Developing a sales strategy plan is perhaps the most crucial task that a business can undertake. Regardless of whether the focus is on B2B sales strategy, inbound, outbound, SMBs, or enterprise, a reliable source of income is necessary for a company's survival. In this article, Viindoo Enterprise Management Software will introduce to your a comprehensive guide to build sales strategy plan and basic examples.
What is a Sales Strategy Plan?
A sales strategy plan serves as a blueprint for a company to establish reliable, long-term revenue streams by retaining and acquiring new and existing customers.
These plans typically include a range of elements such as specific tactics, market strategies, processes, objectives, forecasting, budgeting, and timelines. The duration of the plans varies, but they usually span over a year or two, with a particular focus on each fiscal quarter.
What is a Sales Strategy Plan?
Typically, sales strategy plans for most businesses are formulated top-down, with revenue targets set by investors, shareholders, and other C-Level executives who have a financial interest in the company. These targets can be achieved through increasing revenue, reducing expenses, or a combination of both.
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How can Sales Strategy Plan assist your Business?
A sales strategy plan is an essential tool that can help your business achieve its long-term goals. It can help business in:
Sets clear sales objectives
A sales strategy plan helps you set clear and specific sales objectives that are aligned with your overall business objectives. This will enable you to measure your progress towards achieving your sales targets and make adjustments to your sales tactics as needed.
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Setting specific and measurable sales objectives helps to provide a clear focus for the sales team and enables them to prioritize their activities based on the most effective tactics for achieving those objectives. This can help to improve sales performance and increase revenue and profitability.
Provides a roadmap for success
A sales management strategy provides a roadmap that outlines the specific steps you need to take to achieve your sales objectives. This will help you stay focused and on track towards achieving your long-term goals.
Roadmap for success
A roadmap for success provides a framework for accountability. It helps you to set clear expectations and enables you to hold your sales team accountable for achieving their sales targets. This can help to improve sales performance and drive results.
Helps you differentiate from competitors
A sales strategy plan helps you define your unique selling proposition (USP) and differentiate yourself from your competitors. This will enable you to position your products or services as the best solution for your target market and gain a competitive advantage.
Improves sales performance
A sales strategy plan is an essential tool for you to improve your sales performance by providing a framework for continuous improvement. This will enable you to track your progress, identify areas for improvement, and make adjustments to your sales tactics as needed.
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Increases revenue and profitability
A sales strategy plan enables you to increase your revenue and profitability by providing a clear roadmap for achieving your sales objectives. This will enable you to focus your resources on the most effective sales tactics and optimize your sales processes to maximize your sales results.
How to Develop a Sales Strategy Plan
Building a Sales Strategy Plan is no easy task, as it requires the work of multiple departments and different skill sets in planning and organizing. Take a look at the following steps to build a comprehensive and effective sales strategy plan.
Step 1: Identify Your Target Market and Resolve your plan around that Market
The first step in building a sales plan strategy is to identify your target market. This means understanding:
- Who your ideal customer is
- What their needs are
- How you can meet those needs
- How you want to sell to them
This will involve conducting market research to gain insights into your target market, including their demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and preferences.
Customer Centricity for better sales strategy
Once you have identified your target market, you can then create a customer profile that outlines their characteristics, including age, gender, income, location, and interests. This will help you tailor your sales strategy to meet the needs of your target audience.
Remember, prior to delving into budget negotiations, sales projections, and yearly sales targets, it is imperative that both the sales team and the entire organization prioritize the customer at the core of their actions. They should adopt an external outlook when devising their sales plan and reflect on the sort of customer experience they aspire to offer.
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Step 2: Define Your Unique Selling Proposition
A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a distinctive characteristic or benefit that sets a product, service, or brand apart from its competitors. It is a statement that summarizes what makes a product or service unique and differentiates it from other options in the market.
A strong USP is essential for businesses to effectively market their products or services and attract customers. Your unique selling proposition (USP) is what sets you apart from your competitors.
Unique Selling Proposition
Your USP should be clear, concise, and easy to communicate. It should also be relevant to your target market and aligned with your business objectives.
Some common examples of USPs include:
- Quality: A product or service that is of higher quality than its competitors.
- Price: A product or service that offers better value for money than its competitors.
- Convenience: A product or service that is more convenient to use or access than its competitors.
- Unique features: A product or service that offers unique features or benefits that are not available with its competitors.
- Brand reputation: A product or service that is associated with a strong brand reputation or positive customer reviews.
Step 3: Set Your Sales Objectives which Aligns with Corporate Strategy
Setting your sales objectives is crucial to the success of your Sales plan strategy. Your sales objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). They should also be aligned with your overall business objectives.
Your sales objectives should include metrics such as revenue targets, profit margins, customer acquisition costs, and customer retention rates. These metrics will help you track your progress towards achieving your sales objectives.
Set your goals with SMART model
The implementation of the company's strategy is the responsibility of the sales team. While marketing, customer success, and other communication initiatives, both internal and external, contribute to brand recognition, it is the sales department that accomplishes the ultimate objective.
It is worth emphasizing that this involves more than just achieving the revenue target. Executives at the top-level are concerned with factors such as the company's market positioning, its level of maturity, how it is perceived by customers, and what it stands for as a brand. As a result, they have diverse objectives beyond pure revenue, which demand significant attention from the sales team.
Step 4: Develop Your Sales Tactics
Your sales tactics are the specific actions you will take to achieve your sales objectives. They should be aligned with your USP and target market and be designed to meet the needs of your customers.
Your sales tactics should include a mix of inbound and outbound marketing strategies. Inbound marketing strategies include content marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and email marketing. Outbound marketing strategies include advertising, direct mail, and cold calling.
Develop your sales tactics
You can consider the following sales tactic examples:
- Personalization - Tailoring the sales pitch to the individual customer's specific needs and preferences.
- Urgency - Creating a sense of urgency by emphasizing limited availability or limited-time offers.
- Social proof - Demonstrating how other customers have benefited from the product or service.
- Upselling - Encouraging customers to upgrade to a higher-priced or more comprehensive product or service.
- Cross-selling - Offering complementary products or services to customers.
- Value proposition - Highlighting the unique benefits and value the product or service offers compared to competitors.
- Objection handling - Addressing and overcoming potential objections or concerns the customer may have.
- Referrals - Encouraging satisfied customers to refer new potential customers.
- Product demonstrations - Providing live demonstrations of the product or service to showcase its features and benefits.
Step 5: Create a Sales Process
Your sales process is the series of steps your sales team will follow to convert leads into customers. It should be a well-defined process that is easy to follow and aligns with your sales objectives and tactics.
Develop a clear sales process
Your sales process should include the following steps:
- Lead generation: This involves identifying potential customers who may be interested in your products or services.
- Lead qualification: This involves determining whether a lead is a good fit for your business and has a high likelihood of becoming a customer.
- Sales presentation: This involves presenting your products or services to the lead and demonstrating how they can meet their needs.
- Handling objections: This involves addressing any objections the lead may have and providing solutions to their concerns.
- Closing the sale: This involves finalizing the sale and converting the lead into a customer.
Follow-up: This involves following up with the customer to ensure their satisfaction and build long-term relationships.
Step 6: Set Your Sales Forecast
Your sales forecast is a prediction of your future sales revenue. It is based on your past sales data and takes into account your current market conditions, target audience, and sales objectives.
Sales forecasting to predict future sales revenue
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to begin with sales forecasting. These actions will guarantee a precise sales forecast for your company.
- Create a sales methodology for your team
- Establish team and individual sales targets
- Allocate resources to implement a CRM
- Select a sales forecasting technique
- Incorporate information from other departments like Marketing, Product, and Finance
- Evaluate past sales projections
- Maintain open communication and responsibility within the sales team
Sales Strategy Plan examples
Sales management strategies are essential to the success of any business. By having a clear and effective sales strategy in place, businesses can improve their chances of attracting and retaining customers, increasing revenue, and staying ahead of competitors. Read the following examples to apply it to your business.
Become a thought leader
To become a thought leader, you need to establish yourself as an expert in your field and provide valuable insights and opinions to your audience. Here are some steps you can take:
- Find your niche: Identify a specific area within your industry that you're passionate about and knowledgeable in.
- Create content: Share your ideas and opinions through blog posts, articles, podcasts, videos, or social media.
- Network: Attend industry events, engage with peers on social media, and build relationships with other thought leaders.
- Stay up-to-date: Stay informed about the latest developments and trends in your industry by reading industry publications, attending webinars and conferences, and participating in online discussions.
- Be authentic: Share your personal experiences and opinions, and don't be afraid to challenge conventional wisdom or offer new perspectives.
- Provide value: Offer practical advice and insights that your audience can use to improve their own work or business.
- Engage with your audience: Respond to comments, ask for feedback, and start conversations with your followers.
Become a thought leader to gain reputation as expert in your industry.
By following these steps and consistently producing high-quality content, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and gain a reputation as a go-to source for insights and advice.
Be prepared for customization
During your sales interactions, it is important to be prepared for encountering customers who have specific and distinctive requirements. This is quite normal when dealing with businesses that have varying organizational structures and diverse needs.
Be prepared for customization
Rather than responding with negative statements such as "you won't" or "you can't," it is essential to ensure that your sales approach is flexible enough to accommodate the customer's preferences. This means being open to adapting your strategy to fulfill their demands, even if it requires putting in additional effort or modifying your usual practices.
By doing so, you can build stronger relationships with your customers, enhance your reputation as a reliable and customer-focused salesperson, and ultimately achieve greater success in your sales career.
For example, at Viindoo, we assist Business in expanding, customizing, and adding features to suit specific requirements that other software cannot meet.
Value for Customers with Viindoo’s customization service:
- Customized features tailored to specific needs
- In-depth advice from a team of experts
- Commitment to quality
- Cost savings for business development and operation
- Compatibility with existing functions and high scalability
- Automatic robot quality control system
- Ownership of Customizations
Implement a free trial
According to HubSpot's sales strategy report, one of the most effective methods to convince potential customers to buy your product is by offering a free trial or a freemium version.
Free trials were found to be 76% effective, while freemium options were 69% effective in converting prospects into paying customers, as demonstrated in a graph representing the popularity of free trial offerings.
Implement a free trial
By providing a free trial, you are giving potential customers the chance to try out your product without making a commitment. You can set limitations on the free version, such as restricted features or usage caps.
Not only does this provide prospects with a risk-free opportunity to try your product, but it also helps to build brand loyalty and expand your customer base. Prospects who have a positive experience using the free version are more likely to convert to the paid version in the future.
In conclusion, building a sales strategy plan is crucial for the success of any business. By following the guides and examples provided, businesses can create an effective plan that aligns with their goals and objectives, increases revenue, and strengthens customer relationships. Continuous evaluation and adaptation are essential for continued success.
