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June 12 - June 12, 2019
I’m a huge proponent of salespeople writing an individual business (sales) plan each year. We have all read studies citing that people who write down their goals are many times more successful than those who don’t. More than just a mechanism to declare our goals, business plans also serve as a helpful guide to keep us on course. The process of preparing the plan fosters creative, big-picture thinking and also forces salespeople to take ownership of their business (territory, portfolio, etc.).
1. Goals—What You Are Going to Achieve. It is important to start with the end in mind. The plan should declare personal goals for the year. Here are some possible categories for which a salesperson would provide specific goals: Total revenue dollars Gross profit (dollars or percentage) Number of new accounts acquired
Net new business dollars Revenue dollars from existing accounts Product category, cross-sell, or new product goals Major goals for specific named accounts Personal income goals (obviously a private objective, but many money-motivated reps are driven to hit certain income targets and find it very helpful to write them down and monitor progress throughout the year)
2. Strategies—How You Are Going to Do It.
existing accounts where you plan on investing extra energy?
Which geographies, vertical industries, or channels will you pursue? Do you have a focused, finite target prospect list to attach to the plan?
How will you approach new accounts? What will you do to get in the door and how will you move opportunities forward?
What other strategies or tools will you use (e.g., team selling, events, referral sources, social media connections) to achieve your sales goals?
3. Actions—Specific Sales Activities You Will Commit To. List key activity metrics you will measure, monitor, and hold yourself accountable to reach. Examples might include: Number of hours time-blocked and committed to proactive new business development Number of outbound calls, number of meaningful conversations, number of face-to-face sales calls Number of trips to key markets, number of major presentations, number of facility tours or client visits Number of proposals delivered, dollars proposed
4. Obstacles—What’s in the Way?
5. Personal Development—How You Plan to Grow This Year.
Books and blogs to read Specific industry training you desire Expanding your writing skills, social media involvement, or association memberships
Writing individual business plans is a great exercise. Presenting them to your peers is even better!
Sharing plans is also a safety mechanism.
clarity, I want you to divide your prospects and opportunities into just three categories: targeted, active, and hot. 1. Targeted accounts are those you are committed to proactively pursuing and moving to the Active stage.
2. Active accounts are those where you have started the sales dialogue, see potential opportunity for business, and need to continue working the process to move them to the Hot stage. 3. Hot is when real opportunities have emerged, there is some sense of urgency on your part, and you have either delivered a proposal or will do so very soon.
A healthy pipeline has three characteristics: 1. It is full. There are opportunities aplenty, and no one deal will make or break the quarter or the year. 2. It shows movement. Accounts and opportunities progress from one stage to the next; the majority of deals are not stale and growing mold. 3. It is balanced. When looking at the report we see accounts and opportunities in every segment.
We must intentionally balance our time across each segment of the pipeline. Salespeople should spend a full third of their time working hot opportunities, another third working deals that are currently active, and the final third in proactive pursuit of targeted prospects that are not yet active. It’s that simple—⅓, ⅓, ⅓! Simple yet incredibly effective.
Are your sales goals in writing? Have you articulated your strategies to develop new business and committed to certain key activity metrics? How will you hold yourself accountable to do what you say you need to? If your current pipeline of sales opportunities is not full, moving, and balanced, what can you begin doing immediately to restore it to health?
Don’t get sucked into constant negative conversations. Stop hanging around with the perpetual whiners on the sales team.
the rest of the people in your company look to the sales organization to set the pace, to create hope about the future, and to deliver the results.
Don’t cheap out on shoes and your carrying bag.
Keep them clean and polished.
True sales hunters work their target accounts prior to opportunities materializing. They’re out in front of the curve, building relationships, penetrating the accounts, launching their sales weapons, turning over rocks, and attempting to unearth opportunities.
Work your strategic target account list.
Get in front of your target prospects. Make friends, penetrate the account, figure out how your potential customer does business. Help the prospect see pains, problems, and issues that you can address. Put yourself in “Position A” so that when these prospects are ready to look for solutions, you’re the natural first choice.
a book by the brilliant Alan Weiss
I had a lot of success team selling. I loved bringing others from my company along on important sales calls. And why not? As long as my guests (including chief executives) were willing to let me structure and control the call, I welcomed all the help I could get.
I’d like you to show me your actual prospect lists. Pull them up or print me a copy of your specific list of target accounts. Can you please tell me the strategic thinking that led to creating these lists? Now tell me about your account focus. How much time and effort have you invested working that list? Let me hear your sales story. What are you saying to prospects about what you do? How do you talk about your business? Let’s talk about the phone. How much time are you spending proactively calling prospects? How’s that working for you? Outline for me your structure for meeting with a
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You’ve got a written business plan, right? Pull it out. What are your strategies for opening new accounts and what key sales activities have you committed to?
