Why do you Need a Sales Strategy Plan?
We are continuing our look into Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and how it applies to sales and cold calling. Today we
are looking at the passage:
“Now the general is the bulwark of the State; if the bulwark is complete at all points; the State will be strong; if the bulwark is defective, the State will be weak.”
When we read this we don’t think of the general as a person but rather as the organizations overall sales strategy plan.
We believe that the organizations sales strategy is vitally important to not only brining in new business but also to keeping your existing business. Yes, you will lose clients from time to time, that is why it is so important to have an active and quality pipeline.
Sales is an ongoing process, a living strategy that keeps the company (State) healthy.
So, what should your sales strategy plan do?
It helps you develop benchmarks of where you need to get to, how you need to get there and identify any unforeseen risks that might “assault the State”.
The main parts of your sales plan are to
Analyze where you are, what are the marketing conditions, who are your competitors and what are your opportunities.
Then you should set your sales goals. You should set goals are at the top end of your comfort zone. Push your 
goals but don’t make them unattainable. A good option is to use stretch goals which are goals that move as you reach certain thresholds.
After you identify your goals you should start to develop your plan. How are you going to reach your goals? What are the risk or other obstacles you might face and how will you deal with them.
Execute your plan with relentlessness. Don’t ever stop, push, push, push. It does not matter how good your sales plan is if you don’t execute it. This is where your sales training program comes in. We aren’t getting into that here, we discuss sales training throughout the site.
Finally, you need to take the time to evaluate your sales plan. Measure the results and decide what changes need to be made. How often you need to evaluate depends a lot on the size of your organization. At a minimum you should formally evaluate your sales plan quarterly. I would suggest evaluating it more often, at least monthly if your organization isn’t too big.
If you are in a large organization, then you should break down your evaluations into smaller sales teams for initial evaluations. You should still have a more formal corporate level evaluation quarterly.
When you are developing your sales strategy plan you should ask yourself probing questions such as:
Who are our customers?
How do we get our prospects currently?
How should we get our sales in the future?
What is our business? That might seem strange, but you need to know exactly what you are selling.
What potential obstacles are you going to face. Remember, not only will you have economic obstacles your competitors will also be reacting to your sales plan with their own sales strategy.
When you set your goals, use the SMART system.
Just in case you don’t know, the SMART system is:
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound.
We touched on the risks or obstacles to your sales plan above but remember to look at both internal and external factors.
Will there be changes to the law? What are the current industry trends? Is technology changing? What will your competition do? Is your product or service changing? What is the current business or economic environment?
Your sales strategy plan should not be set in stone. It should be a living document that changes as your identify new threats or your product/service changes. The goal with a sales strategy plan is not to lock you into a fixed plan. It is to give you direction, goals and measurable points to determine if your plan is effective.
If you have never developed a sales strategy plan before, don’t worry. Just start working on one. Don’t waste time trying to figure out how to write one, just get started. Something is always better than nothing. It doesn’t have to be perfect, don’t use the lack of a sales plan as an excuse not to sale.
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