Sales planning is critical to the success of your business. Unfortunately, some folks spend more time planning their vacations than they do planning their business. Here are a dozen reasons I have seen or heard happen due to lack of sales planning.
1. You keep saying next month you’ll write down goals; it’s already the end of January.
2. Your sales plan is written on the back of a Panera receipt; and it is misplaced.
3. The sales team is waiting for the order; should arrive any day now.
Sound familiar? Keep going, there’s more…
4. There’s no accountability for poor results.
5. You haven’t heard from one of your sales reps in four weeks.
6. There are just a few prospects in your pipeline and dozens of key prospects are lost opportunities after just one phone call.
7. Negotiating always ends in lowering your price.
8. Some of your best customers haven’t ordered in weeks.
9. Sales meetings turn into gripe sessions.
10. Sales potential is not maximized.
11. You might know what your January results are. You may even know what you will sell in February; but you don’t even have a guess what you will sell in March.
12. You lack direction. A plan is a map. Without a map you will end up someplace else.
You know you need a sales plan. Without a plan you may be successful; but chances are you’re missing a lot of easy opportunities that can make the difference between an OK year and an awesome year.
You’ve heard it before: if you didn’t like last year’s results and you continue to do the same thing, you will get the same results again and again. Sales planning is an easy way to make 2012 your best year ever.
Set your objectives, hustle and give your professional best.
What’s your reason for not having a 2012 sales plan?
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