How many of you are working on your sales plan for 2016? A better question might be: how many of you know you should be working on your 2016 sales plan, but haven’t found the time?
Everything comes to a head at the end of the year: closing out the year, the holidays, football season, cold weather, and yes … planning for next year. If you’re like practically every other sales professional (especially if you work for an independent security integrator), then your 2016 planning has been put on the back burner. If it’s due on December 18th, then I bet you’ll be awake really late on the 17th. This isn’t a knock on you or other sales people. The fact is this: if you have so much time on your hands that you’re able to dedicate hours per day to building a plan, then you’re probably not selling.
So, what can you do? Planning is imperative to greatness, and your boss probably wants a plan. I’ve found the most important factor to a successful annual sales plan is to make it simple. Don’t require a novel. Provide a template of a few requirements that will take your sales people less than four hours to complete; and begin working with them on the plan at least 30 days before the due date. It’s much more effective to have a simple, but well thought-out plan than a complex strategy that is overwhelming and doesn’t stimulate any thought or buy-in from your sales team.
Good luck in your planning, and remember – keep it simple!
