Amazing, it’s the middle of March-are you ready for the second quarter?
With many of my clients we have the each member of the sales team prepare a six month Business Plan and then a shorter Quarterly Action Plan is created and as I was preparing a client audit today I realized it was time to begin to have this client’s sales team evaluate their performance.
The six month Sales Business Plan is much more than a simple sales forecast but a tool designed to help the salesperson set goals and objectives in a variety of areas.
The Quarterly Action Plan is a more tactical plan to execute on key actions to achieve their goals from their Business Plan.
There are several aspects to this systematic approach to coaching a team:
• First, the team must prepare and believe in the plan/document they are using, this normally does not always happen until the first formal review period when they see results or lack of results vs their plan.
• Second, monthly the Sales Manager must discuss with each salesperson as to their actual performance vs the plan.
• Third, the plan must include the necessary actions to improve overall performance
• Fourth, the two plans, must be designed to work together and not conflict
In building either plan consider these key elements:
• What training and development programs are important to reinforce
• What prospecting and activity goals are important to manage
• What revenue/margin goals that need a focus
• What account or territory intelligence and relationship building is important
What are you using to build a more systematic approach to hitting your objectives?
What did I miss?
