The Sales Planning Process

Learn how to plan sales by setting effective goals and identifying your competitors.

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Course: On-Demand

(bright music) Welcome to The Sales Planning Process. In these lessons, we'll cover important steps in planning sales, including setting goals and identifying your competitors. In recent years, organizations have adopted the SMART model of goal setting. The acronym means specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time specific. To be successful in your role, spend time working on your goals. You can have the goal of call new customers. But is that really a helpful goal? A better goal would be, contact five new vertical customers each week. This is more concrete than the original goal of call new customers. The new goal specifically names the types of new customers you wish to call. The goal has a realistic timeframe and the goal can be achieved. Depending on your workload, you can increase or decrease the number of contacts you want to make. Work to make all of your goals SMART. Depending on your compensation plan, attainment of goals can be a significant aspect of performance and compensation. In sales roles, adherence to quotas or sales goals may be the catalyst that makes or breaks your employment. That's why you need to be able to set goals for yourself as well as for your team. It can be daunting to set goals and you may not know exactly where to start. Let's look at five tips for setting goals. One, check the previous two years' statistics. This is often the best place to start when setting objectives or goals. This will tell you where your team came from, where it is now and what to aim for in the next year. You can see where any changes you made previously did or did work. Two, make goals a challenge. Don't set your objectives at easy to reach levels. Give your team a reachable challenge. This can motivate your team to work hard and feel accomplished. Three, have some healthy competition. Sales people tend to be competitive, so set goals that encourage their competitiveness. But make sure the competition does not get out of hand. If you plan to do this, it is important to make sure the goals are not set too high. Four, write the goals down. Writing down your goals will help you and your team achieve them. You can place the list of goals in a spot where everyone can see them throughout the day. Five, create activity goals. Not all your goals should be results oriented. You should create activity goals, such as making a certain amount of phone calls or sending a specific number of emails per week. These goals can be easier to reach and will not result in your salespeople feeling down or unmotivated to keep going. Finally, goals must be backed up by the appropriate resources in order to achieve them. Whether you are setting personal goals or goals for your team, make sure you have the necessary resources to achieve the goals you set. You want to make sure that you and your team are set up for success. The last thing you want to do is set goals and not give the team the necessary resources to reach those goals. That situation will lead to a lot of frustration personally and as a team. With specific goals based on solid information and research as well as the resources to achieve those goals, you and your team will thrive.

Intermediate Provider : Tami Glasco 3 Lessons · 7m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

Traditional selling and marketing, with its focus on getting new business, is giving way more and more to a modern style of selling. Modern companies are recognizing the long-term benefits of gaining repeat business through building and maintaining relationships with their customers. Because of this, salespeople are becoming the goodwill ambassadors for their company or brand, the face that represents the values, quality, and reliability of the company. The good news is that you don’t need to have a background in sales to be successful in this new environment. The most effective salespeople will be those who are able to engage in genuine, honest interactions with their customers, learning how to listen and find solutions to satisfy and meet the customers’ needs.

These lessons on The Sales Planning Process will cover how to set specific goals for you and your sales team based on solid information and research, the importance of having the resources to back up the goals, and the best goals to ensure motivation and healthy competition. This course will also delve into evaluating your competitors through a competitive analysis and explain why it’s vital to include both your direct and indirect competition in this analysis, so you can effectively show how your product better fits your prospects’ needs.

What You'll Learn

Define SMART goals and apply them to set and achieve specific sales goals
Apply best practices for setting team sales goals
Identify your direct and indirect competitors
Evaluate your competition by performing a competitive analysis
Use solid information and research to set goals for yourself and your sales team

Key Takeaways

Modern selling emphasizes long-term customer relationships and repeat business over a sole focus on winning new business.
Salespeople act as goodwill ambassadors representing their company's values, quality, and reliability.
A sales background is not required to succeed; effective salespeople engage in genuine, honest interactions, listen, and find solutions that meet customers' needs.
Setting specific sales goals should be based on solid information and research, backed by adequate resources, and structured to drive motivation and healthy competition.
Competitive analysis should include both direct and indirect competition so you can show how your product better fits your prospects' needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

The Sales Planning Process covers how to set specific sales goals based on solid information and research, the importance of having resources to back up goals, setting goals that drive motivation and healthy competition, and evaluating competitors through a competitive analysis that includes both direct and indirect competition. Lessons include Setting Goals, Identifying Competitors, and a Test Your Knowledge section.

Do I need a sales background to take this course?

No. The course states you don't need a background in sales to be successful in this modern selling environment; the most effective salespeople are those who can engage in genuine, honest interactions, listen, and find solutions to meet customers' needs.

What skills will I gain?

You will gain skills in competitive analysis and in using SMART objectives to set and achieve specific sales goals.

Why does the course emphasize relationships with customers?

Because modern companies recognize the long-term benefits of gaining repeat business through building and maintaining relationships, making salespeople the goodwill ambassadors who represent the values, quality, and reliability of their company or brand.