Sales are an integral part of any business, so developing a plan to create more sales is a necessity. Generating revenue is essential to staying in business, so carefully outlining a sales plan should be one of your first objectives before you go into business or launch a product.
- You must first decide on what product you want to sell. Take one of your existing products and think about how you would want to increase its market share or sell more of it. Outline your main objectives of what you would like to accomplish with your sales plan. From there, set achievable, measurable goals. These goals could be the number of products sold or a bigger slice of the market. Setting goals likely requires research on how your current product is doing in the market and what kind of competition it is up against. Getting a feel for how your product or your company stands in the current marketplace will help you better understand what direction you want to go in.
- One of the most critical steps in developing a sales plan is establishing tactics, or specific actions that you will take to help achieve your sales goal. Use your research to help you determine who your target audience is and specifically how you can reach them. Write out a set of measurable actions that you will take to reach your goal. Using a time line is helpful. For example, write what you might think your first step. Then, based on the possible results of what could come after that first step, write different avenues you could pursue. The time line keeps you aware of where you stand and what actions need to be taken next.
- Although you may have already picked out your target audience, narrow your focus on how you will target it. Find out what your target audience really desires, as this is the key to the sales process. If you can find out what it desires, you will be more able to service its with your product. Your job is not just to sell them a product, but to fill one of its needs and ultimately help fulfill its desire. Knowing clients and doing research will uncover your target's true needs.
- Before you go out and move forward with your sales plan, write an executive summary, which is similar to a mission statement. In this document, summarize your research, objectives and strategies into a simple, readable composition that gives an overall view of your plan. It should include your measurable goals and other general objectives, but doesn't need to be a long, detailed explanation.
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