipeline, customer journey, corporate growth strategy, sales team, and overall alignment & differentiation.
  • Develop opportunities on how the sales team can improve the processes, people, partners, and infrastructure.
  • Prioritize the potential initiatives based on value & benefit versus cost & effort.
  • Set the goals and roadmap of the portfolio of sales initiatives

Given the breadth of possible analyses, gaps, opportunities, goals, and initiatives, it is imperative to assemble the best possible internal strategy team to develop and execute a very focused and impact-oriented project plan .

STEP 1: GENERATE SALES STRATEGY INSIGHTS

In developing a strong sales strategy, there are five main areas to generate insights on 1. the sales pipeline, 2. the customer journey, 3. corporate growth strategy initiatives, 4. alignment & differentiation, 5. the sales team (processes, people, infrastructure and partners).

A focused set of hypotheses and analyses will generate a ton of insights, otherwise, a team can "boil the ocean," wasting precious time and resources on things that don't matter. Focus on answering the key questions below, utilizing some of the typical strategic analyses and tools. By doing so, the team will generate the big "aha" insights that will guide the entire strategy project.

STEP 2: DEVELOP SALES STRATEGY OPPORTUNITIES

Once you have foundational insights for the sales strategy, then you enter the "create options" phase, where you need to come up with and develop the improvement opportunities that will drive sales to the next level. This phase drives the overall value of the strategy, since the number and quality of options limits strategies. Make sure you solicit ideas from as many places as possible and get the most creative and knowledgeable people involved to push the thinking.

There is always the opportunity to improve the customer journey, internal sales processes, and cross-functional processes. The lean toolkit , automation , and digital strategies will help sprout and nurture the best ideas. Solicit ideas and feedback from the entire sales team. A simple survey with both structured and open-ended questions will do the trick. There are also hundreds of best practices to improve the maturity of the sales processes , methodologies, people, and infrastructure.

STEP 3: PRIORITIZE THE GREAT IDEAS

Hopefully, at this stage of the project, you have more improvement ideas than resources and budget to execute.  Now, we are in the prioritization phase of the project. Before diving into prioritizing the ideas, you first want to see how much you can simplify , rearrange and combine the ideas into some larger potential initiatives.

Now, we get to the fun and collaborative stage of decision-making. Utilize some sort of prioritization or decision matrix to problem solve and debate the potential value/benefit , and cost/effort of each initiative. Get the right leadership and stakeholders in the room to have this robust debate, and potentially have a few rounds to refine and improve the thinking. In the end, focus the strategy on those "no brainer" ideas that are high value/benefit and low cost/effort with a shorter time horizon (3 months to 1-2 years).  For the "big bet" initiatives, figure out the timing, budget, dependencies, etc., before making a decision.

One of the most difficult challenges for sales team leadership is deciding on the right portfolio of initiatives. The first part of this challenge is getting enough skilled talent mobilized to successfully execute the initiatives and change management . The second part of the challenge is understanding the amount of change the sales team can realistically handle.

Whatever your decision-making governance , by the end you should have a strong portfolio of initiatives, budgets, owners, timing, and a pretty clear idea of the potential impact on the core metrics of the sales team.

STEP 4: SET THE SALES GOALS, FINALIZE THE ROADMAP, AND EXECUTE

Strategy comes down to setting goals and executing the portfolio of improvement initiatives necessary to achieve the goals.  You should distill all of the strategic analyses, problem solving , collaborating, and decision-making into one page of sales goals and initiatives. Of course, there should be a lot more detail (e.g., project plans, resource plans, change management plans, budgets, spreadsheets) behind the one page. However, as you think about communicating the big sales strategy to upper management, the internal sales team, external stakeholders, and partners, one page is always best.

One last thought, invest the time, resources, and commitment to change management . The hardest part of executing any strategy is the necessary behavioral change at the individual level. Thinking through the change management framework for each initiative will pay dividends in driving the change you are seeking.

If you want to talk about your sales strategy with an experienced strategy coach, set up some time with Joe Newsum , a Mckinsey Alum, and the author of this content and website.

DOWNLOAD THE SALES STRATEGY PLAN PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

Download the 100-page Sales Strategy Plan PowerPoint Presentation . The fully editable and professionally designed deck will give you a jump start on your sales strategy and plan.

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How to develop a strategic sales plan for your business

strategic sales plan examples

With the rise of remote work, evolving workforce demographics, and consumer behavior changing by the minute, there’s no doubt that any business’s sales tactics need to be adaptable — that means changing your sales tactics to meet buyers where they are (and your sales team where they are, as well).

To do that effectively, you need a strategic sales plan. A sales plan tells you and your entire sales team how to approach sales to maximize revenue, improve customer retention, and meet other sales goals.

In this article, we’re diving deep into strategic sales plans. We’ll cover what they are, why you need one, and how to build one in just 5 steps.

What is a strategic sales plan?

A strategic sales plan is a collection of documents, processes, and other information that defines how your business approaches sales. Your strategic sales plan can include guidelines for prospecting, lead generation, marketing, and more. Essentially, a strategic sales plan provides a roadmap to help you meet your goals. It also provides a framework for adapting to new industry trends.

For instance, 44%  of millennials say they don’t want to interact with a sales rep during the B2B buying process:

a graph of generational skepticism of sales rep claims

( Image Source )

As a result, your strategic sales plan should identify ways to minimize sales rep interactions — while still maintaining or increasing revenue.

Why does your company need a strategic sales plan?

Think about all the components of your company’s sales process. From outreach management to lead scoring to relationship management, there are tons of moving parts.

Here are a few other things your strategic sales plan should include:

  • Sales goals and KPIs
  • Buyer personas for your target market
  • Lead scoring criteria
  • Primary sales channels
  • Marketing strategy
  • Prospecting criteria
  • Relationship management strategy
  • Inbound sales vs outbound sales strategy
  • Sales presentations, contracts, and other documents

In 2022, it’s also important to consider your virtual selling strategy. Fifty percent  of buyers say working remotely made purchasing easier, which means it’s critical your business maintains that level of ease.

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Find the right CRM system for your sales strategy plan

Before we get into the steps for creating a strategic sales plan, let’s talk about CRMs. CRM software is an invaluable tool to help you manage your entire sales process, from sales planning to lead scoring to the sale.

As we go through the strategic sales planning steps in the next section, a CRM tool will help you stay organized and share your process with your entire team.

Some CRMs, like monday.com, even have a Supporting sales materials template  to help you get started.

monday.com supporting sales materials template

Your CRM is essential to every part of your sales process. LinkedIn reports that most salespeople only spend 37%  of their time actively selling, with the majority of their time taken up by digital paperwork —  manual or unnecessary tasks.

A CRM with workflow automation — like one built on the monday.com platform — increases the amount of time your sales reps can spend actually selling, which will drive increased revenue for your business.

Your CRM should support your strategic sales plan. Here’s what to look for:

  • Contact and lead management
  • Sales pipeline tracking
  • Prospecting and outreach management
  • Contact and customer relationship history
  • Integrations with old CRMs or other tools
  • Workflow automation

monday.com real estate crm template

monday.com’s Work OS platform allows you to build exactly the CRM you need. You can customize any template or board to fit your sales strategy.

Here’s how it works:

5 steps to build a strategic sales plan

To help you build your strategic sales plan, we’ll look at the main steps to creating one for your sales team. Along the way, we’ll also look at how to use the monday.com CRM as you develop your sales plan.

Set the right sales goals

To create a roadmap, you need a destination. That’s why the first step in any strategic sales planning is to determine your sales goal for the upcoming month, quarter, or year.

Your sales goal should follow the SMART  method. Record these goals and be sure to share them with your sales team.  You can track your sales goal progress in a sales dashboard in your CRM. You’ll get up-to-date information on your sales performance , while anyone in the company who needs sales data can always access a single source of truth.

monday.com campaign dashboard template

Tracking your sales data is really important for strategic sales planning. Sales data helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses and optimize every part of your sales process to return the best results.

Strengthen your customer personas

Understanding your audience is the key to an effective sales strategy. When you know what they want and need, where they spend time online, and how they prefer to buy, you can craft a sales strategy based on personalizing your approach to your customers’ needs.

For example, 77%  of B2B buyers state that their latest purchase was very difficult or complex. If you’re a B2B seller, you can focus on ways to make your sales process simpler than your competitors to attract new buyers.

Data is your friend when it comes to sales personalization. In fact, 56% of sales professionals use data to target customer accounts. Take your findings and craft buyer personas to help your sales team understand your key audience segments. As you create these and other sales documents, you can track your progress in a monday.com project management board .

monday.com document storage template

Don’t rely solely on personas, though — continuously building unique relationships with your customers to deliver an even higher level of personalization is more important than ever.

Outline your sales pipeline

This is possibly the most critical step of your strategic sales plan: list every stage a prospect will go through before they become a sale. Outlining your sales pipeline is important for a few reasons. First, knowing the customer journey makes it easier to identify problems early and pivot to meet sales goals.

But it’s also key to creating efficient processes for your sales team. As you list your sales pipeline stages, make note of the following key points for your internal sales team:

  • When does a prospect become a lead?
  • What counts as a conversion?
  • Are some touchpoints more valuable than others e.g. an email open vs. a social media ad view?
  • When do sales development reps (SDRs) hand off leads to sales executives?
  • When does the marketing team hand off leads to the sales department?

When you build your sales pipeline in a monday.com CRM template, you can create custom labels and columns to note exactly where each lead stands.

monday.com CRM template

You can even automate lead handoffs based on certain actions, such as a certain number of touchpoints or email opens, by integrating your other data tools with monday.com.

Choose your sales tactics

Next, you need to decide what methods you’ll use to sell your product or service. To do this, think about what will work best based on your audience. You’ll likely come up with a list of tactics that work best based on different audience segments or other factors.

Your strategic sales plan can include guidance for when it’s appropriate to use each type of sales tactic and how to choose the right one.

Here are just a few sales tactics you might choose at different stages of the sales funnel :

  • Find targeted leads
  • Leverage retargeting with online marketing
  • Display social proof
  • Ask for referrals
  • Follow up consistently

You might also adopt some consistent sales tactics or values, such as positioning sales reps as knowledgeable consultants. Consider that 88%  of today’s buyers think of sales reps as trusted advisors in their industry, and figure out how to meet that expectation for your customers.

Your strategic sales plan should also include tactics for customer retention . 70%  of sales professionals say they are prioritizing retaining existing customers, making it worth spending time and energy on following up with leads.

It’s important to continue honing your customer relationships even after closing the sale.

monday.com’s contact management template helps you track your entire communication history in each customer profile , so you can find the right time to follow up or offer new deals based on your prior interactions.

monday.com contact management database

When combined with automation and sales and marketing tools like MailChimp, your monday.com CRM can take care of a lot of your customer relationship management for you by sending follow-ups, scoring leads, and more.

Implement and refine your strategic sales plan with your CRM

Once you’ve finalized each component of your strategic sales plan, it’s time to share it with your team and hit the ground running.

Make sure your sales team can access your sales planning documents and the right boards and views in your CRM. Provide any necessary sales training on the CRM or new sales tactics.

In the early stages of your new sales plan, ask for lots of employee and customer feedback. Use this information to refine and update your sales goals, tactics, and plans to align with what’s best for your business, your team, and your customers.

As your business and customer base grows and evolves, your strategic sales plan will too. Consistently track the impact of your plan so you can stay effective.

To help you do this, invest in a CRM that grows and changes with you. monday.com adapts right along with your business and makes it easy for everyone to get up to speed.

Build your strategic sales plan today

When you look at the facts, it’s simple. Building a strategic sales plan can help your business close more sales and earn more profits. By understanding your customer journey and creating clear guidelines around your sales strategy plan, your team can become more effective and profitable than ever.

Start using a platform like monday.com to build all the tools you need to execute your strategic sales plan perfectly. Try out the monday.com CRM today.

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How to Build a Sales Plan: The Step-by-Step Guide

How to Build a Sales Plan: The Step-by-Step Guide

So, you’ve developed a killer sales strategy . ✅

Your next step? Create a killer sales plan that will transform that deck full of goals and targets into tangible results, but also help understand your sales team’s performance all-round.

Sounds like a must-have, doesn’t it? That’s why we’re going to cover everything you need to know about building an effective sales plan, as well as help you out with strategic sales plan examples and templates to help you get started.

So then, let’s go. 🚀

What is a sales plan?

A sales plan is what outlines your sales team’s objectives and targets, as well as the steps, budget, and tools needed to get you there.

It includes specific revenue goals, information on your ideal customer profile (ICP) , the chosen sales tactics, possible obstacles, threats, and necessary resources.

Creating a robust sales plan is really handy to anyone that works in sales. It helps everyone see the big picture, get aligned on goals, and understand their role in achieving them.

When you take the time to craft a sales plan, you will:

  • Create a clear and accessible reference to understand company and sales-specific goals.
  • Give your team the strategic direction it needs throughout every stage of the sales funnel.
  • Provide guidance to sales leadership and outside the sales department, too.
  • Build a foundation upon which to monitor progress and performance.

How to make a sales plan

An ideal sales plan consists of 13 key components:

  • Company mission
  • Goals and revenue targets
  • Review of past performance
  • Market and industry analysis
  • Positioning
  • Prospecting strategy
  • Inbound marketing strategy
  • Sales tactics
  • Performance metrics

Let’s dive deeper into each of these components so you’ll understand exactly how to make a sales plan.

1) Company mission

What are we all doing here? If your sales team can’t answer this question, don’t expect to get too far. Before anyone starts selling anything, it’s important for each team member to understand the company’s mission, purpose, and vision.

  • Why did the founders build the company?
  • What exactly does your product or service do?
  • What value does it provide customers?
  • How does your company impact industry, society, or the world?

Taking the time to answer these questions helps your sales leadership, reps, and account managers start to see the bigger picture, which is essential for bringing your sales strategy to life.

2) Market and industry analysis

This is the part where you research the major trends, challenges, pain points, and opportunities in your market. If your company serves businesses across different industries, you’ll need to conduct this research for each and every one of them.

Having a deep understanding of your market and where it’s heading is crucial for holding meaningful conversations with prospects and providing real value.

You can do this using the Competitive Landscape view on Similarweb Sales Intelligence, but if you fancy it, you can venture over to our friend, Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence to get even more detailed competitor and industry analysis.

3) Review of past performance

Reviewing your sales team’s past performance can be incredibly valuable while building a sales plan.

This is where you can gain a clearer understanding of what factors led your team to positive vibes (✨) and what contributed to not-so-positive vibes. Once you’ve narrowed down what works and what doesn’t, you can apply these insights to your future sales strategy.

Looking into past performance might highlight specific techniques that saw a big boost in revenue one quarter, or things like a sales manager leaving had a big impact on a team’s performance because they were key to the onboarding process.

These discoveries can – and should – impact your forward planning to make sure your next quarter is as good as can be.

4) Goal setting

Your sales goals will take the form of revenue goals and volume goals.

For example, you might set a total target revenue goal of $15 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).

But you will might want to consider breaking down your targets in a number of ways, including:

  • By product (eg. a particular product or service doing better than another)
  • By region (eg. your North America region routinely performs better than your EMEA)
  • By quarter (eg. your company closes the most deals in the fourth quarter, and the least in the first quarter)
  • By individual reps (eg. highly experienced reps vs. reps that are new and being onboarded)

By taking these factors into consideration, you will be able apply ambitious yet achievable goals and targets for your team.

Another thing to consider: volume goals. You might aim to sign 80 new customers a year, but are you thinking about the size of the opportunities? For example, you might sign 30 Fortune 500 logos in that number. Breaking into new markets or shifting from medium-large-size companies to enterprise companies is just another example of the type of goals that should be closely tied to your overall business objectives.

One of the most important things to remember when setting goals is to make them realistic. If it is simply not possible to hit your targets with the budget, human capital, and marketing resources you have access to, you are setting yourself up for failure.

5) Ideal customer profiles (ICP)

Next up: it’s time to review your ideal customer profile (ICP). You should have a clearly defined ICP in your sales strategy. Why? Because your ICP is all about who would make the best long-term customer.

You can build this by looking at your current customer base, and seeing what characteristics make up your best performing or most loyal customers. Most ICPs are made up of demographic characteristics, including:

  • Company size

However, these traits are broad and could easily produce a large list of prospects, including some companies that aren’t actually a good fit to your ICP. With a Sales Intelligence solution like Similarweb, you can enrich your prospects list with granular digital performance metrics, such as:

  • Volume of sales per region
  • Monthly/annual revenue
  • Current tech stack
  • Current partnerships (eg. existing in your CRM)

sales plan features

With our unique traffic and engagement data , Similarweb empowers sales teams with full digital visibility into every part of a prospect’s digital strategy and performance. This added information helps you weed out irrelevant prospects so you can focus on just the best potential customers – and win them. 🥇

6) Positioning

Positioning your company is all about determining how to best situate it within the current context of the market. This can be called market mapping , where you ask yourself questions like:

  • Who are your competitors?
  • How does your product or service compare?
  • What are your relative strengths and weaknesses ?
  • What is your competitors’ pricing and what is yours?

You’ll also want to focus on the technology trends or regulatory changes that impact the market as a whole, such as the rising popularity of a certain technology or the emergence of a new data privacy law. How will these factors impact your business and your competitors?

It might seem obvious, but going over your team can get overlooked in the sales planning process.

When looking at your team and its dynamic, you’ll want to ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is the desired headcount?
  • Which positions do we need to fill or eliminate?
  • What is each rep, sales manager, or AE’s responsibility?
  • Do we have a process in place for ramping up new hires?
  • Do we have good sales mentors?
  • How can we keep everyone aligned?

Despite the fact that sales involves lots of individual work, it’s a team sport at the end of the day. Sales success depends on effective training, sharing best practices, solid leadership, coaching, and accountability. So, go get it, team. 💪

Your budget is going to need to stretch across all costs associated with reaching your sales goals, which usually includes:

  • Human capital costs, such as salaries and commissions
  • Sales training programs
  • Sales technologies and tools
  • Contest prizes and incentives
  • Travel costs
  • Conference exhibition costs

The more detailed your budget is, the easier it will be to make your case and get the spend your department needs.

9) Prospecting strategy

Sales prospecting is the process of identifying potential customers who fit your ICP with the goal of adding them to your sales funnel . Once you’ve got your list of relevant prospects and added them to the CRM, your next step is establishing a relationship and nurturing them until they are ready to become paying customers.

Prospecting is integral to an effective sales plan because it helps to make sure reps are going after the right kind of customers – and not wasting company time (or money) chasing the wrong ones.

If you’re prospecting manually, you’ll find that it’s a pretty time-consuming sales activity. In short: it’s no one’s favorite task. But with a robust prospecting tool, it makes your life a lot easier.

With Similarweb’s Sales Intelligence tool, you can quickly build a list of prospects who are ready to buy your product. Similarweb’s database includes more than 100 million websites and offers more than 50 digital criteria, to make sure you’re filtering out the misfits and leaving yourself with a list of good fits. 👌

Our insights generator tool will also help you learn and understand more about the prospect’s market, and gain key insights on how your company can help grow their business, giving your sales pitch the edge you need to seal the deal.

10) Inbound marketing strategy

For this bit of the sales plan, you’ll need to collaborate with marketing to ensure you’re aligned on core objectives, business strategy, and target audience.

If you’re not on the same page about these things, each department could be spending time and money focusing on clashing target audiences. If you want to bring in high-quality leads, marketing and sales need to work together closely.

11) Sales tactics

Sales tactics are the actions you take to bring your sales strategy to life. When putting together your sales plan, you’ll want to dedicate some time to determine which tactics will help you achieve your goals most effectively.

Here are some of the sales tactics we always recommend:

  • Truly listen and focus on solving problems
  • Stay true to your word and follow through
  • Rely on data to drive prospecting and boost outreach efforts
  • Review your conversations with prospects

Check out our post on 10 sales tactics that will help you crush your quota for more!

12) Tech stack

At this point – now you’ve outlined all of your goals and needs – you’ll want to consider which tools your sales team needs to get the job done.

Your tool or tech stack should include things like:

  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Sales intelligence
  • Prospecting and lead enrichment
  • Analytics and reporting
  • Process and training
  • Meeting scheduling and recording

13) Performance metrics

The last piece of the puzzle is tracking and measuring your success, and seeing whether you met your goals. 🧩

Sales metrics and KPIs can vary company to company, but we’ve got a list of the 8 sales metrics you need to be tracking .

Your unfair sales advantage

Grab your prospects' attention with insights from Similarweb Sales Intelligence

4 strategic sales plan examples

If writing a sales plan from scratch feels a little bit overwhelming, you can take a deep breath. There are lots of existing sales plan examples out there that you can use and adapt to your needs.

Here are four strategic sales plan examples you can customize to bring your sales strategy to life (without the overwhelm).

1) 30-60-90-day sales plan

This sales plan example is used to help sales organizations stay on track towards achieving their goals. The idea is to set milestones for the 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day mark, so you can monitor progress within a given time period.

This type of plan works especially well for revenue-related goals, growing the volume of sales, or reducing customer churn. Additionally, new sales reps often use a 30-60-90-day sales plan to track their individual progress while ramping up.

2) Market expansion sales plan

A market expansion sales plan provides direction when your business is expanding into a new industry or territory. Bonus: it’s a list of tasks and relevant metrics to help set you up for success.

For example, if you’re expanding into a new territory, some tasks to check off could include:

  • Increasing headcount
  • Preparing training for new reps
  • Researching regional markets and competition
  • Determining accurate revenue and volume goals

While some metrics will just tell you whether or not you completed the task (such as, did you create additional training material that focuses on your new territory? Yes or no), others will require quantitative benchmarks (such as revenue-related goals).

3) New product sales plan

This sales plan example is perfect for when you’re preparing to launch a new product or service line. When you create a new product sales plan, the goal is to generate revenue from the new product. Therefore, the plan provides steps and guidance for incorporating the new product into your sales processes and pitch.

To get it right, you’ll want to:

  • Perform competitive analysis ✅
  • Determine how the new product impacts your brand and market position ✅
  • Work with product marketing on the pitch ✅
  • Identify which prospects and customers the new product will be relevant to ✅

4) Business development sales plan

With a business development sales plan, you can focus on using connections and building relationships to attract new potential customers. So on this kind of plan, your activities will be things like networking, sponsoring events, attending industry conferences, and performing cold outreach .

But like any sales plan, you’ll also need to determine which KPIs are most relevant.

One example: you’re an exhibitor at a large industry conference. Your KPIs might center on the number of badges your scan, number of meetings set, and number of follow-up meetings requested.

Or, when it comes to outreach, you’ll track how many prospects responded to you, scheduled meetings, and meet your qualification standards to measure your success.

Here’s another place that Similarweb Sales Intelligence comes in. It’s a tool that will make outreach a breeze. With the Insights Generator function, you can automate the task of finding relevant and compelling “insight nuggets” to include in sales emails. By mentioning specific stats related to their business or their competitors, you are sure to pique their attention. 👀

insights generator

Top sales plan templates

Another way to simplify the process of building a sales plan is to make the most of sales plan templates.

A “fill-in-the-blank” structure makes everything a little less complicated, right?

However, if you do choose to use a sales plan template, you’ve got to invest time and energy into customizing it to the very last detail so it’s totally relevant to your sales team.

Try these *customizable* templates out for size:

1) Hubspot sales plan template

Hubspot’s free template includes questions and steps to cover the following sections:

  • Company History & Mission
  • Team Structure
  • Target Market
  • Tools and Software
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Prospecting Strategy
  • Action Plan

With guiding questions in each section, it can help you clearly articulate all of the necessary information you have to offer.

2) Leadfeeder’s B2B sales plan template

Leadfeeder’s template is designed to help B2B companies produce an actionable sales plan that you can put to use straight away. 🚀

It includes:

  • Dedicated space to add your objectives and KPIs in a visual and structured way
  • Sales projections for the quarter with all necessary calculations to hit your revenue goals
  • Pipeline dashboard with deal size

According to Leadfeeder, their sales plan template is best for B2B companies that have a product that requires demos, meetings, and runs through multiple decision makers. Noted.

3) Asana sales plan template

Asana’s template takes a project management approach to sales planning by visualizing all of the tasks in your sales plan as a checklist. This approach helps you assign tasks to certain individuals, as well as set deadlines.

One of the benefits of Asana’s sales plan template is that it accounts for dependencies, so no crucial task can go (accidentally) unseen.

One way they do this? Your colleague won’t be able to check off the “draft buyer personas” task until you’ve completed and ticked “perform market research”.

Creating a sales plan doesn’t need to be hard

Having a sales plan is all well and good, but having an efficient sales plan is essential to your success.

Like we said, sure, it can be overwhelming, but tons of great salespeople before you have done the legwork for you. Today, you have plenty of strategic sales plan examples, sales plan templates, and sales tools to help get you going.

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10 Free Sales Plan Templates for an Effective Sales Strategy

ClickUp Contributor

February 15, 2024

Every sales team wants to win more leads and close more deals. But how do you make that happen? With a solid sales plan, of course! 

A sales plan gives your team a way to focus on your goals while taking only the necessary steps to get there. It has everything you need to win, which means it’s often a comprehensive guide—and that takes time.

And we’re guessing you’re already pressed for time. ⏲️

Fortunately, creating a plan doesn’t have to be complicated—with the right template, you can simplify the process.

That’s why we’re sharing this list of the best sales plan templates. Not only are these sales strategy templates absolutely free but they’ll also save you time so you can start closing those deals faster. ⚡

What Is a Sales Plan and Why Create One?

1. clickup sales plan template, 2. clickup sales and marketing plan template, 3. clickup sales strategy guide template, 4. clickup sales pipeline template, 5. clickup sales kpi template, 6. clickup b2b sales strategy template, 7. clickup sales calls template, 8. word sales plan template by business news daily, 9. word sales plan template by templatelab, 10. excel sales plan template by spreadsheet.com.

A sales plan is your roadmap for how to make sales effectively. Think of it in the same way that a business plan guides the strategy for your company or a marketing plan sets out how you’ll find, reach, and serve your ideal customers. 

clickup goals feature

A good sales plan sets out your sales goals , objectives, and sales activities. It considers your target audience, brand, products, services, and needs—and covers which sales tactics and strategies you’ll use to close deals, as well as which metrics you’ll use to measure success. 

Your sales plan is a practical plan that outlines who’s responsible for what, the resources you’ll need, and the overall goals you’re working toward. Without one, your sales team will feel lost and struggle to connect with your customer base.

With a strategic sales plan, though, the sales manager and the entire team will know exactly what you’re trying to achieve and the steps needed to get there. 📚

How to choose the best sales plan template

There are so many different sales plan templates out there. Some are designed for specific niche audiences, while others are more generic and easier to customize. How do you know which is the right template for you?

When you’re thinking about using a sales plan template, consider the following: 

  • Ease of use: Is the template easy to use? Will everyone in the team structure and sales planning process be able to understand it fully?
  • Customization: Can I personalize the template to match my sales goals?

targets in clickup goals

  • Collaboration: Can my sales team work on this template together?
  • Integrations: When I create a sales plan, can I integrate this template with other aspects of my sales pipeline or workflow, like task management?
  • Artificial intelligence: Can I use a built-in AI writing tool or copywriting tool to help me complete the template? Are there automation features that speed up the process?
  • Platform: Which sales app is this template for? Do I have it already, or should I invest in it? What’s the pricing like?

Asking yourself these questions will help you figure out what your needs are, so you can then choose a template to match. 

10 Sales Plan Templates to Help You Close Your Next Deal

Now that you have a better idea of what you’re looking for, let’s explore what’s out there. Take a look at our hand-picked selection of the best sales plan templates available today for Microsoft Word and sales enablement tools like ClickUp.

Create and organize tasks by team, deliverable type, priority, due dates, and approval state with the ClickUp Sales Plan Template

Smart sales teams use a sales plan to map out their route to success. The best sales teams use the Sales Plan Template by ClickUp to simplify the process and ensure they don’t leave anything out.

This template is designed with all the structure you need to create a comprehensive sales plan that can drive results. Use this template to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) business goals; plan strategies and tactics; and organize all your sales ideas in one place.

The list-style template is split into sections that cover the executive summary all the way through to specific tactics and strategies. Beneath this, you can arrange tasks and subtasks, and see the progress at a glance. View task titles, deadlines, who’s responsible, approval status, and a visual progress bar.

Use this template if you want to consolidate all your sales tasks and initiatives in one area. Add your sales tasks and tactics, then tag team members so you can see what’s happening and hold everyone accountable. ✅

Use the Sales and Marketing Template by ClickUp to set goals and collaborate on campaigns

While sales and marketing teams often work independently, sometimes it’s useful to collaborate on shared goals. With the Sales and Marketing Plan Template by ClickUp , you can organize and run your sales and marketing operations from one location.

Our collaborative template makes it easy to set sales and marketing goals and objectives, visualize your tasks, work together on sales and marketing campaigns, and track your results in real-time. View the status of your sales and marketing projects, adjust your plans, and monitor your key performance indicators (KPIs)—all from one view.

This sales and marketing plan template allows you to split your tasks into sections. The examples in the template include revenue goals, competitive analysis, and action items, but you can customize these to match your needs exactly.

View tasks beneath these categories to see at a glance whether there are any roadblocks when a task is due, and who is responsible for it.

Add this template to your collection if you want to work more collaboratively with your marketing team—especially on preparing assets for sales calls or outreach programs. 📞

The ClickUp Sales Strategy Guide Template can help you determine the right way to promote your product by answering predefined questions

Before you can plan your sales tactics, you first need to decide what your overall goals are. The Sales Strategy Guide Template by ClickUp is your go-to resource for determining your approach.

This sales process template explains the benefits of having a well-defined approach and gives you a central place to create, review, and store your own. Everyone on your team can then access your sales strategy guide to help them understand what to do when prospecting and closing deals.

Our sales goals and strategy guide template is presented in a document format. Some sections and headings allow you to split your guide into different areas, making it easier to read and understand.

Use the prompts to fill out your own strategy guide details like your target market, sales strategies, and how you’ll monitor progress.

Use this sales strategy guide template to create a resource for your team. Make it the only destination for everything your sales reps need to know to execute an effective sales plan. 📝

Track your leads and deals, applying a consistent deal qualification framework and deal process to increase sales.

Sales strategies are a must-have for any great sales team, but beyond that, you need a way to record and monitor specific tasks or initiatives. That’s where the Sales Pipeline Template by ClickUp comes in handy whether you need a visual into sales forecasting or your specific sales goals.

This sales pipeline template gives you one place to store all your daily sales-related tasks. With this template, it’s easy to work toward your sales goals, track leads, map out each step of the sales process, and organize all your tasks in one place.

You can view a task’s title, assignee, status, due date, complexity level, start date, and department—or customize the experience with your own custom fields. 

Sales KPIs are essential to measuring the success of your sales strategy.

With ClickUp’s Sales KPI Template , you and your team can create and manage goals surrounding your sales initiatives. See instantly what’s in progress and when it’s due, alongside the task’s impact level.

This allows you to identify high-priority tasks to focus on and to react quickly if it looks like there’s a roadblock.

This sales KPI template includes:

  • Custom Statuses: Create tasks with custom statuses such as Open and Complete to keep track of the progress of each KPI
  • Custom Fields: Utilize 15 different custom attributes such as Upsell Attempts, Value of Quotes, Product Cost, No of Quotes by Unit, Repeat Sales Revenue, to save vital KPI information and easily visualize performance data
  • Custom Views: Open 4 different views in different ClickUp configurations, such as the Weekly Report, Monthly Report, Revenue Board per Month, and Getting Started Guide so that all the information is easy to access and organized
  • Project Management: Improve KPI tracking with tagging, dependency warnings, emails, and more

This template gives you a simple way to see which tasks are complete or in progress, so you can monitor the progress of your project and crush your sales KPIs. 📈

The ClickUp B2B Sales Strategy Template guides you through the process of creating an effective plan and list of objectives for your sales team

While there’s not a huge difference in the way we market to business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) customers these days, it’s still useful to have specific templates for niche needs. If you’re driving sales in the B2B space, you need the B2B Sales Strategy Template by ClickUp .

Like our first sales plan template, this one gives you space to communicate your sales objectives and revenue targets, but it also introduces other areas—like market research, stakeholder analysis, customer relationships, buyer persona, and customer pain points. 

This document-style template is highly customizable so you can make it match your brand style and sales approach. Fill in each section and use the supplied prompts to complete your B2B sales strategy document even faster. 

Add this template to your collection if you’re working in B2B sales and want to approach your process in a more organized way. Use the template to build a strong sales strategy, then share it with the rest of your sales team so they know how to execute against your sales and company goals. 🎯

Sales Calls Template offers you a sales calls pipeline that helps you convert prospecting leads to your clients.

ClickUp’s Sales Calls Template is designed to streamline the sales process, from tracking contacts and calls to managing sales opportunities.

The template includes custom statuses for creating unique workflows, ensuring that every call and client interaction is accounted for. It also provides an easy-to-use Sales CRM to manage and track leads, visualize sales opportunities in the sales funnel, and keep all contacts organized.

With additional features like the Sales Phone Calls SOP Template, sales professionals can empower their teams to make every call count and close more deals. ClickUp’s Sales Calls Template is a versatile solution for sales teams, aiding in everything from daily calls to long-term sales forecasting.

An example of Word Sales Plan Template by Business News Daily

We’re big advocates of using ClickUp as the go-to place to store everything about your sales workflow, but if you’re limited to using Microsoft Word or Google Docs, then this template is a great option.

This sales business plan template has sections for your executive summary, mission statement, target customers, sales targets, benchmarks, and more. Each section has useful prompts to guide you on completing your new sales plan.

Use this template if you’re tied to using Microsoft Word and want a comprehensive guide on how to create your own sales plan or sales strategy. 📄

An example of Word Sales Plan Templates by TemplateLab

If you want a free sales plan template or want to choose from a variety of options, this collection of Word templates by TemplateLab is a good place to do that.

There’s a wide range of options available including sales process plans, lead generation plans, sales action plans, and sales report templates . Each template works with Microsoft Word, and you can customize the look and feel to match your brand or your sales goals.

Use this resource if you prefer to see a range of templates on one page, or if you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for until you see it. You can easily set your sales goals and the action steps needed to achieve them. 📃

Successful sales strategies need to be integrated with other teams—like your marketing department—to ensure your sales objectives are clear and possibly align with the overall marketing strategy too. Choose your specific sales goals, set revenue targets, and describe everything in detail with these Word sales planning and sales process templates.

strategic sales plan examples

The Excel Sales Plan Template by Spreadsheet.com is a comprehensive and user-friendly tool designed to assist businesses in developing effective sales strategies and managing their sales activities.

T his template is crafted with the aim of providing a structured framework for sales planning, enabling organizations to set clear objectives, track performance, and optimize their sales processes.

Reach Sales Goals With Free Sales Plan Templates

A strategic sales plan makes it easier to achieve your goals. Give your team the guidance and support they need with the help of a well-crafted free sales plan template.

If you’re considering making even more improvements in how you work, try ClickUp for free . We don’t just have incredible sales process templates: Our range of features and AI tools for sales make it easy for you to optimize and run your entire sales funnel and CRM system from one place. ✨

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.

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How To Create A Sales Plan: Steps, Templates, And Examples

How To Create A Sales Plan: Steps, Templates, And Examples

Want your sales to skyrocket?

You’ll need a strategy. And for the sales success, nothing works better than a strategic sales plan. The key concern, of course, is how to design a plan that impacts sales. 

We’ve collected the necessary steps and sales plan examples so that you can promptly create a document that’s right for your organization.

What is a sales plan?

Advantages of a sales plan.

  • Strategic steps to create an efficient sales plan
  • Strategic sales plan templates

What sales plan to choose?

Let’s deal with the definition and sales plan elements first.

A sales plan is a strategy document that lays out a company’s plan for improving sales results over a particular period. 

Its components may differ. But they all focus on the business’ growth: profit plans, sales strategies, analytics, target market, existing sales force potentials, and much more. +

To make things easier, we narrowed them down to 9 main elements that lead to smooth selling. But feel free to use as many of them as you like.

1. Revenue targets and business goals

Without goals, you won’t know if your sales strategy was successful, right? This is the part where you can set a specific number to shoot for or create multiple goals for your sales team.

If you are in doubt about what to include, here are some examples to spark a thought:

  • Specific sales numbers;
  • Number of new clients you want to convert;
  • Number of existing customers you plan to nurture and retain;
  • Sales goals around a new product or service you are offering.

Sales goals ideas and examples

If you write an annual sales plan, you can briefly recap the previous year, its goals, scope of work, and results. Identify the mistakes and actions that led to positive results and draw a lesson from them.

3. Your ideal customer profile and their user journey

Ask yourself a question: who do you want to attract and convert? Demographics, purchasing habits, and other factors will help you create your buyer persona . 

But you shouldn’t stop here. It’s useful to outline the customer journey of your clients and suggest ways to improve their experience at every step of the sales funnel.

4. Customer segmentation and tactics to work with each segment

In this section, you can describe all segments of the leads you get from your channels and ways to communicate with them to boost profit generation. If new segments might appear in the future, describe them as well. 

Pillars of customer segmentation

Research market trends that can strongly affect your sales and suggest ways to use them to boost your performance.

Without a budget set in place, you risk spending more resources than you intended to. Think of the team size and operational tools you need to process and close the deals.

7. Strategies and tactics

Suggest the best approaches for your company and describe their implementation.

8. Action plan for individuals and teams

Here, you can determine the roles and responsibilities of specific staff members, assign tasks, and set deadlines for them.

9. Performance criteria and analytics benchmarks

Describe the tracked metrics and systems that help monitor them. 

You might now think, “That’s too many components to describe, do I need a sales plan at all?” Yes, you do. Let us explain why.

Of course, a sales plan promotes self-discipline and diligence, but it also ensures that your sales don’t dry up over time. Which means it’s not optional. 

We all tend to talk a lot, but without a plan, your goals might never turn into reality. So, the first advantage of a sales plan is that it helps you realize all of your greatest ideas. 

Besides, with it, you can determine the demand for your solution and identify new product areas to predict the growth of your business. It’s also a great tool in analyzing your rivals and competitive advantage to distinctly position your company in the market and specify your product niche.

Without the sales plan, it would be hard to choose strategies and metrics for your sales team. And, as a result, it would be more difficult to measure your progress, optimize your performance over time, and motivate stakeholders.

Here are all the benefits summarized: 

Advantages of a sales plan

8 strategic steps to create an efficient sales plan

If you only start in sales and have neither sales planning experience, nor previous statistics, the following extensive guide will help you organize your work at every step, be it a small startup or a big corporation.

Each aspect of the sales plan moves gradually into the next, beginning with the team’s high-level objectives, then considering market conditions, checking your existing audience, and discovering more leads to help you meet your sales demands.

How to create a sales plan

1. Set sales goals and metrics

Your sales plan structure needs an end goal . Identify what you can yield based on the size of the market, skills, and tools available to your sales team.

The biggest mistake you can make here is to set unrealistic goals. Yes, we know, you might be over-optimistic. But if you assume, for example, that the market’s going to go down and you’re going to lose a certain share, it won’t make any sense to forecast an increase in sales, right? 

Another piece of advice is to ask your sales team what they think your goals should be. These people closely work with your clients and have the best understanding of them. Ask their opinion, give them enough time to think it over, and then discuss it together. Or, you can get a more experienced person to analyze the plan and help set metrics before approving it.

Remember, your goals must be SMART !

SMART goals

What metrics should you track while analyzing the success of your sales department? There are plenty of them to monitor: 

  • Sales growth
  • Sales target
  • Current opportunities
  • Product performance
  • Sales to date
  • Quote-to-close
  • Lead conversion rate
  • Sell-through rate

It would be great for a team to have all the metrics displayed on one clear, intuitive dashboard . You can include screenshots of such dashboards in your sales plan for a more effective demonstration. For this task, such free tools as PowerPoint, Google Sheets, or Excel can be of great help. Or you can use any other software, as in the example: 

Sales dashboard example

“But what if it turns out I was wrong in some of my assumptions around the sales plan objectives?”

Don’t worry. If you’re developing a template for the first time, this is perfectly normal. But what’s essential is that you’ll be able to learn what needs to be improved when it’s time for the next version of your sales plan.

2. Set deadlines and milestones

It will take a while to achieve your goals, so why not split them into smaller sized milestones with deadlines to track the progress? These targets are extremely convenient in checking if your sales plan is on the right track.

Use last year’s statistics . Observe how sales earnings improved and compare your company to the market criteria. Again, talk to your sales team about their work, how they generate leads, and how they convert them into clients. What is the current conversion rate? How many deals do they expect to close in the future? This will show you what objectives to set.

Your milestones need to be precise with definite deadlines . For instance, you might want to increase your client base by 25% or boost your revenue by 40% for a specified product by the end of Q3. No matter what the milestone is, set clear objectives and a tough deadline.

This is not it. It’s better to also set personalized milestones for your sales professionals, considering differences among your employees. 

For example, if somebody on your team is sending a lot of emails but not getting deals, give them the task of increasing the number of their closed deals. If someone’s awesome at closing deals but doesn’t do much outreach, give them the task of generating at least 20 new leads a month.

Deadlines and milestones

Oh, and set the budget as well! It usually includes:

  • Sales training
  • Salary and commission
  • Tools, software, and resources
  • Travel costs

3. Study market

You now know what you want. It’s high time to define the market niche you’re in so that you can accurately position your business to achieve the best results.

What’s a market niche? It’s what your company specializes in and also the place your business occupies, not only with your solution but also with generated content, corporate culture, and branding. It’s the way your audience identifies with you and recognizes you among competitors.

To analyze your niche, answer the following questions:

  • How big is your potential market?
  • Is there an inherent demand for your product?
  • What’s your market situation today? ( SWOT analysis will be awesome here)
  • Who are your competitors? (Again, SWOT analysis)

SWOT analysis

The key here is to find what your competitive benefit is:

  • Why do clients decide to purchase from you?
  • Why do customers buy from your rivals and never from you?
  • How come some prospective leads do not purchase at all?
  • What must you do to achieve success with time?

Keep in mind that clients purchase advantages, not characteristics. Whenever explaining your value proposition , it’s an easy task to get trapped in talking about your business too much. Put the script aside and mention exactly what your solution does for clients. 

A good competitive advantage :

  • Shows the competitive power of the organization
  • Is ideally, although not always, unique
  • Is obvious and simple
  • May change over time

Your competitive advantage isn’t just a fundamental component of your sales strategy, it will determine everything your organization does, from advertising to product enhancement. 

4. Build an ideal customer profile

Before you get inside your potential clients’ heads, you need to define who your target market is. Ask yourself questions: 

  • What do your best customers look like? 
  • What’s their personality like?
  • What are their age, level of income, and living situation?
  • What does their career journey look like?
  • What industry do they belong to?
  • Do they have the same pain points ?
  • What are these challenges preventing them from achieving?
  • What influences their decision-making?
  • What content and information is most useful when communicating convincingly with them?
  • What sorts of social networking platforms do they normally use? 

5. Determine what systems, tools, CRMs to use

It will be hard to do everything without the right resources for the job. And that’s where CRM software and sales automation tools come in handy.

CRM is a technology for managing all business relationships and interactions with existing and potential customers within a company. It helps gather information on how many emails your team is sending, how much time they’re spending on qualifying leads, and how much revenue they are bringing in. 

Meanwhile, with sales automation software, you will be able to standardize and automate the entire sales process. There are lots of professional tools for sales teams, these are just some of the examples: 

  • Salesforce, 
  • Freshsales, 
  • Insightly, 
  • Pipedrive, 
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365, 

For example, a tool like Snov.io helps you fill your marketing funnel with quality targeted leads and close them easier. You can focus on every stage of the sales funnel and business growth: market research, lead generation, nurturing, conversion, statistics, analysis, and business forecasting for scaling and future growth.

email finder

6. Support existing customers

Don’t underestimate your current dedicated customers. References, word-of-mouth, client feedback, and existing connections are your best sources that ensure additional growth.

Check if anybody you know on social media can recommend you to one of your desired prospects. Contact loyal clients and offer them a discount or a referral bonus if they know someone who would profit from your products or services.

7. Find partners for strategic cooperation

Many entrepreneurs, startups, and big organizations might target the same types of customers. But oftentimes, they are not your competitors but rather offer services that can complement your solution (this is why they can be called CSPs or Complementary Service Providers).

You can engage with them in different ways:

  • Writing for their website or blog;
  • Delivering speeches at webinars or offline seminars;
  • Offering valuable resources for their platforms;
  • Creating a mastermind group where you can exchange contacts.

The more value you provide to your business partners and target audiences, the more connections you will have. All these services are provided for free and included as an additional investment in your sales strategy plan.

8. Keep studying your statistics, analyze, and modify your approaches

Don’t forget that your sales plan is a flexible document and needs to be regularly updated according to new market trends, outreach campaigns, features, or even staff members. Return to the document from time to time to see if your prognosis is close to reality.

Organize regular meetings to discuss progress, discover and solve problems, align the work across teams, get experience from your failures and success, and enhance your plan accordingly.

Strategic sales plan templates 

If you want to find more inspiration, check out these simple yet helpful sales plan template examples.

  • HubSpot Sales Plan Template
  • Sales Plan by Asana 
  • BestTemplates Sample Sales Plan
  • Venngage Online Sales Plan Maker Map
  • BestTemplates Simple Plan
  • Creately Sales Strategy Plan
  • FitSmallBusiness Sales Plan
  • BestTemplates Sales Action Plan
  • TemplateLab Sales Plan Template in Microsoft Word 

Sales plan example

There might be one more question unanswered – what template to choose? It all depends on your particular business goals: 

  • The most common one is the 30-60-90 day sales plan with milestones that need to be achieved by each period.
  • A weekly or yearly sales plan is also an option.
  • You can create a sales plan for specific sales tactics , such as email drip campaigns, prescribed calls, and appointments. It sort of resembles a yearly/weekly sales plan, but it focuses on assessing and increasing gains for a single objective or task.
  • In the meantime, sales professionals who manage a specific market region typically use region sales plans to present CMOs and VPs with more clarity of their sales initiatives.

Wrapping up

In many product sales circumstances, the greatest challenge is passiveness. However, with a great, step-by-step product sales plan and a passionate team with distinct milestones in mind, you’ll have everything you need to endure any resistance and carry on hitting your targets!

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  • 6 Strategic Sales Plan Examples [Pro Tips Included]

Table of Contents

You're in quite the pickle.

You want to create a strategic sales plan for your sales team so you have a set of guidelines and a procedure to reach your sales goals for the end of the year.

But you don't really know where to start.

Or where to end.

Or what it should look like.

Or, if you're being honest with yourself, what should really be in it at all.

Don't worry! We've got you covered with some sales strategy plan examples and pro tips so you'll be developing a dynamite one of your own in no time.

But first, what is a sales strategy plan?

What is a Sales Strategy Plan

A strategic sales plan is a document containing the details of how your organization will reach its sales goals. It should be something of a guide that will lay out expectations for what and how you and other salespeople on your team should be going through the sales process by combining analysis, research, expectations, and your sales process.

If that sounds confusing, don't worry. We'll break it down more.

The most important thing to keep in mind, though, is that a sales strategy plan is made up of several parts to create a plan of attack on reaching sales goals and increasing business revenue. It's your business's how-to guide for sales.

With a strategic sales plan, everyone on your sales team should be on the same page. Everyone will know what their expectations are and how to reach them. And everyone will know the overall sales goals for the company.

Your sales plan and strategy will make that clear.

4 Types of Strategic Sales Plans

When talking about types of sales strategy plans, you're most likely to see inbound and outbound sales plans discussed.

However, we're going to add 2 more into the mix:

B2B Strategic Sales Plans

B2c strategic sales plans, inbound sales strategy plans.

The idea behind inbound sales is that the prospect reaches out to you about your product(s) or service(s), rather than the other way around. An inbound sales strategy plan is the map you use to make that happen. This typically involves creating content that targets and will be seen by your target audience.

Inbound sales strategies can include:

  • Digital web ads
  • Social media
  • Optimizing SEO

A lot of these strategies overlap with marketing strategies because really these two things work in tandem.

Outbound Sales Strategy Plans

The idea behind outbound sales is for you, as the salesperson, to reach out to a prospect with your product(s) or service(s). In this sales strategy, you're the one doing the research involved to generate leads and contact and qualify them to ensure they're a good fit for your product(s) or service(s).

Outbound sales strategies can include:

  • Cold calling or emails
  • Lead generation software
  • Online research

Inbound vs Outbound Sales Strategy Plans

Inbound vs Outbound Sales Strategy Plans

Inbound and outbound sales have their own benefits associated with them. However, the best leads are found when they're both used together .

Source 1 , 2 , 3

B2B sales stands for business-to-business sales. This means that rather than selling products or services to the general public, a business is selling its products to another business. You can think of wholesale businesses, or package suppliers as examples of B2B businesses. A B2B strategic sales plan is simply the procedure or the means to achieve this end.

B2B sales strategies can include:

  • Digital ads

B2C sales stands for business-to-consumer sales. This means that a business is selling its products or services directly to the general public. Retail is B2C business. So, as you've probably gathered at this point, a B2C strategic sales plan is the plan of attack on how to achieve this end.

B2C sales strategies can include:

B2B vs B2C Strategic Sales Plans

B2B vs B2C Strategic Sales Plans

Although the target audience differs, there is a lot of overlap between the sales strategies used for B2B sales and B2C sales (depending on whether you're using inbound and/or outbound sales). The differences between selling to individuals vs to companies/organizations come into play more in how the strategies are applied, and how the relationship between you and the customer is shaped. And these differences can involve different skill sets to each other .

How to Write a Sales Strategy

So. Now you know what a strategic plan is. And you know a thing or two about different types of them.

It feels like time to learn a little about how to write one.

A sales strategy takes some work to develop. To create one you'll need to:

  • Analyze your organization's sales data from the past: Before deciding where your company wants to go, know where it came from. Research past data, sales goals, strategies, successes, and failures
  • Develop sales goals: Use this data to help steer your new sales goals
  • Take stock of your current sales process: Perform a SWOT analysis to understand its strengths and weaknesses, how long the process typically takes, what areas have the most success vs where most prospects drop off, etc
  • Understand your target demographic: If you don't already have buyer personas, develop them (using the data gathered in previous steps) so that you can understand your target demographic for prospect generation (and for finding and understanding your consumer base)
  • Take stock of your sales team: Perform a SWOT analysis to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your own sales team as well. What are different salespeople best at? What could they improve on? Where should their focus in the sales process be? Should it change? Should an opener try out being a closer, etc?
  • Take stock of the sales resources and tools currently available to you: Simply take stock of what sales resources and tools you already have, what they're used for, if there's more they can do, etc
  • Decide if there's anymore you'd like to get: Are there any sales tools you're missing? Is there a gap in your sales cycle somewhere that a new tool could help fill? You'll have to keep in mind your budget here (you'll need a budget if one hasn't already been developed)
  • Use data to decide what strategies work best for your team: Using the data you've already collected, what strategies have you had success with in the past, and what strategies haven't been as successful?
  • Be general and be specific: When developing sales goals and sales strategies, it can help to develop higher-level company goals and strategies, and more specific, maybe even team member specific, sales goals and sales strategies.
  • Keep your sales strategy responsive: If something's not working, don't be afraid to address it. If something's working really well, take advantage of it.

And there's more where that came from. If you'd like more detail in developing a killer sales plan , you're in luck. Just click through for a breakdown of the 11 steps listed there.

6 Strategic Sales Plan Examples

Sales Plan Examples

There are many variations of sales plans and strategies. When it comes to strategic sales plan examples, it can be helpful to have it broken down into examples of different types of sales strategies, as well as examples/templates for a strategic sales plan.

So that's what we've done.

3 Sales Strategy Examples

There are a variety of different types of sales strategies you can implement using a sales plan strategy. Some of those sales strategies are:

  • Drip campaigns
  • Cold calling campaigns
  • In-person or video conference meetings and demonstrations

Drip Campaigns

A drip campaign is a series of scheduled messages to a specific segment of your prospects to coax them into making a purchase. Drip campaigns allow you to set up automated emails for you to schedule and then leave while you continue using other sales strategies to try and sell.

Check out the table below outlining different types of drip campaigns, what it's for, and who they'll target.

If you want to learn more about drip campaigns, make sure you check out our other articles on the subject, including The Ultimate Guide to Drip Campaigns (the above info is a summarized version of this article), 6 Drip Email Campaign Examples That Guarantee Results , and Drip CRM Explained .

Cold Calling Campaigns

Cold calling is when you call potential prospects who, as far as you know, have no experience or really even knowledge of your business, and you try to convince them to move forward in the sales process with you. Maybe that means the person on the other end of the line connects you with a key decision-maker. Maybe it means you'll schedule a meeting.

What is Cold-Calling provides these tips for cold-callers:

  • Embrace rejection
  • Use technological and digital tools
  • Develop a schedule
  • Be good at leaving voicemails

For more tips and tricks (and examples and templates) on cold calling, check out our article Cold Call Script .

In-Person or Video Conference Meetings and Demonstrations

Virtual selling is becoming more and more popular, especially with the push to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But whether it's digitally or in-person, meeting with your prospects can be a great strategy.

With a meeting, you're able to demonstrate your product for your prospects more clearly, and better able to gauge their reactions based on visual cues.

63% of leaders in sales say, according to HubSpot (citing its own report), that virtual meetings and in-person meetings are at least as effective as each other.

This just goes to show that the move to virtual sales doesn't remove the effectiveness or importance of meetings as a strategy.

Video conferencing technology like Zoom , Google Meet , or Microsoft Teams can be used to host virtual meetings so you can see each other, and access a chat which can be useful for sending links or documents to your prospects.

However, each platform has its own limitations depending on the plans you purchase.

3 Strategic Sales Plan Examples/Templates

Now moving on to some strategic sales plan examples/templates.

The first strategic sales plan template isn't actually a strategic sales plan template, but a strategic business plan template from HubSpot that can be modified to be for sales.

Strategic Sales Plan Examples/Templates

The template can be downloaded after submitting the requested information.

Next, we have two downloadable, free strategic sales plan examples (templates) from Smartsheet. Again, neither is directed exactly at sales, but both can be altered to be that way.

The first is a One-Page Strategic Planning Template :

One-Page Strategic Planning Template

The second is a Strategic Marketing Plan Template :

Strategic Marketing Plan Template

Both of these templates have an added disclaimer (pictured below) when you download them.

disclaimer

Source: Downloaded One-Page Strategic Planning Template

5 Strategic Sales Plan Pro Tips

Developing a strategic sales plan is an arduous task. Ensuring it works isn't necessarily easier. Luckily, we've rounded up some strategic sales plan pro tips for you.

Some of those tips are:

  • Know your market position
  • Keep your sales process in mind
  • Adopt a sales CRM if you don't already have one
  • Track the data available to you
  • Don't be afraid to make adjustments

Know Your Market Position

To develop achievable goals, you want to know the market position of your industry, and to create clever sales strategies, you'll need to know your business's specific market position.

What is the quality (or qualities) your business has that draws customers to it? Why should they choose your business over other competitors? What do you have that they don't? Or what don't you have that they do?

If you're not entirely sure, this may be something to collaborate with the marketing team on discovering, because it's very important to how you both pitch yourselves to potential customers.

Ultimately, your unique market position is what you'll be able to leverage in not only your sales strategy but sales on a one-to-one level, too.

Remember Your Sales Process

You already have a sales process. Keep it in mind when you're developing your sales strategy plan.

Even if your sales process isn't as effective as you'd like it to be, don't create a sales plan that will involve an entire overhaul of your sales process all at once. It'll be an inefficient way to introduce change to your team – it will just be too much at once. Sales may completely halt while everyone adjusts to the new way of selling.

So instead keep your sales process in mind when creating your strategic sales plan. If it'll need to be adjusted, create sales goals over time to increase its efficiency and have them built right into your sales strategy plan.

Adopt a Sales CRM

If you haven't adopted one already, you're already behind.

A sales CRM makes every aspect of the sales cycle easier. It helps manage and generate leads, keep track of data, and automate emails … CRMS like Ringy even allow you to call directly from the CRM, where the call will be logged and recorded.

CRMS are an invaluable tool for creating a more efficient sales process. You'll be able to increase the time your sales team spends selling rather than doing other administrative tasks.

(Which psst, most inside salespeople only spend a third of their time actually selling.)

Track Your Data

Another reason to adopt a CRM, make sure you're tracking your sales data. You'll want to analyze the progress of your strategic sales plan. Is it working? Are your salespeople struggling with it? Are sales goals being hit on time?

These are all the types of things you'll want to watch out for. Because if you don't know how well your sales strategy plan is working, you won't know if you've developed a good plan. Not only is this important for the company's sales success for the quarter, year, etc, but it affects how well you'll be able to develop strategic sales plans in the future, too.

Make Adjustments

All that being said, also keep in mind that a sales strategy plan doesn't have to be a static document. You can be making adjustments to it, and your sales process, as you go and realize what is and isn't working. Just make sure you're keeping your team updated on any changes.

And, as mentioned previously, just make sure you aren't introducing too many changes all at once.

But just like your sales process is an ever-evolving process, your sales strategy will also be ever-evolving. As new tools are introduced, A/B testing is done, goals are or aren't hit, you'll discover new and better ways of doing things. These things can be reflected in your plan. You want the business to be as successful as possible, and having a responsive plan that steers the sales ship is part of that.

Do you need a strategic sales plan?

Technically, you don't need a strategic sales plan. However, they can really help you and your sales team be more efficient in your sales as you'll all have a guide to follow, which will also put you all on the same page.

Do strategic sales plans work?

The document by itself won't do anything. But if you formulate, adjust, and use a well-developed strategic sales plan, it should “work.”

Hopefully, with the help of our strategic sales plan examples, templates, and tips, you'll be able to develop an incredibly effective sales strategy plan that, when implemented properly, works for your business.

Sales Plan

So there you go. There are some strategic sales plan examples, with some pro tips thrown in.

Just to go over it one more time, some examples of sales strategies are:

  • In-person or virtual meetings

We've also offered you some free strategic sales plan templates, so don't forget to check those out and see if they can help you and your business develop a strategic sales plan of your own.

Some pro tips for developing those sales strategy plans are:

  • Adopt a sales CRM

If you still don't have a sales CRM, or feel like yours isn't quite making the cut and are strategizing to get a new one, don't be afraid to contact Ringy to request a quote .

  • Share this article

About The Author

The Ultimate Guide to Strategic Planning for a Perfect Sales Operation

Meredith Hart

Published: January 04, 2022

So, what's the plan? Or should I say, what's the strategic plan?

team creating a strategic plan

Without a proper strategy, your business or organization can suffer. But, with strategic planning, businesses can increase productivity, profitability, and increase their longevity by creating a clear plan for the future.

Download Now: Free Growth Strategy Template

Does strategic planning sound too good to be true?

While it sounds great in theory, it can be challenging in practice. In fact, 56% of executives and their teams wasted time on strategic planning, while only 44% spent the strategic planning time productively .

Luckily, you can join the 44% of leaders and teams that had productive strategic planning sessions. If you take the right approach, strategic planning can positively impact your business and its bottom line, and it will certainly be worth your time.

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a process conducted by a business's leadership to set long-term goals and priorities for the business, outline ways to reach these goals, and dictate how progress will be measured. The overall goal of strategic planning is to provide a clear action plan.

Common frameworks for strategic planning include the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Objectives and Key Results (OKR), and the Theory of Change (TOC). 

Balanced Scorecard Institute sums up strategic planning nicely:

"It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful."

What is the purpose of strategic planning?

The purpose of strategic planning is for an organization to determine the direction it will head in over the next three to five years. You’ll set overarching goals, outline how you want to achieve them. Strategic plans are often adjusted based on market changes or unforeseen threats, so they may be modified to respond to changes in the business environment (internal or external).

When speaking of the importance of strategic planning, the Small Business Administration says that strategic planning is essential “Only if you want to stay in business and prosper.”

When you have long-term business goals, it becomes easier for different departments in your organization to plan their activities, allocate resources, and take actions that will help your business meet your goals in the designated time frame. The plans created from strategic planning are called operational plans, and we’ll discuss the difference between the two concepts below .

Strategic vs. Operational Planning

An organization uses strategic planning to outline its long-term visions and goals for the next three to five years. These are the overarching priorities for the entire company. Operational planning supports the strategic plan. Different departments and divisions of the organization focus on short-term goals that can be accomplished within a year and impact the priorities set in the strategic plan.

Strategic plans contain your goals for the future, and operational plans share the daily, monthly, quarterly, etc., actions that will help your business achieve those future goals. Operational plans help you put your strategic plans into action.

Operational planning is often performed by individual departments or team leaders. They focus their efforts on creating strategies and tactics they can pursue throughout the year to support the broader goals in the strategic plan.

Let’s say your business executives create a strategic plan to increase revenue by 75% in three years. 

It’s an ambitious goal, so you want your business to take structured actions to bring your business down the path of achieving that goal. Each department will be responsible for creating operational plans that will increase revenue by 75% in three years. 

Customer service may focus on customer retention, so customers are more likely to stay on and continue paying for your benefit, sales teams may focus on upselling existing customers and filling pipelines with qualified leads, and marketing teams may work on creating better buyer personas to ensure they’re always reaching the right customers. Each department's operational plan will contribute to increasing revenue to the desired amount.

Strategic Planning and Sales Teams

While the example above incorporates sales into the strategic planning process, let’s go a bit more in-depth. 

The strategic plan is determined by senior leadership or executives to develop a long-term vision for the company. Then, it’s up to individual departments to create plans and strategies for their teams to align with and work towards the objectives set in the strategic plan.

Sales leaders create a sales plan (operational plan) that outlines the short-term strategies and tactics used to achieve long-term goals. This aligns sales teams and salespeople, so they know exactly what they're working towards and how progress and success will be measured.

Now that we know why strategic planning is important let's go over the strategic planning process.

Strategic Planning Process

The strategic planning process is when company leaders hold planning sessions to define the business’ overall vision and high-level, long-term goals that the business wants to achieve. The outcome of a strategic planning process is a strategic plan.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is a written document that contains the long-term goals the business wants to meet, and the resources and tactics that will be used to reach them. The length of a strategic plan varies depending on the complexity of the company and its size, but the document is a source of truth that keeps the organization on track to meet its goals. 

So, what exactly does the strategic planning process look like? Here are the steps.

Strategic Planning Process Steps

  • Prepare for strategic planning.
  • Assess the business.
  • Outline your mission, vision, and key stakeholders.
  • Choose a strategic planning framework.
  • Create a strategic plan.

1. Prepare for strategic planning.

Who do you want to include in the strategic planning process? Ideally, you should assemble a cross-functional group that includes executives and leadership from your critical business functions (e.g., finance, operations, product, sales, marketing, human resources, etc.).

After your strategic planning group is assembled, set a timeline for completion. Depending on the size or complexity of your company, planning can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Pick a timeline that works best for your organization.

2. Assess the business.

Look at the internal and external factors that impact your business. For example:

  • Is there a particular business area that's growing quickly? How can the business further support its growth?
  • Will a new technological advancement help improve your business processes?
  • Are any pieces of legislation being passed that the company needs to respond to?

These are just a few things to consider when evaluating the environment your business is operating in. Tools like SWOT Analysis , Porter's Five Forces , and PESTLE Analysis can help you assess the strongest and weakest parts of the organization. Plus, you can determine opportunities for growth and see where potential challenges might arise.

3. Outline your mission, vision, and key stakeholders.

What’s your business’ mission or vision? Identify the core values and priorities of your business by outlining your mission and vision statements . 

It’s also important to identify your target customers as well. You’ll want to create accurate customer profiles so you know their pain points and exactly how you fit into the picture when it comes to solving them. While your customers are your primary stakeholders, you also want to identify all other stakeholders (e.g., employees, owners, board members, suppliers) so you understand exactly who your strategy will impact.

When working through the strategic planning process, you'll start by outlining your aspirational goals first, so you can eventually develop specific strategies and tactics that will be used to achieve the aspirational goals.

strategic sales plan examples

4. Choose a strategic planning framework.

There are a variety of different strategic planning models that will help you develop your plan, and here are the most common frameworks used for strategic planning:

  • The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) : This framework helps you outline your business’ mission, vision, and strategy in a visual map that your business can follow. It includes strategic objectives, targets, measures and KPIs, and the strategic initiatives that will help you reach your goals. 
  • Objectives and Key Results (OKR) : This framework involves making a list of three to five high-level objectives. Below each objective, you’ll list three to five quantifiable key results that will be measured with a score between 0 to 1 or 0-100%. Check out these OKR examples to get started.
  • Theory of Change (TOC) : This framework helps you identify your long-term goals, then work backward to determine what needs to happen in order to reach each goal. Here is an in-depth description of how and when to use the Theory of Change method .

By using these frameworks, you'll be able to develop your strategies, the tactics you'll use to accomplish them, and the key performance indicators (KPIs) you'll use to track performance.

5. Create a strategic plan.

Now that you've consulted with your team and came up with your long-term plans, it's time to record the agreements and strategies in a strategic plan. The strategic plan is a physical document that can be shared across departments in the company.

But, many companies have gone digital with strategic planning software, so their strategic plan can be accessed by anyone in the company from their electronic devices. Many of these software options are collaborative for people at all levels of the company, which increases the transparency of the business' primary goals.

Strategic Planning Software

Need some tools to start your strategic planning with? Here are some strategic planning software options, in no particular order.

1. Cascade Strategy

Cascade Strategy helps you create a plan and execute it with its strategy planning platform . It allows you to create a strategy map, outline your goals, and include specific details like goal timeframes and the metrics used to evaluate goal achievement.

Additional features include a KPI builder, smart frameworks , goal and project management tools, and dashboards to report on progress.

A strategy map made from Cascade Strategy software

What we like:

Cascade’s strategy planner helps you define your long-term goals, and an easy-to-use drag and drop builder allows you seamlessly input the operational plans that will help you achieve those goals.

2. ClearPoint Strategy

This strategic planning tool has Balanced Scorecard Software that enables you to build your strategic plan. The platform provides you with the ability to build interactive Balanced Scorecards, and create dashboards and strategy maps to track your goals.

You can assign elements of the strategic plan to different owners so they can tackle specific parts of the strategy.

Scorecard made with ClearPoint strategy software

Allows you to visualize your strategic plans and operational plans all in one place, making it easy to understand goal attainment and areas that need strategy upgrades.

3. WorkBoard

WorkBoard offers a strategic planning solution that's specifically for CEOs and General Managers . And with tools like the active OKR solution , teams can identify plan using the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) technique.

The tool provides a way to align organizations and help them identify risks with OKR heatmaps.

Operational dashboard made from WorkBoard software

WorkBoard objective and key results tool helps you visualize goal alignment across your organization to increase transparency and help you understand progress towards meeting your strategic plan goals.

Khorus is a strategy execution software that creates transparency for CEOs, management, and individual contributors. CEOs set objectives in Khorus, and then teams and individuals can add their own goals that contribute to the overarching objectives.

This strategic planning software improves the ability of businesses to execute their strategies, and it increases alignment and transparency.

Strategic planning dashboard made with Khorus

Built for executive leadership that puts together the strategic planning and is compatible with any goal methodology that works best for your business (SMART goals, OKR, MBO).

5. COMPASS® Quality Management System

With this project portfolio management system , you can manage ideas and projects to help you and your team develop a strategy. An interesting feature is the star rating system that allows employees to rate each project. The system takes this information, analyzes it, and rates the project's overall potential.

The tool creates transparency between leaders and employees, and management is able to engage with the feedback to improve upon their strategic goals and projects.

Compass Quality Management System Dashboard by Creato

With a strategic plan, your company and your sales organization will be well-equipped to set goals and achieve them.

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How to Create an Effective Sales and Marketing Plan

strategic sales plan examples

A comprehensive sales and marketing plan sets up organizations for long-term growth and success. In this guide, we’ll dig into the differences between sales and marketing plans, how to create your plan, and templates to get the ball rolling.

What is a Sales and Marketing Plan?

Sales plan vs. marketing plan, marketing plan template: the essential components, sales plan template: the essential components, steps to create a sales and marketing plan.

A well-crafted sales and marketing plan is indispensable for the success and growth of any company, whether it’s a startup, small business, or enterprise. This plan serves as a roadmap, outlining clear objectives, targeted customer segments, and actionable tactics to drive sales and promote brand awareness.

It enables companies to understand their market position, competitive landscape, and customer needs. On top of that, it provides a structured approach to buyer engagement , ensuring consistent and effective communication across various touchpoints.

By defining specific goals and identifying key performance indicators (KPIs), a sales and marketing plan provides a structured framework for marketing and sales to align their go-to-market efforts. And when teams are aligned, companies can generate up to 208% more revenue from their marketing efforts.

While sales and marketing are integral to an overall business plan, they serve distinct purposes and focus on different aspects of the customer journey. Here are the key differences between a sales plan and a marketing plan:

Focus and Objectives

Sales Plan: Primarily focuses on the activities and strategies to drive direct revenue generation. It outlines the specific actions the sales team will take to achieve targets and goals.

Marketing Plan: Concentrates on creating awareness, generating interest, and positioning new products or services in the market. It aims to build and maintain the brand, nurture leads, and create favorable conditions for sales.

Sales Plan: Typically more tactical and operational, it details the sales team’s day-to-day activities. It addresses how sales representatives engage with prospects, close deals, and meet revenue targets.

Marketing Plan: Has a broader scope, encompassing the overall market strategy, brand positioning, promotional activities, and communication efforts. It sets the stage for sales by creating a favorable market environment.

Sales Plan: Often focuses on short-term goals and immediate revenue generation. It may have a more immediate and tactical orientation focusing on quarterly or annual targets.

Marketing Plan: Can have a longer-term perspective, building brand equity and customer relationships over time. It may include short-term and long-term initiatives aligned with the overall business strategy.

Sales Plan: Includes sales tactics, prospecting strategies, target setting, and customer relationship management (CRM) activities.

Marketing Plan: Encompasses market research, target audience identification, advertising, content creation, social media strategy, and overall brand positioning.

Sales Plan: Metrics focus on sales performance , revenue targets, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and individual sales representative performance.

Marketing Plan: Metrics include brand awareness, lead generation, website traffic, social media engagement, customer acquisition costs, and marketing ROI.

Collaboration

Sales Plan: Primarily involves collaboration within the sales team, setting individual and team goals, and coordinating efforts to meet targets.

Marketing Plan: Requires collaboration between marketing and other departments to ensure a consistent brand message and a seamless customer experience. This collaboration extends to content creation, advertising, and customer relationship strategies.

Here, you can see that a sales plan is more tactical and concentrates on direct revenue generation. In contrast, the marketing plan is strategic, focusing on creating a favorable market environment and building brand equity.

An effective marketing plan outlines a business’s strategies and tactics to achieve its marketing objectives. Here are the key components that typically go into creating a new marketing plan:

Executive Summary

  • Brief overview of the marketing plan, including goals, strategies, and key components.

Market Analysis

  • Analysis of the target market, including demographics, trends, and opportunities.
  • Competitor analysis, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis).

Target Audience and Buyer Personas

  • Detailed profiles of the target customers, specifying their needs, pain points, preferences, and behaviors.
  • Development of buyer personas to guide marketing strategies, messaging, and sales outreach.

Marketing Goals and Objectives

  • Clearly defined SMART goals for the marketing efforts.
  • Specific objectives, such as brand awareness, lead generation, customer acquisition, or market share.

Positioning and Messaging

  • Clear articulation of the brand positioning and competitive advantages.
  • Development of consistent messaging that resonates with the target audience.

Marketing Strategies

  • Overview of the overarching marketing strategies, including product positioning, pricing, distribution, and promotion.
  • Differentiation strategies and competitive positioning.

Marketing Mix (4Ps)

  • Product: Details about the products or services being marketed.
  • Price: Pricing strategy, discounts, and payment terms.
  • Place: Distribution channels and logistics.
  • Promotion: Advertising, public relations, digital marketing, content marketing, and other promotional activities.

Marketing Budget

  • Allocation of budget for each marketing activity and channel.
  • Cost projections and expected return on investment (ROI).

Marketing Calendar

  • Timeline for planned marketing activities, campaigns, and promotions.
  • Seasonal considerations and industry-specific events.

Marketing Channels

  • Identification and description of the marketing channels to be utilized (online and offline).
  • Social media strategy, content marketing plan, email marketing, advertising channels, etc.

Content Strategy

  • Development of a content plan, including types of content (i.e. case studies, one-pagers), frequency, and distribution channels.
  • Content creation and distribution strategy.
  • Regular content audit to see what’s working and what isn’t.

Measurement and Analytics

  • KPIs to benchmark the success of marketing activities.
  • Tools and methods for data collection and analysis.

A sales plan is a strategic document that outlines the tactics and activities a business will undertake to achieve its sales objectives. Here are the key components that typically go into a sales plan:

  • Brief overview of the entire sales plan, summarizing the goals, strategies, and key components.

Sales Objectives

  • Clearly defined and measurable sales goals, such as revenue targets, market share, or customer acquisition metrics.
  • Specific and realistic objectives for the sales team.

Target Market and Customer Segmentation

  • Identification of the target market and specific customer segments.
  • Create ideal customer profiles and characteristics to guide sales efforts.

Product or Service Offering

  • Detailed information about the products or services being sold.
  • Value propositions and key differentiators.

Sales Strategies

  • Overview of the overarching sales strategies , including prospecting, lead generation, and conversion tactics.
  • Strategies for acquiring new customers, upselling, cross-selling, and customer retention.

Sales Team Structure

  • Organization of the sales team, including roles, responsibilities, and reporting structure.

Sales Tactics and Techniques

  • Detailed description of the tactics and techniques the sales team will use to engage with potential customers and increase the bottom line.
  • Sales methodologies employed by the team.

Sales Forecast

  • Prediction of sales performance over a specific period.
  • Revenue projections, taking into account market conditions and other relevant factors.

Sales Territories and Distribution Channels

  • Definition of sales territories and distribution channels.
  • Strategies for reaching and serving customers in different geographic areas.

Sales Metrics and KPIs

  • Identification of key metrics to measure sales performance.
  • KPIs such as conversion rates, average deal size, and customer acquisition costs.

Sales Training and Development

  • Plans for training and developing the sales team.
  • Continuous improvement strategies.

Now that you have templates in place, let’s put them together to create an overall plan and what it could look like.

Look for trends in the data

Before you start digging into the meat of your plan, you need to gather data, drawing from internal company insights and external market trends. Internally, you can look at historical sales data, customer behaviors, and product performance, providing a foundation for understanding the company’s strengths and areas for improvement.

On the other hand, keeping a keen eye on external market trends, consumer preferences, and industry developments allows for a proactive approach to shifts in the market. This data-driven strategy enables businesses to effectively tailor their sales and marketing initiatives , aligning them with evolving customer needs. By combining internal insights with external trends, organizations can craft a dynamic plan that is not only grounded in historical performance but is also adaptable to the changing landscape of the business environment.

Know your customer

One of the most important steps when creating a sales and marketing plan is to know who you’re selling to. You should develop in-depth buyer personas based on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes. By understanding your target audience’s characteristics, preferences, and pain points, you can tailor your sales and marketing strategies to resonate more effectively.

This key step not only enhances the efficiency of marketing campaigns but also streamlines the sales process by aligning efforts with the expectations and behaviors of your customers.

Set achievable goals

Now that you have a clear image of who you’re selling to, where you stand, and where the market is, you and various stakeholders can begin to set realistic goals and targets for your team.

Setting goals is crucial for your success. They allow you to track if you’re making a real impact on your business. They create alignment between teams so they know what they must do to achieve those goals. A recent study by HubSpot found that 25% of companies say their sales and marketing teams are either “misaligned” or “rarely aligned” on goals, leading to confusion and poor performance.

To get your teams on the same page, you should consider setting SMART goals. Here is a great example of how to think about goal setting:

Specific: Make sure your goals are clear. What will be accomplished? What actions will you take? Don’t just say you want to increase revenue — explain how you plan to achieve it. For example, you can say: We will increase revenue by 15% by using a guided selling approach.

Measurable: What metrics will you use to determine if you met your goal? This makes a goal more tangible because it provides a way to measure progress.

Achievable: Consider how to accomplish the goal, if you have the tools and skills needed, and what it would take to attain it. Don’t set objectives that are impossible to reach. The goals are meant to inspire motivation, not discouragement.

Relevant: Goals need to fit your current situation and sales strategy. They should align with the overall business goals and department objectives.

Time-Bound: Realistic timing for when you can achieve your goals is crucial. Provide deadlines and target dates to hold teams accountable.

Determine how you will measure success

Now that you’ve set goals, it’s time to start measuring them.

KPIs are crucial metrics that help measure the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts. Here’s a list of KPIs for a sales and marketing plan:

Sales KPIs:

  • Revenue: Total income generated from sales.
  • Sales Growth Rate: Percentage increase in sales over a specific period.
  • Conversion Rate: Percentage of leads that convert into customers.
  • Average Deal Size: Average value of a sales transaction.
  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Cost incurred to acquire a new customer.
  • Sales Cycle Length: Average time it takes to close a sale.
  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Predicted revenue generated throughout a customer’s lifecycle.
  • Win Rate: Percentage of opportunities that result in a sale.
  • Churn Rate: Percentage of customers lost over a given period.
  • Upsell and Cross-sell Rate: Percentage of existing customers who purchase additional products or services.

Marketing KPIs:

  • Lead Generation: Number of new leads acquired.
  • Website Traffic: Number of visitors to the website.
  • Conversion Rate (Marketing): Percentage of website visitors who take a desired action.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Percentage of people who click on a specific link.
  • Cost per Lead (CPL): Cost associated with acquiring a new lead.
  • Social Media Engagement: Likes, shares, comments, and other interactions on social media.
  • Email Open and Click-through Rates: Percentage of opened emails and clicked links.
  • Content Engagement: Interaction with blog posts, videos, or other content.
  • Brand Awareness: Measured through surveys, social media mentions, or search volume.
  • Return on Investment (ROI): Ratio of the net profit from marketing campaigns to the cost of those campaigns.

Overall Business KPIs:

  • Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Measurement of customer satisfaction.
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS): Indicator of customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend.
  • Market Share: Company’s portion of the total market.
  • Brand Equity: Perceived value and strength of a brand in the market.
  • Customer Retention Rate: Percentage of customers retained over a period.

Regularly monitoring these metrics provides insights into performance, helping businesses make informed decisions and optimize their sales and marketing strategies.

Define your sales and marketing strategies

How are you going to generate demand for your product or service? At this stage in your plan, you can start to define how you will reach your ideal customers and move them through the buyer’s journey. Integrated marketing campaigns that use various channels, such as social media and paid ads, are a great way to get started. Additionally, you should include lead generation strategies such as content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and targeted promotions to nurture prospects and guide them through the sales funnel.

It’s important here that you work with your sales enablement team to create relevant content for the sales team .

Formulate a sales team structure and training program

A well-defined sales team structure and comprehensive training program are vital to a successful sales and marketing plan. The structure of the sales team should outline roles, responsibilities, and reporting hierarchies to ensure efficient workflow and clear lines of communication.

Along with getting the structure right, you must ensure that your sales reps have the right training and coaching to improve their skills, ramp up product knowledge, and stay aligned with the right messaging and communication techniques.

Teams should work closely with sales enablement to schedule regular training sessions that not only focus on enhancing existing skills but also address emerging market trends and customer expectations. Continuous improvement is key, and fostering a culture of learning within the sales team contributes to adaptability and responsiveness. This dual emphasis on structure and training ensures the sales team is well-organized and equipped to navigate challenges.

Download resource: What Good Onboarding, Training, and Coaching Look Like

Create a sales forecasting model

Creating a sound forecasting model provides a structured framework for predicting future sales performance. This model involves analysis of historical sales data, market trends, and external factors that might impact sales.

The sales forecasting model should incorporate variables such as product demand, pricing strategies, and market conditions to provide a comprehensive and accurate estimation.

A well-crafted model not only aids in resource allocation, inventory management, and budgeting but also serves as a proactive tool for anticipating challenges and capitalizing on emerging opportunities, contributing to the overall success of the sales and marketing plan.

Continuously Optimize

Recognizing that markets, consumer behaviors, and competitive landscapes evolve, an effective plan should be agile and responsive. This involves regularly reviewing KPIs, analyzing data, and soliciting feedback to identify areas for improvement.

Whether refining marketing strategies, adjusting sales tactics, or fine-tuning messaging, the goal is to stay attuned to shifts in customer preferences and market trends. By fostering a culture of continuous optimization, businesses can adapt swiftly, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and mitigate potential challenges.

Execute Your Sales and Marketing Plan with Highspot’s Sales Enablement Platform

Aligning your sales and marketing plans is no easy task. Highspot’s sales enablement platform aligns marketing initiatives with sales goals to maximize collaboration. By tracking key metrics across the buyer’s journey, you’ll know how to drive measurable revenue growth that improves lead acquisition and retention. Book a demo today !

The Highspot Team works to create and promote the Highspot sales enablement platform, which gives businesses a powerful sales advantage to engage in more relevant buyer conversations and achieve their revenue goals. Through AI-powered search, analytics, in-context training, guided selling, and 50+ integrations, the Highspot platform delivers enterprise-ready sales enablement in a modern design that sales reps and marketers love.

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3 Strategic Sales Plan Examples for Increasing Sales

In the high-speed, high-stakes world of sales, having a crystal-clear, comprehensive, and actionable game plan is a non-negotiable. Enter the strategic sales plan . But what on earth is a strategic sales plan, and why do you need one? Buckle up, folks. We're about to dive deep.

Decoding the Strategic Sales Plan

strategic sales plan examples

A strategic sales plan is essentially your sales GPS. It clearly outlines your sales goals and the route you're going to take to reach them. It's not just about selling more stuff. It's about understanding the lay of the land (your market), identifying your tribe (your target audience), setting clear waypoints (objectives), predicting your sales journey (sales forecast), and defining the moves you'll make to reach your goals (sales tactics).

Think of the strategic sales plan as your sales team's playbook. It's a detailed action plan that covers everything from market reconnaissance and competitor surveillance to sales processes and customer relationship management.

The Power of a Strategic Sales Plan

There's a handful of reasons why a strategic sales plan is a must-have for your sales team. First up, it provides focus. With a solid plan in place, you and your team know exactly what you're gunning for and how you're going to get there. This eliminates the guesswork and ensures everyone is working towards the same finish line.

A strategic sales plan also helps you track your progress. By setting clear objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), you can monitor your achievements and make necessary course corrections along the way.

Moreover, a strategic sales plan allows you to anticipate obstacles and prepare for them ahead of time. This could be anything from market shifts to new competitors entering the fray. By having a plan, you're not just reacting to these challenges; you're proactively managing them.

Lastly, a strategic sales plan helps create alignment within your team. It ensures everyone understands their role, responsibilities, and how their work contributes to the overall sales objectives. This can lead to improved communication, increased motivation, and ultimately, a more effective sales team.

In the following sections, we'll delve into the secret sauce of a successful strategic sales plan and provide you with some practical strategic sales plan examples to guide you in creating your own. So, stay tuned and get ready to power-up your sales game!

The Secret Sauce of a Winning Strategic Sales Plan

Crafting a kick-ass strategic sales plan is like cooking a gourmet meal. You need the right ingredients in the right proportions to create a mouth-watering and satisfying dish. And just like how missing a key ingredient could ruin a meal, missing out on a key component in your sales plan could derail your success. So, let's get cooking!

Knowing Your Turf (Understanding Your Market)

The first step in cooking up your sales plan is to understand your market . This involves doing your homework on your industry, analyzing the competition, and keeping a pulse on market trends. Knowing your turf will help you position your product or service effectively and spot opportunities for growth.

Here are a few things to consider:

  • Industry Trends : What's shaking up your industry? What are the latest trends and how can you ride the wave?
  • Competitor Analysis : Who are your main rivals? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • Market Size and Growth : How big is your potential market? Is it growing or shrinking?

Spotting Your Tribe (Identifying Your Target Audience)

Next up, you need to identify your target audience . This means figuring out who you want to sell to, understanding their needs and wants, and figuring out how your product or service can meet those needs.

Remember, not everyone is your customer! Trying to sell to everyone is like trying to catch all the Pokémon—it's simply not possible. Instead, focus on a specific group of customers who are most likely to buy your product or service.

Setting Your Waypoints (Setting Clear Goals and Objectives)

Once you've scoped out your market and identified your tribe, it's time to set clear goals and objectives . These should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

For example, instead of saying "I want to sell more stuff", you could say "I want to increase sales of our super cool gadget by 20% in the next quarter". This gives you a clear target to aim for and allows you to measure your success.

Plotting Your Route (Creating a Sales Forecast)

The next step is to create a sales forecast . This is your best guess of the sales you expect to make in a specific period. Your sales forecast should be based on past sales data (if available), market research, and your sales goals.

A sales forecast might look something like this:

Planning Your Moves (Defining Your Sales Tactics)

Finally, you need to define your sales tactics . These are the strategies you'll use to hit your sales goals. Your sales tactics could include things like direct sales, online sales, telemarketing, sales promotions, and more.

Remember, your sales tactics should be aligned with your market understanding, target audience, and sales goals. For example, if your tribe is young and tech-savvy, online sales might be a good move to make.

And there you have it! These are the secret ingredients you need to whip up a winning strategic sales plan. But remember, a good chef constantly tastes and adjusts their dishes. So, don't forget to regularly review and tweak your sales plan to ensure it's always serving up success!

Strategic Sales Plan Examples: From Theory to Practice

Now it's time to dive into some real-world strategic sales plan examples . These examples will show how various strategies can be applied in different business scenarios. Let's get cracking!

Example 1: Start-Up Sales Plan

Let's say you're at the helm of a shiny new start-up. Your product is revolutionary, and you're ready to shake things up. Your strategic sales plan might look something like this:

  • Understanding Your Market : You've identified a gap in the market that your product fills. Your market analysis shows a growing appetite for your product category.
  • Identifying Your Target Audience : Early adopters and tech enthusiasts are your main squeeze.
  • Setting Clear Goals and Objectives : Your initial goal is to create a buzz and bag your first 100 customers in the first quarter.
  • Creating a Sales Forecast : Based on your market research, you predict steady growth in sales after the initial launch. ‍
  • Defining Your Sales Tactics : Your tactics might involve online ads, influencer collabs, and a strong social media presence to reach your tech-savvy audience.

Example 2: Product Launch Sales Plan

Imagine you're rolling out a new product to your existing lineup. Here's what your strategic sales plan might look like:

  • Understanding Your Market : Your new product complements your existing product line, and you anticipate it will be a hit with your current customers.
  • Identifying Your Target Audience : Your target audience is your existing customer base, plus a new segment that your product appeals to.
  • Setting Clear Goals and Objectives : Your goal is to hit a certain number of sales within the first six months of the launch.
  • Creating a Sales Forecast : You expect a surge in sales following the product launch, with steady growth thereafter. ‍
  • Defining Your Sales Tactics : You'll use email marketing to your existing customers, PR activities, and special launch offers to drive sales.

Example 3: Expansion Sales Plan

Suppose your company is growing, and you're looking to expand into a new geographical territory. Your strategic sales plan could include:

  • Understanding Your Market : You've conducted extensive research on the new region and found a demand for your product.
  • Identifying Your Target Audience : The demographics in the new market align with your existing customer profiles.
  • Setting Clear Goals and Objectives : Your objective is to establish a strong presence in the new region within a year.
  • Creating a Sales Forecast : You anticipate gradual growth as your brand becomes known in the new territory. ‍
  • Defining Your Sales Tactics : Your tactics involve local partnerships, region-specific marketing campaigns, and perhaps a local sales team.

These examples should give you a solid starting point for creating your strategic sales plan. Remember, a well-crafted sales plan is dynamic and should be regularly reviewed and adjusted as your business evolves. Keep setting those goals, understanding your market, and smashing those sales targets!

Tips for Rolling Out Your Strategic Sales Plan

Once you've whipped up your strategic sales plan, the next step is to put it into action. Here are some tips to help you successfully roll out your plan.

Training Your Sales Team

First things first - your sales team needs to get the lowdown on the plan. Organize a training session where you walk them through the plan in detail. Make sure they understand the market dynamics, the target audience, the sales objectives, and the tactics to be used.

Use this opportunity to answer any questions they might have and to collect their feedback. Remember, your team are the boots on the ground. Their insights could add valuable perspective to your strategic plan.

Keep the training sessions interactive and engaging. Use real-life examples and case studies to illustrate your points. And don't forget to follow up with additional training sessions as needed. Continuous learning is key to staying ahead of the game in the sales world.

Monitoring Your Progress

Next, you need to keep an eye on how well the plan is working. Regularly track your key performance indicators (KPIs) and compare them against your set objectives.

Here's a simple table format you can use to monitor your progress:

Monitor your progress weekly, monthly, and quarterly. This will give you a clear picture of where you stand and where you need to up your game.

Adjusting Your Plan as Needed

Finally, don't be afraid to adjust your plan as needed. No plan is set in stone. Market conditions change, customer preferences evolve, and new opportunities pop up. Your strategic sales plan should be flexible enough to accommodate these changes.

If a particular tactic isn't working as expected, don't hesitate to revise it. If you spot a new opportunity, tweak your plan to seize it. If an unforeseen challenge pops up, adjust your plan to tackle it.

Just remember: whenever you adjust your plan, communicate the changes to your sales team promptly and clearly. They need to be in the loop at all times.

In conclusion, implementing a strategic sales plan is an ongoing process. It requires continuous training, regular monitoring, and timely adjustments. But with these tips, you'll be well on your way to sales success. So go forth and conquer!

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10+ Strategic Sales Plan Examples – PDF

strategic sales plan

A strategic sales plan can help the sales team achieve its goals and objectives within the time period that the business management  or the sales manager has set. Even with the time constraints and other demands that the sales team should consider, it is still imperative for a strategic sales plan to be realistic and attainable.

  • 10+ Sales Strategic Plan Examples
  • 9+ Brief Strategic Plan Examples

Knowing how to keep the document measurable and time-bound can make it easier for the sales team to execute action plans and incorporate strategies in all sales activities. If you want your sales action plans and strategies to be organized and properly developed, coming up with an effective strategic sales plan is the best thing to do.

The development of a strategic sales plan starts with the firm decision of creating one. Hence, you have to be prepared when making this document as there are several factors and elements that you need to look into to ensure the efficiency of the strategic sales plan’s usage.

We have listed a number of strategic sales plan examples in PDF that can act as your formatting guides and content development references. Download these examples in this post and make sure to read the discussion that we have incorporated in the list so you can be well guided when making your own strategic sales plan.

Strategic Sales Plan Example

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Strategic Sales Planning and Prospecting Example

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Sales Plan and Strategies Example

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The Role of Business Environment Consideration in Making a Strategic Sales Plan

One of the first things that you have to look into when making a strategic sales plan is the current condition of the business environment. Most businesses create strategic sales plans every quarter or every year. There are also some who can develop this document on a monthly basis depending on the nature of operations of the business or the kinds of goals and objectives that are needed to be achieved by the sales team. You may also see transition plan examples .

With the duration of the time between the updating of each strategic sales plan, it is essential for you to ensure that the current or existing condition of the business is considered so that you can align and incorporate strategies and action plans that can also help realize the vision and goals of the business.

Here are some of the important business environment considerations that you have to include in the processes of making your strategic sales plan:

  • Always review the current business and operational statistics of the business. Know how the company is doing especially in relation to its sales so you can create a strategic sales plan that can fit with the existing needs of the business. You can also evaluate the daily sales plan of the business so you can be more detailed when putting together all the information in your strategic sales plan.
  • Develop a SWOT and competitor analysis . Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the business as well as the threats and opportunities that it needs to prepare for and face can help you become more objective yet tactical when making the strategic sales plan. This can provide more favorable results to the business in the long run.
  • Set your sales goals and objectives depending on the requirements and aspirations of the operations. Moreover, you have to look into the current and potential client or customer hold of the business. This can help you understand more details about the elements that can affect the purchasing and decision-making processes of your desired audience. You may also like weekly plan examples .
  • Develop a sales statement that can address concerns about your current sales operations. It is important for you to know the issues, pain points, and other negative or weak areas that the clients of the business are observing. This will allow you to develop offers that can make current clients and sales leads to believe in your business and its brand. You may also check out simple business plan examples .
  • Consider the statistics that are compiled by the sales team or the sales department. You have to evaluate the sales trends that are happening in the business and the external environment. Doing this can point out all the factors that result to the level of desirability and attractiveness of the business in the marketplace. You might be interested in work plan examples .

Strategic Sales Plan Format Example

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Strategic Sales Management and Planning Example

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Importance of Identifying the Objectives of a Strategy Sales Plan

In any circumstance or undertaking, you need to have a full understanding of the driving force that allows you to be proactive when the talks about achieving your desired state or condition surfaces. As a business entity, this leads to the development of objectives when creating documents and other materials like a strategy sales plan. You may also see quality plan examples .

Listed below are some of the reasons why it is important for you to identify the objectives that you would like to achieve with the help of a strategy sales plan.

  • If you have an objective in mind, it will be easier for you to come up with the strategies that you will be needing to target your desired output. With this, you can define the things that you would like to achieve and the reasons on why you would like to do so. The directive that you can have with the help of objectives can make the process more output-centered. You may also like advertising plan examples .
  • Ensuring that you are aware of the objective of the business and the sales team allows the entire sales team to have a foundation or a base to rely on. The stronger your foundation is, the most likely that you can accomplish your vision and fully execute the action plans that you have thought of. You may also check out event plan examples .
  • The objective of the strategic sales plan can present the things that you need to give focus on. These things comprise of the areas of the business, the factors that can affect potential results, and the elements that you need to work with to achieve your goals . Through this, you can answer the questions that can provide clarity to the effective and efficient usage of your strategic sales plan.
  • Having an objective can make you more conscious not only with the needs and wants of the sales team, but of the entire business and its other departments as well. Hence, a strategic sales plan must go well with a business strategic plan and all the other action plans of the company. Always keep in mind that different divisions work hand in hand so that the actual objectives of the company can be achieved.

The strength of the sales team and its incorporation to the other parts of the business allows a stronger action plan and strategies to be implemented.

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Sales Strategy Planning Example

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What Makes a Strategic Sales Plan Effective?

If you want to create the best strategic sales plan for your business , you have to make sure that you will clear all the questions that you have in mind about the drafting of the document. This can help you start writing the strategic sales plan with a specific goal in mind and with a particular directive.

Here are some of the things that you need to look for in your strategic sales plan if you want to ensure its effectiveness:

1. Have a realistic and measurable number of the quota that you would like to achieve. This can be based on the number of clients that you need to close a deal with, the number of sales leads that you can convert into new customers, and/or the kinds of transactions that you need to fulfill and accomplish within a given time period. You may also see annual plan examples .

If you have the numbers already, you can have a more in-depth process in which you can evaluate the strategies and action plans that will allow you to achieve the quota that you have set.

2. Make sure that you are aware of your competitive advantage. Knowing how to use your advantages and strengths at their maximum level can set you apart from businesses that offer the same products, services, and/or deals in the marketplace. You may also like job plan examples .

3. There should be an incorporation of a  territory sales plan  within your strategic sales plan. Know the action plans and strategies that are needed to be done. More so, know the particular entities who will be held responsible in ensuring that all plans are executed.

4. Know the kind of clients or customers that you want to attract. Having the idea of what you find with your clients in terms of demography, purchasing ability, and other activities or measures can lead you to the development of a strategic sales plan that can directly get the attention and potential approval of your target market. You may also check out personal plan examples .

Sales Strategy and Process Planning and Analysis Example

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Strategic Sales and Marketing Plan Example

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Why Is It Necessary to Create a Strategic Sales Plan?

Printable sales action plan examples  help businesses to give more importance to the way that their sales team create decisions that can affect the profitability of the business. Having a strategic sales plan allows companies to be more precise with its sales operations. A few of the reasons why it is deemed necessary for your business to create a strategic sales plan include the following:

  • A strategic sales plan can help the sales team and the business prepare for the risks of different sales activities. This will help every entity to look into all their responsibilities so that threats can be minimized and that risk effects can be controlled. This document can also make unforeseen circumstances become more tolerable. You may also see financial plan examples .
  • A strategic sales plan can present the long-term and short-term goals of the sales team. Hence, organization can be achieved in all the processes that they will immerse or partake in. It is important for these goals to be listed so that the strategic sales plan can showcase all the tactics that can help the sales team proactively get its targets.
  • A strategic sales plan can help your sales team identify the gap between its current performance with the desired performance that the business and the management would like them to have. Hence, this document serves as the building block of the sales team’s road to further successes. You may also like assessment plan examples .

Sales Planning and Strategy Development Example

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Strategic Sales Plan Format and Guidelines Example

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Useful Tips That Can Guide You in the Creation of a Well-Defined, Detailed, and Organized Strategic Sales Plan

A strategic sales plan is a critical document that, when done right, can contribute not only to the improvement of business sales but on the increased productivity of the sales team and the continuous growth of the business as well. The tips that you can follow if you want to be properly guided in the development of a strategic action plan are listed below.

  • Plan the content that you will put in the strategic sales plan with the help of outlines, summaries, and general checklists commonly used for sales planning processes.
  • Format the document properly so you can present your thoughts in a clear and understandable manner.
  • Make sure that all strategies and simple action plans included in the document are aligned with the timeline that you have developed for implementation.
  • Seek for the insights, suggestions, and comments of the management and other decision-makers of the business and within the sales team so you can improve the overall content of the strategic sales plan.

Just like when developing a marketing project plan or any other business, strategic, and/or action plan, it is beneficial on your part if you will use templates when formatting the document that you want to have. Using other references like the downloadable examples in this post can be a great help too.

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Sales Strategy in Focus: How to Build a Plan That Delivers in 2024

Illustration Of Sales Strategy Plan

“If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”

In this blog, we’ll unpack why a good sales strategy matters and the key pieces it needs. We’ll talk about lead scoring, why it should be your 2024 priority, and how Breadcrumbs makes it easy.

We’ll also touch on four other cool strategies that work well with lead scoring: perfecting customer personas, creating an irresistible lead magnet, using data for targeted sales, and investing in training.

Lastly, we’ll show you how to build your 2024 sales strategy using these techniques plus lead scoring.

Let’s get started!

Understanding the Importance of a Sales Strategy

Before we dive into how to build a successful sales strategy, let’s quickly define what it is and why it’s important. 

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Inbound Sales Methodology

The Role of a Sales Strategy in Business Success

A well-defined sales strategy will help you achieve your business objectives in 2024. Having a plan helps your sales assistant and their efforts align with the company’s goals. Moreover:

  • It’s an anchor that keeps all activities relevant while providing enough adaptability in response to target market changes and customer sentiment.
  • It helps you outline highly tailored sales techniques and tactics primed to attract and convert your target market.
  • It’s a roadmap where you set specific and measurable goals and establish a way to evaluate success.
  • It helps you position and understand why you’re different from your competitors.
  • It allows you to focus resources on the most lucrative opportunities.

Without it, you risk losing out on profitable opportunities and handing the initiative to your competitors .

Key Elements of an Effective Sales Strategy

Crafting a winning sales strategy for 2024 is all about keeping it real and relevant. Here’s a condensed take on what you need:

  • Know your crowd: Dive deep into who your customers are, what they like, and what irks them.
  • Set real goals: Make sure your goals aren’t just far-fetched pipedreams (i.e., $500 million in revenue). They should be clear, doable, and something you can high-five about when achieved.
  • Pick your message: Everyone’s different, right? Figure out who you’re talking to and tailor your pitch just for them.
  • Stand out: What’s your secret sauce? Find that thing that makes you pop in a sea of sameness.
  • Choose your path: Are you going digital, face-to-face, or a mix? Pick the best ways to reach your folks.
  • Get your act together: Nail down a sales process that’s like a well-oiled machine.
  • Tech up: Embrace tech tools that make your life easier and give you insights on what’s working (or what’s not). 
  • Keep learning: Invest in your team. A sharp squad means better sales.
  • Be like water: Stay flexible and ready to switch gears when needed.

Lead Scoring with Breadcrumbs: Your First Strategy for 2024

A lead score helps your sales team understand whether a potential customer is worth pursuing. 

Time is money, so you want to only deal with those leads that’ll likely lead to a sale. So, scoring leads can help you streamline your sales cycle.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Use Breadcrumbs Lead Scoring

A lead is scored against different factors . Some of these include:

  • Their online behavior–the pages they viewed and how long they spent on them.
  • How much do they engage with the company’s social media channels?
  • Where the lead came from (website, social media, lead magnet, etc.).
  • Past history with the company.
  • Demographic information.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Use Breadcrumbs Lead Scoring 2

Accurate lead scoring models help sales managers and their teams chase qualified leads likely to convert. It also helps the marketing team, as some of the lead scoring data will influence the types of content they create.

Lead scoring helps you understand the makeup of your ideal target market —which is why it should be your number-one sales strategy for 2024. And Breadcrumbs is here to help.

We offer a refined approach to lead scoring that goes beyond the capabilities of traditional tools. Unlike outdated ranking systems, Breadcrumbs’ advanced analytics does a deep dive into the variables influencing a lead score.

It also integrates the recency and frequency of user actions—because someone who visited your product demo page a year ago differs from someone who visited yesterday!

Our system factors in various interactions, such as recent website visits and social media engagement. These insights help you fine-tune your go-to-market strategies and allow you to engage leads effectively and at the right time.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Use Breadcrumbs Lead Scoring

Breadcrumbs also supports the development of multiple scoring models tailored to different ideal customer profiles (ICPs) vis-a-vis your products and the regions you serve. This flexibility allows for more precise lead qualification.

Book a demo or start a free trial to see it in action!

4 Other Key Sales Strategies for 2024

With lead scoring at the forefront, the following four strategies should complement your sales approach.

1. Customer Persona Refinement

Adopting a customer-centric approach is essential in customizing your sales tactics to meet the unique requirements of your potential customers. 

Illustration Of Breadcrumbs Icp Worksheet

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Worksheet

Learn how to create an Ideal Customer Profile and build a successful sales strategy with this Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Worksheet.

For example, StudioSuits is a specialized clothing brand that continually refines its buyer personas to stay attuned to evolving customer preferences.

When promoting wedding suits for men, they create a distinct persona based on factors like:

  • Style preferences
  • Buying behavior

This refined persona enables StudioSuits to:

  • Collaborate with other relevant businesses and influencers
  • Communicate effectively with their ideal customer profile
  • Craft targeted marketing campaigns
  • Offer customized product options

Their secret sauce? They tap into the power of user-generated content to showcase modern men’s suits, creating a whole look that resonates with the groom-to-be. The goal? Selling a dream for their big day.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Customer Persona Refinement

While we focus on tailoring experiences to specific customer personas, it’s vital to recognize a significant yet often overlooked segment: individuals who depend on accessible web design.

96% of websites aren’t accessible , which is shocking given millions of people use assistive technologies like screen readers and voice assistants to help them navigate a website. If your website isn’t accessible, you’re missing out on an untapped target customer base.

Accessibility is also a moral obligation. And while ADA compliance checks might not be the first sales strategy you try, they’ll help open your online store to new prospective customers.

If you’re unsure where to start, use tools like the ADA compliance checker from accessiBe. The tool will guide you through making your website inclusive and welcoming to everyone.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Make Your Website Accessible

Plus, here’s how accessibility personalizes your sales strategy:

  • You speak their language: Imagine a visually impaired user struggling to navigate your website, unable to decipher confusing layouts or alt-text-less images. Accessibility removes these barriers, ensuring your message reaches everyone clearly.
  • You break down the walls: Physical stores have ramps and elevators to make everyone feel welcome. Accessibility does the same for the digital world. By removing barriers like missing transcripts for videos or keyboard-unfriendly interfaces, you engage a wider demographic on your website .
  • You stand out from the crowd: Embracing accessibility sets you apart as a brand that cares about inclusivity and values every customer–setting you up for business growth.

2. Create Irresistible Lead Magnets

Let’s face it. Lead magnets require a lot of work upfront. 

But if you create a magnet that acknowledges and addresses your customer’s pain points, you can generate demand and fill your sales pipeline with qualified leads. For example, a B2B software company like Proposify might create a whitepaper or video training series addressing a common industry challenge. Offering free and relevant digital products on their website attracts business professionals who give up their contact details in exchange.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Create Lead Magnets

The company can then nurture these leads with personalized, targeted email campaigns , gradually guiding them down the sales funnel . 

3. Leveraging Data for Sales Success

Making sense of customer sales data helps you understand their preferences, behaviors, and purchasing patterns. You can use this information to deliver targeted marketing and sales messages at the right time.

If a customer regularly restocks supplies from you every six months, it’s likely that’s when they run out. Sending a timely reminder as this period approaches can effectively encourage them to repurchase rather than look elsewhere.

And if you do this with all your customers—breaking them up into segments of like-minded behaviors—you’ll pick up those easy wins. Data analytics platforms can also help you identify high-value prospects and new options your organization can explore.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Leverage Data

Such platforms have internal uses, too, such as assessing sales leader performance and identifying areas for improvement.

4. Investing in Sales Training

Customer needs and wants are constantly changing. It’s crucial to keep your sales reps ahead of the game and invest in their training. This supports them in refining their sales process so the company can reach its 2024 sales targets.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Invest In Sales Training

Practical ways to keep sales professionals’ skill sets updated include:

  • Pair sales leaders with less experienced salespeople for mentoring and guidance to help improve overall sales productivity.
  • Host product training sessions where the sales rep understands how the product works and fits the customer’s lifestyle. As the old adage goes, sell solutions, not features.
  • If you’re a lean company, free or low-priced online courses on platforms like LinkedIn Learning can train your sales department on key areas like sales pitches, customer service, and sales tactics. It’s also worth training them in soft skills like communication. Podcasts such as The Art of Communication are designed to help professionals overcome nerves and speak confidently.

Internal knowledge sharing is a crucial part of an effective sales strategy. Are their silos in your company preventing the transparent flow of information? Tear them down to enable best practice sharing in areas like cross-selling and up-selling to boost sales performance.

Building Your 2024 Sales Plan

So, how do you turn these sales strategies into a successful 2024 sales plan?

Incorporating Lead Scoring with Breadcrumbs

Begin by implementing Breadcrumbs for lead scoring. Our tool will help you evaluate and rank leads based on their conversion potential, guiding you to achieving your revenue targets . 

Use Breadcrumbs to analyze customer interactions, such as website visits or engagement with marketing materials, and assign scores accordingly. This process will enable you to prioritize high-quality leads.

Build A Successful Sales Strategy In 2024: Use Breadcrumbs Lead Scoring

Applying Other Key Strategies

Leverage the data collected through Breadcrumbs and other sources to understand customer behaviors and preferences. Use this data to segment your leads and tailor your sales approaches. 

For example, you might find that a particular demographic responds well to a specific product or marketing campaign, allowing you to target your efforts more precisely.

Use Lead Magnets

Once you’ve segmented your leads, you’ll have a deeper understanding of their pain points , needs, and desires. You can now create compelling and targeted lead magnets that appeal to your target segments. These should address ‌those specific needs or interests.

Prioritize Continuous Customer Persona Refinement

Keep refining your customer personas based on the insights gathered from lead scoring, data analysis, and the inbound leads from your magnets. Update these personas to reflect changing customer needs and behaviors, ensuring your sales and marketing strategies remain relevant.

Be Accessible at Every Touchpoint

Ensure your website and other digital touchpoints (lead magnets and online resources) have accessibility features. A website accessible to those with disabilities: 

  • Reflects positively on your brand
  • Helps you reach business goals
  • Improves user experience

Setting Goals and Tracking Progress

Setting goals and tracking progress sounds like a no-brainer, but we must stress the importance of this step for your sales strategy. 

After all, you need to know where you’re going and how close you are to getting there. Here’s how you can do it effectively:

  • Set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound‌—they’re your recipe for realistic goals that push you forward without setting you up for an uphill battle. 
  • Break it down: Big goals are great but can also feel overwhelming. Chop them into smaller, bite-sized tasks. Tackle them one step at a time. 
  • Keep score: Tracking progress is like keeping score in a game. It tells you if you’re winning or need to up your game. Use tools that make tracking sales metrics easy and visible.
  • Regular check-ins: Schedule regular reviews of your goals and progress. That way, you get a glimpse of if you’re still on track or need to make any tweaks.
  • Celebrate milestones: Don’t just wait to pop the champagne at the end. Celebrate the small victories along the way. It keeps your team motivated and energized.
  • Learn and adapt: Be ready to learn from the misses and adapt your strategy. Sometimes, the best lessons come from ‌detours and roadblocks.

Preparing for Sales Success in 2024

To make 2024 your company’s best year yet, you must adopt a sales approach that strategically uses data to identify your ideal customer segments. That should be followed by delivering relevant experiences and directing your marketing efforts to match the preferences of each segment.

When leads come in, tools like Breadcrumbs can prioritize them based on their likelihood to convert—guaranteeing that your sales efforts are focused on the most promising leads.

Explore Breadcrumbs for free , or book your demo .

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strategic sales plan examples

Close more deals with the latest sales trends and tips from Salesblazers.

The Ultimate Sales Playbook: How to Create Your Own with Examples for Success

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Help your team succeed with the sales plays they need to close every deal.

strategic sales plan examples

Michael Windeler

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As a coach, it’s thrilling to see your game plan executed to perfection on the field. But it takes careful planning to get to the end zone. If your strategy is too complex, the team may get confused and fumble at a critical moment. Too simple, and you might not be ready when things go awry. What you need is an easy-to-understand sales playbook to guide your team to victory. We’ll walk through everything you need to know to create the right mix of winning plays that guide your sales team to big wins.

What you’ll learn

What is a sales playbook, what’s included in a playbook , benefits of a playbook, sales plays to include in your playbook, how to write an effective playbook, how to keep your playbook up to date.

  • 7 sales playbook types and examples

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strategic sales plan examples

A playbook is a comprehensive guide that outlines your team’s approach to selling. It compiles best practices, strategies, and tactics specific to the team and spells out roles, responsibilities, and objectives. The playbook also provides guidance and examples to help sales teams navigate through every stage of the sales process effectively.

What are sales plays?

Sales plays are specific strategies or steps that your sales team can follow during different parts of the selling process. Think of them as practical, easy-to-follow recipes for sales success. Each play is designed to handle a particular situation or challenge in sales, helping your team know exactly what to do and when.

Say you’re trying to engage a potential client who’s shown interest. An example of a sales play might be sending a personalized email, followed by making a phone call and then arranging a meeting. This straightforward, step-by-step approach can guide your reps toward higher chances of success.

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Just as every coach has their own playbook, a playbook is unique to every organization. That said, there are often common elements. Here’s what’s often included:

Sales strategies and tactics

This section is the heart of the playbook. It includes detailed methods for engaging with customers, such as how to approach cold calls , effective emailing techniques , and tips for successful face-to-face meetings.

Customer personas

Here, you’ll find detailed descriptions of your ideal customers or buyer personas and insights into their buying habits. This information helps sales reps understand and empathize with potential customers’ challenges and pain points and form personalized solutions.

Scripts and templates

To maintain consistency in communication, your playbook should include scripts for calls and meetings, email templates for various scenarios, and guidelines for social media interactions.

Product information

A thorough overview of your products or services should also be included, showcasing features, benefits, pricing, and competitor analyses. This section is crucial for ensuring your team understands what they’re selling. It can also help when handling objections from prospects.

Sales process

This is where you detail how your team should engage with potential customers from initial contact to closing a deal. This is crucial as it provides a clear, company-specific roadmap, ensuring all team members follow a consistent, effective sales strategy.

Supporting training materials and best practices

To help new and existing team members, your playbook should have training resources, best practices, and tips from top performers — a mix of learning materials and real-world wisdom teams can emulate.

Tools details and resources

Information on CRM systems, sales enablement tools, and other technologies that support the sales process are important inclusions in your sales playbook. This ensures everyone knows how to use the tools at their disposal effectively.

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

This is a collection of all metrics and goals that sales reps should aim for. This includes targets expected of sales reps like total sales closed, the number of calls per day, conversion rates, or average deal size.

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A playbook provides a structured approach to achieving sales goals. Here’s what a playbook brings to the table:

• Assists with training for new reps: Your playbook becomes a time-saving tool in onboarding new team members. It provides a clear, step-by-step guide on everything from conducting sales calls to closing deals , significantly reducing the time it takes for a rep to ramp up to peak efficiency.

• Makes selling more straightforward: Your sales team won’t have to guess the best way to handle different selling situations. A playbook gives them ready-to-use methods and tips so they can spend more time selling and less time figuring out their approach.

• Supports a consistent approach: Companies often want reps to use specific messaging and competitive responses. If you don’t outline this for sellers, they may just make it up as they go. Sales playbooks help everyone on your sales team talk about your products and deal with customers in a similar way. Customers have a consistent experience, which is good for your brand because it instills confidence.

• Shares success secrets: Sales teams can collect trade secrets from top sellers and share the most effective methods. That way, everyone can learn from them, which helps boost the performance of the whole team.

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When considering which sales plays to include, consider the specific challenges and opportunities your sales team faces. Examples include:

Prospecting plays

Develop a comprehensive strategy for identifying and reaching out to potential new customers. Focus on innovative techniques like using social media and crafting personalized outreach messages. Highlight the importance of understanding your target audience and tailoring the approach accordingly.

Lead qualification plays

Provide a detailed guide for evaluating whether a lead is likely to convert. Include a set of qualifying questions and criteria that sales reps can use to assess a lead’s potential. Emphasize understanding the customer’s needs and readiness to buy.

Ghosting plays

Equip sales reps with strategies for handling unresponsive clients. Offer examples of follow-up messages that show understanding, emphasizing empathy while suggesting actionable next steps.

Product demo plays

Outline strategies for effective product demonstrations. Emphasize tailoring the demo to the customer’s needs and interests and preparing to address common questions or concerns. If any employees are new to presenting, this is a good chance to outline best practices and tips for public speaking.

Follow-up plays

Highlight the best practices for follow-up communications. Include references to previous interactions and continually add insights for each contact while addressing any new changes or developments that might affect the customer’s decision.

Closing plays

Outline steps and techniques to help your team close deals effectively, whether creating a sense of urgency, addressing last-minute objections, or getting the deal through procurement.

When drafting your playbook, think of it as setting up a game plan that ensures every player on your team knows the plays, understands their roles, and sees the path to scoring sales. Here are the steps to follow to ensure your playbook covers everything you want your sales team to know:

1. Assemble a diverse team

Form a group that includes sales leaders, frontline sales reps, marketing experts, and customer service staff. This team should represent different aspects of the customer journey and sales process. For example, sales leaders can offer insights on overall strategy, while frontline reps can share hands-on experience with customer interactions.

2. Define your sales philosophy

Clarify your company’s sales approach and values. Involve top management in this discussion to ensure the playbook aligns with broader business goals. Asking “What values should drive our sales interactions?” and “How do we differentiate our approach from competitors?” can help crystallize your sales philosophy.

3. Create customer personas

Work with the marketing department to develop detailed customer/buyer personas. These should be based on market research and existing customer data. For example, a B2B software company might have personas like Tech-Savvy Startup Owner or Cost-Conscious SME Manager.

4. Document the sales process with reps

Collaborate with sales representatives to outline each stage of the sales cycle . This process might include steps like lead generation, qualification , proposal generation, negotiation, and closing. Document tactics that have been effective at each stage, such as using case studies in proposals or specific negotiation techniques.

5. Develop strategies with team input

Use brainstorming sessions to develop sales strategies and plays for specific products and scenarios. This could include handling objections or unique selling propositions for different products. For instance, you might create a strategy for upselling additional services to existing clients.

6. Craft templates, scripts, and outlines

Develop practical tools like call scripts, email templates, and proposal outlines. These should be based on successful past communications and refined through team feedback. For example, create an email template for follow-ups after initial meetings.

7. Create tools enablement materials

Select the most effective tools and resources, such as CRM systems or sales enablement platforms, to enable your reps to sell and draft enablement materials to help them use these effectively.

8. Integrate training resources

Incorporate educational materials and training resources into the flow of work. This might include online courses, internal training sessions, and materials from top performers. Ideally, fold these into your CRM so they’re easily accessible as your reps go about their work. Also, determine the best ways to facilitate continuous learning and skill development.

9. Set goals with management’s insight

Work with sales leadership to establish clear performance metrics and goals. These should be specific, measurable, and aligned with both individual sales role objectives and the company’s broader objectives. Goals might include sales quotas , conversion rates, or customer satisfaction scores.

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strategic sales plan examples

Your playbook shouldn’t be static. It needs regular tune-ups to stay relevant and practical. Like a coach tweaks a team’s playbook for every season — sometimes even mid-way through a game — you should regularly refine your sales strategies to align with changing market and customer needs. Set times for regular playbook reviews, like at the beginning of each quarter, to ensure it stays in step with the market.

Keep a close watch on customer behavior and preferences, adapting your sales approaches and personas to reflect the current landscape. Above all, keep your playbook accessible, user-friendly, and well-organized, making it an effective tool for your team’s success.

7 playbook types and examples

Creating a playbook from scratch can be daunting, but you don’t have to start with a blank page. To help you get the ball rolling, here are examples of some different types of sales playbooks. Think of these are starting points, which you can customize to fit your team’s unique needs and sales goals:

1. Classic playbook

Envision this as the comprehensive guide for your sales team. It includes everything from identifying target customer personas to detailed strategies for each stage of the sales cycle. For example, if your product is an educational app and your target audience is busy parents, the playbook might include specific conversation starters for parent-teacher meetings, tailored email templates for follow-ups, and objection-handling techniques specifically addressing common parental concerns.

2. Start-up playbook

This one’s tailored for emerging businesses, focusing on fundamental sales strategies and innovative marketing. For a new coffee subscription service, the playbook might suggest leveraging social media platforms for brand awareness, using influencer marketing to reach a broader audience, and guerrilla marketing tactics like pop-up events or collaborations with local businesses to create buzz.

3. Product-specific playbook

This playbook zeroes in on effectively selling a particular product, like a high-tech home appliance. It would detail the appliance’s features, benefits, and competitive advantages. Sales strategies might include a comparison guide (a side-by-side look at your product vs. competitors’ products), case studies of satisfied customers, and tailored scripts for in-store demonstrations.

4. Account-based playbook

This is perfect for targeting high-value accounts such as large corporations or specialized sectors, as these accounts typically require more attention. It would outline methods for identifying and engaging key decision-makers, tips for personalizing pitches, and strategies for nurturing these relationships.

5. Solution selling playbook

Designed for complex, consultative selling scenarios driven by an overarching problem. This playbook would guide sales reps in diagnosing the problem, presenting a tailored solution, and navigating lengthy decision-making processes. It could include questionnaires to uncover client needs, presentation templates for solution proposals, and strategies for effective follow-up.

6. Social selling playbook

This is ideal for teams incorporating social media into their sales strategy. A solution selling playbook might include best practices for engaging potential customers on platforms like LinkedIn, tips for creating compelling content on Instagram, and strategies for using Facebook ads to generate leads. It could also cover how to transition online interactions into sales opportunities.

7. Remote sales playbook

Essential for teams that operate primarily in a virtual environment, this playbook covers techniques for effective video sales calls and virtual engagement, including how to set the scene for a professional backdrop during video calls, how to use engaging presentation tools, and how to build rapport over a screen. It might also include recommendations for CRM and sales tracking tools suited for remote teams.

Remember, these are just starting points. The most effective playbooks are tailored to your team’s unique selling environment, market conditions customer profiles, and sales goals.

Sales playbooks fuel future wins

Crafting and refining your playbook is not a one-time play. It’s an ongoing effort that must adapt to shifting markets and the growth of your team. Regularly updating your playbook keeps your sales strategies fresh, relevant, and ahead of the competition. Continuous refinement and adaptation will also keep your team agile, focused, and prepared for whatever the sales field throws at them.

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Coffee Shop Business Plan PDF Example

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  • February 23, 2024
  • Business Plan

Business plan template for a coffee shop

Creating a comprehensive business plan is crucial for launching and running a successful coffee shop. This plan serves as your roadmap, detailing your vision, operational strategies, and financial plan. It helps establish your coffee shop’s identity, navigate the competitive market, and secure funding for growth.

This article not only breaks down the critical components of a coffee shop business plan, but also provides an example of a business plan to help you craft your own.

Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or new to the food and beverage industry, this guide, complete with a business plan example, lays the groundwork for turning your coffee shop concept into reality. Let’s dive in!

Our coffee shop business plan is structured to cover all essential aspects needed for a comprehensive strategy. It outlines the shop’s operations, marketing strategy, market environment, competitors, management team, and financial forecasts.

  • Executive Summary : Offers a quick look at your coffee shop idea, market research, your team, and money plans.
  • Coffee Shop & Location: Talks about the design, special features, and why the spot is great for customers.
  • Operations: Describes how your shop runs daily, like hours, staff roles, and your menu items with prices.
  • Key Stats: Gives numbers on how big the coffee shop world is and what’s trending.
  • Key Trends: Points out new things in coffee shops, like eco-friendly practices or tech for ordering.
  • Key Competitors: Looks at other coffee places nearby and how your shop is different.
  • SWOT: Lists strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks for your shop.
  • Marketing Plan : Ideas for getting the word out and keeping customers coming back.
  • Timeline : Major steps and goals from starting up to the first year.
  • Management: Highlights Info on your leading team and their roles.
  • Financial Plan : Predicts financials for 5 years, like how much you’ll make, spend, and keep as profit.

Business plan template for a coffee shop

Coffee Shop Business Plan

Download an expert-built 30+ slides Powerpoint business plan template

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary presents a concise overview of your coffee shop’s business plan, encapsulating the essence of your establishment and its offerings. It should articulate your market positioning, the variety of coffee and related products you offer, its location, size, and a brief on the daily operations.

This section should also delve into how your coffee shop will carve its niche within the local community, including an analysis of the number of direct competitors in the vicinity, identifying who they are, as well as highlighting your coffee shop’s unique selling points that set it apart from these competitors.

Moreover, information about the management and co-founding team should be included, elaborating on their roles and the value they bring to the coffee shop’s success. Additionally, a synopsis of your financial projections, including anticipated revenue and profits over the next five years, should be provided here to offer a clear view of your coffee shop’s financial strategy.

Make sure to cover here _ Business Overview _ Market Overview _ Management Team _ Financial Plan

Coffee Shop Business Plan executive summary1

Dive deeper into Executive Summary

Business Overview

For a Coffee Shop, the Business Overview section can be neatly divided into 2 main slides:

Coffee Shop & Location

Talk about your coffee shop’s look and feel, highlighting cozy seats and nice lighting that make it welcoming. Mention its location, noting how easy it is to get there, like being close to shops or having easy parking. Explain why this spot is great for attracting customers.

Operations & Offerings

List the kinds of coffee and other items you sell, including snacks or light food. Discuss pricing, making sure it matches the quality of what you’re selling and suits your target customers. Share special features of your shop, such as using local products or offering unique coffee flavors. Mention any deals or events you have to keep customers coming back.

Make sure to cover here _ Coffee Shop & Location _ Operations

Business Plan_Fast Food RESTAURANT

Market Overview

Industry size & growth.

In the Market Overview of your coffee shop business plan, begin by exploring the size of the coffee industry and its potential for growth. This analysis is key to understanding the breadth of the market and pinpointing opportunities for expansion.

Key Market Trends

Next, discuss current trends in the coffee market, like the growing demand for specialty coffee, the appeal of ethically sourced and organic beans, and the innovation in coffee brewing techniques. Highlight the interest in offerings that cater to diverse preferences and dietary needs, such as plant-based milk options and artisanal blends, as well as the increasing importance of sustainability in the coffee industry.

Key Competitors

Then, examine the competitive landscape, which encompasses a variety of coffee shops from high-end specialty cafes to more affordable, convenient options, as well as the rise of home brewing. Focus on what sets your coffee shop apart, whether it’s through top-notch customer service, a unique selection of products, or expertise in certain types of coffee. This section will underscore the demand for coffee shop services, the competitive atmosphere, and how your coffee shop is well-placed to succeed in this vibrant market.

Make sure to cover here _ Industry size & growth _ Key market trends _ Key competitors

Coffee Shop Business Plan market overview1

Dive deeper into Key competitors

Start by doing a SWOT analysis for the coffee shop. Point out Strengths (like skilled baristas and a variety of coffee options), Weaknesses (such as high running costs or lots of competitors), Opportunities (for instance, more people wanting unique coffee experiences), and Threats (like economic changes that might reduce how much people spend on coffee).

Marketing Plan

Then, make a marketing plan that shows how to draw in and keep customers. This could include ads aimed at the right people, deals to save money, an active and interesting online presence, and getting involved in the local area.

Lastly, set up a detailed timeline that marks important steps for the coffee shop’s start, marketing actions, growth in the number of customers, and goals for getting bigger. Make sure there’s a clear plan and goal for moving the business forward.

Make sure to cover here _ SWOT _ Marketing Plan _ Timeline

strategic sales plan examples

Dive deeper into SWOT

Dive deeper into Marketing Plan

The Management section focuses on the coffee shop’s management and their direct roles in daily operations and strategic direction. This part is crucial for understanding who is responsible for making key decisions and driving the coffee shop toward its financial and operational goals.

For your coffee shop business plan, list the core team members, their specific responsibilities, and how their expertise supports the business.

Coffee Shop Business Plan management1

Financial Plan

The Financial Plan section is a comprehensive analysis of your financial projections for revenue, expenses, and profitability. It lays out your coffee shop’s approach to securing funding, managing cash flow, and achieving breakeven.

This section typically includes detailed forecasts for the first 5 years of operation, highlighting expected revenue, operating costs and capital expenditures.

For your coffee shop business plan, provide a snapshot of your financial statement (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow statement), as well as your key assumptions (e.g. number of customers and prices, expenses, etc.).

Make sure to cover here _ Profit and Loss _ Cash Flow Statement _ Balance Sheet _ Use of Funds

Coffee Shop Business Plan financial plan

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