Answer to Question #186734 in Management for Prabhdeep Singh

Question

Answer to Question #186734 in Management for Prabhdeep Singh

Question #186734

Subject: Project Planning and Control

1) Explain the various factors worth considering before formulating a sales plan. (please give at least 8 factors with elaboration)

2)a)What is the significance of market segmentation and significance of product differentiation? (please give at least 8 points for each significance)

b)How future sales plans are prepared? (please answer in 200 words)

Expert's answer

Question 1

1. Set realistic sales goals in your sales plan. Before we get into the process of how you’re going to get your sales this year, we need to talk about something bigger: Goals. Your sales plan template needs an end goal. You need a number—either sales or customers or whatever metric you choose—that will tell you whether or not what you’ve done has been a success. I’ve written about setting realistic sales goals in depth before, but what it all comes down to is determining what realistically you can bring in based on the size of the market, your company goals, and the experience and resources available to your sales team.

2. Define clear deadlines and milestones in your sales plan. In order to know whether or not the assumptions you’re making in your sales plan are close to the mark, you need to break that big number down into smaller expectations with strict deadlines. We call these milestones and they're incredibly handy in tracking whether or not your sales plan is on the right path. Clear deadlines and manageable milestones take research and time to develop. They should challenge and motivate your sales team, without being so difficult they kill morale.

3. Pick a niche to focus on and build traction in. Now that we know what we want to hit, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of building out our sales plan template. First, we need to know the market we’re in and the niche we’re going to occupy so we can properly position our business for growth (and to achieve the goals in your sales plan)

4. Understand your target customers. It makes no sense spending time and money chasing after the wrong prospects, so don't allow them to make their way into your sales plan. Once you know your niche, it’s time to dig into finding out as much as possible about your target customer in order to properly sell to them.

5. Map out your customer’s journey. Alright, now we’re getting somewhere solid. With your ideal customer profile in place, the next part of your sales plan needs to address how that customer becomes your customer. We can do this by mapping out their journey from prospect to a loyal customer.

6. Define your value propositions. We know our customers. We know their journey. Now we need to fit ourselves into it in the best way possible. This comes from defining your competitive advantage.

7. Build a prospect list. Now that you know the types of customers you’re after and how you’re going to sell them, it’s time to build out a list of people at these companies to begin sales prospecting. A prospect list is where we take all the theory and research of the last few sections of our sales plan template and put them into action.

8. Leverage current client relationships. You’re missing out on a huge opportunity if your sales plan template only focuses on finding new business leads. Word-of-mouth, introductions, and current customers can be your most solid lead for growth.

Question 2

a) 1. Improves Campaign Performance. Market segmentation can help you to improve the performance of your marketing campaigns by helping you to target the right people with the right messaging at the right time. Segmentation enables you to learn more about your audience so you can better tailor your messaging to their preferences and needs.

2. Informs Product Development. Market segmentation can also help companies to develop products that better meet the needs of their customers. You can create products to appeal to the needs your main market segment may have and develop different products tailored to different parts of your customer base.

3. Improves Business Focus. Market segmentation can also help businesses to focus their efforts, which enables them to establish a brand identity and specialize in a particular type of product.

4. Reveals Areas to Expand. Market segmentation can also help businesses to identify audience segments that they are not currently reaching with their marketing efforts and then expand into new markets.

5. Informs Other Business Decisions. Market segmentation can also help to inform other important business decisions regarding how you get your product to customers. These decisions may involve matters such as pricing and distribution.

6. Building brand loyalty. Strong product differentiation makes your business memorable. Customers will associate elements of your brand—like your logo, voice and tone, and social media presence—with your product or service and all of its benefits.

7. Achieving higher price points. You can increase your profits, sometimes by a significant margin, through product differentiation.

8. Narrowing down your target audience. Product differentiation helps you refine your target audience as well.

b) As I just mentioned, it's those at the top that generally implement sales strategy plans. Someone decides on an arbitrary revenue or growth figure based on external factors, divides the number evenly amongst sales territories, and hits the trigger button.

The problem with this approach is that it’s far too simplistic. It fails to take into account which markets and territories could support the most growth, the continually evolving customer journey, competitors, market maturity, etc.

Consequently, these poorly planned strategies lose traction over time, create confusion amongst the sales team, and fail to achieve their overall objectives.

So, to build a successful sales strategy plan directors should follow this five-stage sales strategy plan template: