A sales action plan template that’s realistic and doesn’t scare off your whole team
Have you ever made a goal that you knew couldn’t be reached before you even started? You’ll lose 100 pounds in three months—sure! You’ll train for a week and win a marathon—yes! You’ll buy a new house, car, dog, and get married by the end of the year—of course, why not?
If that’s true you’ve probably set some unrealistic expectations in business, too. Maybe for yourself, and maybe for your team.
As your company grows and generates more business, keeping track of your objectives can get inundating. You look to accomplish bigger and better goals as your business expands; however, maintaining a streamlined strategy for your company as a whole can become a tedious and tiresome feat.
Formulating a sales action plan template is a great way start to boosting your productivity. They are useful when you have a sales strategy that needs to get implemented into your work, as well as your employee’s work.
A sales action plan is unlike making a regular list of things to do. With a to-do list, you’re checking off your work as you go along. Maybe you can switch the order of certain projects or do multiple ones at the same time.
On the other hand, if you follow the sales action plan accordingly, one task leads you to the next, bigger project. In many ways, it’s similar to climbing a ladder—each task you fulfill will inch you closer to completing bigger goals.
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Creating an sales action plan template yourself
Prior to putting your template together, think about what goes into most action plans. Most have a similar formula, but you want to make sure you get as much ground covered as possible. This includes thinking about the plan’s mission, the objectives that lead to the main goal, who this involves, etc.
- The Who
When you’re coming up with a plan, who is going to be involved in this particular one? You’ll need to remind yourself that having a team is a pivotal part of executing a project. Also think about who you are targeting in this sales action plan, i.e. existing clients and leads. - The Plan
When you’re creating your sales action plan template, you’ll have to formulate a general approach to each strategy. What will you need to create and organize a solid plan? The mission statement, a description of the plan and a list of the project’s objective. With that list also comes the task of listing the deadline per objective, who will tackle the work, what they will need to do, etc. - The Marketing
Set aside a place on your sales action plan template where you can discuss how you will market your work. Will you schedule a social media plan? Are there networking events for team members to attend? There are many ways that you can advertise your product or service; but you may need to think of a different marketing approach per plan.
How to create a sales action plan template
1. It’s easy as… Microsoft Word! You can use other software to create your template, but the truth is that Microsoft Word is low maintenance and effective. You can add descriptions, mission statements and build tables for your staff to review and use when a sales action plan comes along.
2. Create a section on your sales action plan template that is dedicated to filling in your mission statement and project description. Mission statements don’t need to be anymore than three lines to sum up the big picture of each project. And for the description section, you can give some extra room. Each time you have a sales action plan, the template will be your guide on where to start.
3. Outline what you want on the sales action plan template and create a standard table. One column can be dedicated to the big objectives and the next to smaller tasks. You can add a column about the status of each objective, one for who will be tackling the project and another column for the time frame. Of course, every strategy is different; but these are the most basic columns you can embed into your table.
4. Your resources are another important element to your sales action plan template. With each project, be specific on what technology or software was used, what other outside resources were used, etc. It will keep funding on track and is a good frame of reference if you need it in the future.
5. Close with a superior’s signature. When creating any sort of plan, you want to make sure your employer (or whoever is a position above you) to look over your plan before it gets implemented into your daily work. At the bottom of the sales action plan template, have a line that is open to be signed by one of your superiors. Maybe you’ll want to add two lines for signatures, in case if you need more than one approval for each sales action plan.
Here are a few resources where you can download and view sales action plan templates:
- 6+ Sales Action Plan Templates from Template.net
- A Business Plan Template for Sales Reps from Hubspot
- A Strategic Marketing and Sales Plan from Flevy
- Action Plan Templates from Entrepreneur
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Let us help you makes sales calls even easier. Sign up with Blitz today for a 30-day free trial of our lead management software and turn more leads into customers with less work!
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