Sales Management Planning – 5 Tips to Help You Plan

Sales Management Planning - 5 Tips to Help You Plan

In my experience with a variety of sales teams, sales organizations, and managers, I’ve discovered that the majority of the issues that they encounter frequently are caused by the lack of preparation by managers of sales. The old saying goes, “Fail to Plan, Plan to fail.” So, why can’t sales managers have a plan?

Over the course of my training my students, they’ve given me numerous reasons for the reason they don’t plan. they have a few of the most common reasons:

I’m not sure of what to do;
I don’t have time to plan, and I am too busy.
I like being agile and responsive, but my planning prevents me from doing this.
I’m so busy trying to solve problems, but I don’t have the time to plan.
It’s not part of my job description, so why should I care.
Planning shouldn’t be a burden since it can help the sales manager to in becoming more efficient and effective. My experience has proven that when a salesperson plans, they can overcome a variety of problems which usually consume the majority of the time. If you’re struggling with your planning, these are few suggestions to aid you in starting or improving your planning. My students have endorsed these as their top 5 strategies, so I thought I’d give them to you.

Tip One: Allocate time in your calendar to plan.

Make a commitment and block space in your diary or on your calendar for planning. This could be every day, week, or month. In any case, you need to record it in the schedule you follow for your appointments to ensure that you don’t have to use the time to do something else.

Tip Two: Engage your team members in the process of planning.

The team should be part of your plans since they could be required to contribute to the objectives you’re looking to establish. Engage them as they can offer great ideas and will become involved in the process to ensure its success.

Tips Three Rethink the way you think about your planning.

Don’t think of the planning process as something you’re required to do as a sales manager. Consider it an opportunity to consider challenges, prospects or staff, and other aspects in a way that is creative. If you think it should be a requirement, your chances of success in planning are slim.

Tip Four – Give your team and/or yourself some goals.

The effectiveness of a plan is only as effective as the goals you establish. Be sure to make your goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and SMART (Specific measurable, attained, Relevant, and timeframe) because it will make them more concrete.

Tip Five: Divide your goals into actions plans.

I’ve discovered that an action plan for 90 days is a fantastic method to assist people in achieving their goals. It allows sales managers to record the tasks necessary to accomplish the goal and also indicate the deadlines. Action plans that I teach are divided into 30-60 or 90 daily tasks. Each lesson is assigned its own due date as well as a reason why it must be completed.

Planning can help you deal with future problems; therefore, don’t put them off. Try it out and tell me what you think. I would love to hear your feedback. I wish you the best of luck.