In Stephen Covey terms we were about things that are Important but not Urgent. Planning is exactly that. It is about structuring what activities you are going to undertake, about what relationships you are going to have to build to get to the Decision Makers and it is about looking for new opportunities within your account base.
Most of your revenue will come from a few of your key accounts - good old 80:20 always works. But how are you going to change that? How are you going to grow your revenue and your personal earning capability unless you plan to extend your activity into those accounts that you have rarely or never touched, unless you have a plan? Where are you going to find time to plan when you are so busy with your existing clients?
The answer of course is by spending less time on unimportant activities (be they urgent or non urgent in Covey parlance). But how are you going to identify how you grow your revenue even if you can find the time? The answer of course is to have some structure and discipline towards what you have to achieve this year, build a plan. Without structure and discipline you will just keep meandering and doing "stuff" and maybe if you are lucky you may achieve your number for 2010/11.
Let me illustrate my point with an anecdote. Just 2 weeks ago I was working with a client on a coaching for Sales Managers program. One of the activities we undertake is to observe the Sales Manager having a 1:1 session with their team members. So having explained to the individual sales person my role (and basically to ignore me) the Sales Manager kicked off the 1:1.
All was going quite well for a few minutes until it came to the part where the Sales Manager was talking to his team member about this year's plan. Both of them talked about great stuff like setting SMART objectives, improving product knowledge in areas where it was lacking and what goals should be set when suddenly the sales person launched into a tirade of concerns about being micro managed and why couldn't he just be left alone until the end of the year so he could get on with his job without people on his back all the time - "doesn't anyone trust me?" was the gist of his outburst.
What was really happening of course was that the sales person was so busy doing unimportant stuff (both urgent and non urgent) that he dreaded the thought of having a plan and having someone "check up on him" on a regular basis. This guy was prepared to go into the year, with the biggest new business target he had ever taken on (everyone in the team needed to find new business of £1.2m in 2010/11) yet he thought he could do it carrying on doing the same stuff he had always done without any structure, plan or review between now and March 2011!
When questioned by the Sales Manager it turned out this guy had only met with 25% of his customer base. He knew virtually nothing about three quarters of his customers and was complaining about micro management and the number of sales calls he was expected to make (in this case just 8 per week were asked for yet he saw this as arbitrary and excessive)
So what is all this to do with Planning? The answer is everything. You have to Plan the Work and then Work the Plan. Think about which accounts you could grow.
- What do you know about these untapped accounts?
- Which products could you sell into these accounts?
- What are the business development opportunities in your client base?
- Which accounts can you grow, which ones will you have to start from scratch?
- What is your contact strategy?
- How many new clients will you have to contact to generate sufficient leads to create a pipeline that will provide you enough revenue to hit your number?
- What is your conversion ratio of Opportunities to Closed deals.
- What is your weekly call plan going to have to look like?
- How many prospects do you need to qualifying in/out each week? What number of closed deals do you need by 30th June to know you are on track?
You get the idea don't you? Build a simple spreadsheet with all of your accounts key information. If you have one - extract the data from your company's CRM system and build the contact plan, calling plan, in fact all aspects of the plan from that. Then work that plan and check progress each week - first in your own mind then share this with your sales manager.
Every week look at what worked, what did not, what you need to do differently if you are falling short, what you can do more of when you are successful.
Don't forget to include all the things you do not know about your target accounts in your plan
- What might other members of the Account team or service team know about the target clients
- Do some landscaping - find out what your targets spend with your competitors
- Find out how they buy, who makes the decisions, call the procurement department - create a "buying decisions" chart for each new client - the who, the how and the key decision making criteria of each prospect
All of this is about good planning and none of it is about micro management or lack of trust
Unless you have a plan you are going to have to be very lucky to achieve your target; especially if that target is bigger than ever before and therefore involves you in going beyond your comfort zone.
Planning in sales is as important as it is in any other discipline - it provides structure and focus and enables you check progress. It is the bedrock of a good sales year. Fail to plan and Plan to Fail as the old cliche goes.
Isn't it annoying how these old cliches are also truisms?
Be prepared to ask for help
If you are not happy with your account plans feel free to contact Accredit. We can give you quick feedback just by placing a comment on this blog, or we can work with you to ensure you are best placed to start the financial year in an effective manner.
Do you want to know more?
Either read our "Helping business drive sales" document, download the "Personal Business Plan" or contact fred.nelson@sales-accredit.com and Fred can take you through more detail.
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