​Do you have a Sales Plan or a Sales Strategy?

To win in today’s competitive market you have to know the difference.  Your sales strategy is your blueprint for how you are going to beat your competition. Your sales plan defines how you are going to execute your sales strategy.

Strategy has become such an overused word in sales and marketing that it has been drained of purpose.  It seems every sales plan is called a strategic plan, and every marketing tactic is called a strategy.   LinkedIn lists ‘strategic’ as one of the top 10 overused words in profiles.  A search on Google indicates that ‘sales strategy’ appears in English print about 250% more often than it did in 1980.   Whether all this sales literature has really helped us to develop good strategies to beat our competition is debatable.

It is tempting to want to dress up a well-thought out sales and marketing plan by calling it ‘strategic’.  For Sales and Marketing Professionals this is a risky trap because in doing so planners may not clearly distinguish between a sales plan and a sales strategy. As a result, they may fail to properly position themselves to beat the competition.  To avoid this trap BluePrint Growth Consulting recommends following 3 simple rules:

1  Understand what strategy is not.

Strategy is not a list of goals.  A common mistake is to confuse goals with strategy.  Just because we set SMART goals does not make them strategic.  A plan defines what an organization is trying to do, and goals help measure progress toward the goal.  A Strategy defines how you are going to do it.

Strategy is not just a list of sales and marketing tactics. Networking is not a strategy, it is a tactic. SEO is not a strategy, it is a tactic. Too often sales and marketing planners focus on tactics because they are easier to define and developing a competitive strategy is hard work.​

Strategy is not your Vision.  Your vision defines where you are trying to go and generally remains unchanged.  Your strategy has to respond to the changing environment and to your competition.

2   Establish a Sales Planning Process

A sales and marketing plan helps to provide direction and focus for all employees. It points to specific results that are to be achieved and establishes a course of action for achieving them. A plan also helps the various departments within an organization to align themselves with common goals. Without a clear plan, expectations are developed in a void, priorities change constantly and there is little or no alignment with common goals.

Make sure to take the time to clearly define your Vision, Mission and Values so you have a firm foundation for your sales plan.  If you do not have a clear sense of where you are today and where you are going it is difficult to establish common goals.  

3   Know your Competition

The concept of strategy is rooted in beating the enemy – or in business, beating the competition.   Without a clear understanding of how you are going to beat your competition you may have a great sales plan, but it is not a strategic sales plan.  Defining your strategy is not easy. Organizations have to understand their market, their customers, and their competitors.  A good sales strategy ensures you have a plan to beat your competition, not just chase opportunities. 

To learn more about how you can develop a Strategic Sales Plan to beat your competition, join us for one of our Workshops at the Society for Marketing Professional Services (eligible for 1.5 CPSM credits and 1.5 AIA CES LUs); or at Associated Builders and Contractors.

Learning Overview:

Learn how to build a strategic business development plan for achieving your sales targets. A good planning process brings operations and sales together to set goals and to generate agreement on strategic priorities, outcomes and results. Learn how to build a solid plan that aligns the sales strategy with the corporate strategy so that sales energy and resources are efficiently used and measurable goals are established that drive performance and compensation.

BluePrint Growth Consulting helps Organizations in the Building Industry position themselves ahead of their competition by developing great sales strategies and great sales plans.  www.BDBluePrint.com

 Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
Cheshire Cat:  That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice:  I don't much care where…
Cheshire Cat:  Then it doesn't matter which way you go.
Alice:  I just want to get somewhere…
Cheshire Cat:  Oh, you're sure to do that, if you only walk long enough.

In Sales, going the ‘extra mile’ without a clear definition of where you are headed can feel like Alice walking in Wonderland, working hard but not meeting your goals.  To reach your sales goals you have to know where you are going, and then you have to follow a path that will take you where you want to go.  That's where strategic planning comes in. In the same way a road map charts the course of your journey, a strategic plan defines how your organization will reach its sales goals.  

In today’s competitive environment, Design and Building Organizations must focus their energy to ensure that all members of the organization are working toward the same goals.  This is where your sales and marketing plan can help - providing direction and focus for all employees. It points to specific results that are to be achieved and establishes a course of action for achieving them. A strategic plan also helps the various departments within your organization to align themselves with common goals. Without a clear plan, expectations are developed in a void, priorities change constantly and there is little or no alignment with common goals.

You may already have an intuitive sense of your strategy - you know where your organization needs to be and many of the key sales and marketing activities that will get you there.  However, many times the strategy remains a virtual plan – locked in the heads of management and not well communicated throughout the organization. When your management team, business development, marketing, operations and even your customers know where you’re going, you position yourself for more predictable success.

Getting it done

Once you recognize the need to plan, you now have to get it done - facilitating the buy-in and commitment of your leadership team, Seller-Doers, and your business development and marketing team.   The planning process does not have to be complicated, but it takes some preparation and commitment. 

Here are 3 steps from BluePrint Growth Consulting to help you get started:

1. Understand where you are today.  Like all journeys, sales planning starts with a known position from where you can chart your course to achieve your goals.  Start by taking stock of your organization’s strengths and weaknesses and research what your competitors are doing.  Identify current trends in the Industry and clearly identify who your customers are.   Most importantly, take time to ask your customers what you can do better to meet their needs.
2.  Clearly define where you want to go.  Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) for your team so you can measure progress toward your goals.  Make sure you clearly identify who is responsible for what and by when.
3. Draft a plan to achieve your goals. This is the tactical phase of planning and where your plan becomes actionable. It consists of mapping out your actual business development activities and marketing activities you will undertake to meet your goals. 

Implement, review and adjust

Once developed, the key to successful implementation is using the Plan to establish expectations for the sales and marketing team based on the sales goals and how your business will achieve those goals. 
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In Sales and Marketing, goals are the engine of productivity.  One of the most powerful things about establishing specific and measurable goals in your Sales Plan is that they become your scorecard – providing indicators for how well you are implementing your plan.  These indicators allow you to look critically at your sales and marketing activities and to adjust on a regular basis. Remember to review and analyze your results and adjust to keep your plan relevant and on-target.

In an uncertain economy it is important to consider alternative scenarios for the coming year that reflect best case, worst case and most likely case scenarios.  This allows all members of the team to formally acknowledge that things can happen to change your plan and it allows time to think about alternate decisions.   Practice what you will do if your circumstances change so your entire team is prepared to perform under pressure.

What does a Sales Plan look like?

A good strategic sales and marketing plan looks out 3 to 5 years and sets out sales targets and tactics for your business and identifies the steps you will take to meet your targets. 
Most importantly, a good plan reflects the overall business strategy and has the buy-in of all your business departments.   It is essential to recognize that a sales and marketing plan is not just a document, book or binder.  What is important is that the Plan captures a defined process that defines how your company is going to achieve your goals.

For more Information about how we can help your Team achieve sales success in 2020, send an email to [email protected] or call us at 856-430-2504.

Read more about our proprietary process:Sales and Marketing Plans

BDblueprint - planning for Sales and Marketing Success
SDblueprint - a proven system for Seller-Doer Success