Sales Plan-o-rama

As a management tool "planning" gets a bad rap.

Just hearing the word creates an immediate love-hate reaction.

Planning-lovers shout "failing to plan is planning to fail".

Planning-haters run down the hall screaming "paralysis by analysis".

For business planning, both are true. For sales planning they're even more true.

The challenge is to find that happy in-between place.

Why Bother?

Sales efforts without a plan end up with lots of activity and minimal results.

John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach, said "Don't mistake activity for achievement." We say Amen!

An actionable sales plan, one that's used, should provide:

• Direction at the beginning (especially for industry novices)
• Focus two months after the excitement has died (course corrections)
• Goals for assessing performance (did someone say bonus?)

Size Matters

Shorter is better.

Any plan more than two pages isn't going to be read, much less looked at a second time after it's handed in.

This month's Revenue-IQ article goes to that sales planning happy place - it's a "how to".

As a bonus, we're providing a two-page template that works -see the download link in the "Getting Started" section.

Good luck,

Chris Arlen, President, Service Performance

Getting Started

From this point on you can follow step-by-step using our two-page sales plan. Download the Microsoft Word document by clicking on SP_Sales_Plan_v1.doc

I'll try to explain the components simply and in order, but there are no guarantees. You may have to jump around, and some areas are more complicated than others.

Also, all dollar amounts, or any numbers for that matter, are for the entire year.

Ready to start? Here goes.

1) Vertical Markets

Focus is king.

Limit vertical markets to the magical three. Vertical markets are where customers are in the same business, such as healthcare, education, or high-tech. They'll also have similar pains and objectives for your service.

The magical three is magical for a reason - we can remember them.

2) Territory

If you have more than one salesperson, fill in the geographic area per vertical market. This avoids ruffled feathers, aka territory management.

If you're the entire shooting match, skip this.

3) Estimating Formula

Go figure!

You'll want to quantify and prioritize prospects. And that takes an estimate of their contract size in dollars.

The problem is most prospect data doesn't have the dollar amounts for your service.

However, data usually includes some other quantifier, such as square footage or employees. From those numbers you can estimate contract size in dollars, but you'll need a formula to do that. That formula is found in your existing contracts.

Here's an example. You buy data online for manufacturing prospects and each record includes the number of employees per location.

First, take the contract dollars of one of your existing customers in the same vertical market as your prospects, and find out how many employees they have at their location.

Second, divide the contract dollars by their number of employees. That'll give you dollars per employee.

Repeat these steps several times, then average those dollars per employee into one number. That's your formula.

Your formula may be dollars per square foot, or dollars per site. Whatever size quantifier your prospect data has, dictates your formula. Don't skip this step as you'll need it for the next section.

4) Sales Goals

Enter the following three goals for each vertical market:

a) Estimate the number goal by size criteria. This can be the total square feet for janitorial service, Hours Per Week for security service, or employees per location, which can work for either janitorial or security.

b) Enter the dollar amount for that vertical. Multiply your estimating formula from above by your best guess at an average prospect dollar amount.

c) Calculate the percentage these dollars represent of your total sales goal by vertical.

5) Account Size - Minimum

Save your time and sanity.

You've go to know what not to go after, or respond to if they call you. Just say no to prospects under your minimums.

Enter the minimum dollar amount and size criteria (square feet for janitorial service, Hours Per Week for security service, etc.) per vertical.

5) Account Size - A to B to C to Minimum

Not all prospects are equal.

Stay in touch with prospects based on their attractiveness. Call, email, mail USPS, or take 'em to lunch. The more attractive, the more frequent you'll touch them.

Consider the following frequencies:

• "A" prospects touch once every 30 days
• "B" prospects every 45-60 days
• "C" prospects every 90-180 days

What's an "A" prospect? You decide that here.

Enter the size criteria (square feet for janitorial service, Hours Per Week for security service, etc.) that defines your "A", "B", or "C" prospects.

6) References

Prospects want proof.

When you talk with them you'll be name dropping. If you have customers in the same vertical, you're going to brag.

List references in order of prestige, flashiest first, then on down.

If you don't have customers in that vertical, list any that are just plain flashy and in the same geographic territory.

7) Data Sources

The Devil's in the details - and you want to buy them.

List sources from which to get prospect data. Try to get the following:

• Buy digital data if possible, you'll want to get it into ACT, Goldmine, or Outlook
• Find sources that filter by vertical markets & exclude prospects you don't want
• Make sure data has a size quantifier, such as employees per location or square feet

8) Sales Approach

Now that you know where you want to end up, figure out how you'll get there.

Describe the major steps, and keep it simple. Sounds easy, but this is hard thinking work. Consider:

• What you'll do to make that first contact
• How you'll stay in touch per your A-B-C prospect frequency
• Possible steps include: telemarketing, direct mailings, industry association or Chamber of Commerce luncheons, in-person drop-ins, etc.

9) Output Goals

Reality check your "effort" and "result" goals.

"Effort" goals are the number of contacts you make, and proposals you submit. The "result" goal is the number of contracts secured.

a) Start with your annual dollar goal for that vertical from step 4b above

b) Divide it by your best guess at the average prospect size in dollars. This is your goal for secured number of contracts.

c) Estimate your proposal win rate. Will you win 1 out of 4 bids submitted? If so, multiply your secured number of contracts by 4. This is your goal for proposals.

d) Estimate number of contacts you'll make to get 1 bid. Will it take 25 contacts to get a bid? If so, multiply your proposals by 25. This is your goal for contacts.

Yup, that's a big number of contacts to contact. It's not science, but it'll do to get started.

By the way, what's considered a contact? Whatever you want it to be. Could be an email or mailed brochure, a voicemail, or an in-person face-to-face meeting. It's your call - they're your numbers.

10) Primary Contact Title

Who're you gonna call?

Identify the title of the person you're most likely to call to ask for a bid. These vary by vertical and prospect. However, you have to have a starting point.

This is the title you'll give when talking to the prospect's operator on the phone, or when standing in front of their receptionist.

11) Pain #1 - 3

What're you gonna say?

When you finally reach the primary contacts, you'll need to get them to talk about themselves. But first you'll need to understand their vertical market.

Start with understanding their pain. List typical problems in that vertical. You'll want to get a conversation going and this is a good place to start. Talking about their vertical's general challenges makes you sound smart and informed.

If you're not familiar with that vertical, do some research. Ask around, search the web, and visit web sites.

Enter the top 3 pains, and flesh them out with sub-bullets underneath. Again, keep it simple, but give yourself enough to understand what's going on.

12) Goal #1 - 3

Do the same for prospects' goals as you did for their pains in 11 above.

Living Document

It's alive.

You may not get your plan-o-rama done the first time. Don't let perfection stop you from "good enough". "Good enough" is enough to get started.

One or two months after you've been busy, come back to the plan to review and revise. Refer to it at least monthly. Compare your actual "effort" and "result" performance to goals.

It's amazing what happens when ideas are put down in writing. The overly optimistic gets dressed down and Mr. Reality shows up.

All the errors in this sales plan-o-rama are mine. If you come up with improvements, please let me know. I'd love to incorporate them.

Good luck.

Chris Arlen, President, Service Performance

Permission to reprint or distribute: email info@serviceperformance.com

Return to Articles : Back to Top