Action Planning that Drives Sales Results

The Importance of Prioritizing Action Items in your Annual Sales Plan

For AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) Organizations, end of year planning is an important time… a time when Leadership, Operations, BD and Marketing come together to plan for next year’s sales success.

But the biggest frustration I hear is that after the planning meeting ends, nothing happens…lists of 'to-do' items sit idle and the plan never reaches fruition.  Or worse…it fails to produce the desired results. 

When our Team is called in to help, all too often we find that these organizations have failed to properly prioritize a long list of Marketing and BD Action Items.  Instead, BD and Marketing Action Items represent a wish list of ‘pet projects’ as opposed to a prioritized list of actions that will drive your team toward your goals.

To avoid this mistake and ensure that you can make measurable progress toward your goals in the New Year, it is important to gain consensus on the most important things each member of your team must focus on.

The Critical Step that Ensures Success

The tactical phase of planning is the phase 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.

This is a critical step and where most annual planning fails: To drive performance, it is important to identify and limit your priorities by insisting that every action item is tied to a meaningful result.

To achieve results, our Team at Blueprint Growth Consulting recommends the following:

1) Segment your list of BD and Marketing Action Items identified in your Annual Sales Planning Meeting into four categories:

• Action Items that will improve areas of deficiency (weaknesses, threats)
• Action Items that will close the gap between your current situation and your plan for next year
• Action Items related to pursuing Opportunities identified in your SWOT Analysis
• Items to achieve an aspirational result

2) Prioritize each segmented list of Action Items as follows:

• Must do
• Nice to do
• Not this year

3) Create a final list of your 'must do' Action Items. This list becomes your Priority Action Items. Then make them S.M.A.R.T. (An acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timebound.)  Be sure to make one person accountable for each Action Item. Keep a list of your ‘nice to do’ items and add them to your list only after you make progress on your Priorities.

For the Sales and Marketing Team, these Priority Action Items are the engine of productivity. For Leadership, establishing actionable and measurable results in your Sales Plan creates a scorecard that provides 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.

Focus on your Priorities

The focus on your Priority BD and Marketing Action list is what makes our process so productive. By limiting priorities, your team will be less likely to be consumed by pet projects or busy work, allowing your team to focus on the important activities that will drive your results.

For more Information about how we can help your Team achieve sales success in 2024, send an email to [email protected] or call us at 856-430-2504.
 
Read more about our proprietary process: Sales and Marketing Plans
 
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