Once upon a time, the term “sales manager” did not even exist, but today no one can imagine without it. trade Organization. And since there are such professionals, it means that there are those who manage them. Read more about what is included in the work plan of the head of the sales department in our article.

The essence of the position

- This is a specialist whose functions include organizing the sale of goods. As a manager, he is responsible for the work of the entire department, and his job responsibilities are as follows:

• (goals, objectives, motivation, ideology) and its management.
• Market analysis.
• Selection and adaptation of employees.
• Searching and attracting clients.
• Drawing up reports.
• Maintaining, maintaining and expanding the client network.

Over time, such a professional can rise up the career ladder to the position of financial or even general director.

Work plan

There are different attitudes of sales department heads towards planning. Some are of the opinion that the development plan must be implemented no matter what. It is built in a similar way. Other experts, citing the mobility of the market, consider the plan to be of little use. They allow for frequent adjustments, changes in goals and deadlines.

Whichever position appeals to you is a mandatory requirement for the head of this department. Before creating it, it is necessary to understand the real state of affairs on the world market, calculate the predicted indicator, take into account resources, staff, the company’s pricing policy, etc.

A business plan for sales development is a mandatory requirement for the head of the sales department.

The head of the sales department should easily answer questions such as:

• What is the market situation today?
• Is competition growing?
• What are the relationships between employees within the department?
• Will sales volume change with innovations?
• How well were previous plans implemented?
• How much do we want to earn, and how much can we?

Thus, the head of the sales department structures the complete picture of the department’s work and reflects the following stages in the plan:

1. Forecast. Based on market analysis, active and passive segments of product distribution are prescribed (who is new and regular customer, which regions), on the basis of which the approximate sales volume is derived.
2. Benefit. Taking into account access to new channels for attracting customers, the expected amount of income is determined. Indicators are maintained in both monetary and piece formats.
3. Risks. Inflation expectations, the influence of the competitive field and other factors that can affect business are calculated.
4. Expenses. A budget for sales costs is formed: bonuses, salaries, presentations, business trips, telephone conversations, office supplies, etc.
5. Contacts. A list of regular and potential clients is compiled.
6. Distribution of tasks. In accordance with the level of competence and professionalism of employees, each of them is assigned to perform a specific goal.
7. Reporting. It is indicated how it is planned to monitor the organization and implementation of the new strategy (planners, meetings, documentation).

The primary task of the sales manager is to bring the company profit from sales. To do this, he needs to control all stages of product sales, monitor the development of business relationships, the number of transactions concluded, and if the bar is lowered, provide assistance to employees. The head of the sales department is an indispensable employee in the trading environment.

Any business that does not have a sales department is at great risk of going bankrupt, because without a well-functioning sales department there is nothing to do in a 21st century business. Competition, quality of service, quality of goods is growing every day, and those who sell more successfully conquer markets, while others also successfully leave them.

Over the past 2 years, we have seen a very sad picture - hundreds of thousands of companies across Russia are closing because they are experiencing financial difficulties. If we look at them internal organization, then in most companies we will see that they did not have a well-functioning marketing or sales department, because the managers were confident that " word of mouth“This is the best sales channel and it will allow you to pull a company through a crisis. But the reality is completely different: the sundress no longer works as effectively as it did 10-15 years ago, because the number of companies and competition have grown hundreds of times and the client chooses those companies that stand out from others. Without competent marketing and sales department, this can no longer be achieved. By the way, in the picture above you can see the main basic things that are necessary for successful marketing strategy.

11 main mistakes when building a sales department

• You are not searching for and hiring new sales managers. The sales department is the most dynamic department with the most frequently changing personnel. In this regard, if you do not constantly search and expand your sales department, then sooner or later you will be left without a sales department, which will lead to the loss of the company. Advice: if 3 employees are profitable, then start scaling and recruit 3 more new employees. This will keep the sales department on its toes, because existing managers will feel the competition and will work even more efficiently.
• You don't have scripts for the sales department. You believe that managers themselves will develop their own effective scripts, which they will apply in practice. You do not identify the features of the scripts of the most effective managers. As a result, this will lead to the fact that the most effective ones will sell more and will feel that your business depends on them, and therefore they will dictate terms to you. Also, the lack of proven scripts will not allow you to effectively expand your sales department, since there will be no training system for new managers. If effective managers leave you, then you will not be able to quickly train new recruits. Sales scripts are a distillation of the best techniques that allow you to work effectively with your clients.
• No sales plan. Every manager must clearly understand how much he should sell. The sales plan must be feasible, otherwise managers will lose incentive.
• No plan for the day. If you don't set a plan for the day, then most managers will make a minimum number of new contacts, which will lead to their ineffectiveness. In most business segments, the minimum manager call plan per day is 40. If your managers make fewer new contacts, then sales effectiveness will be minimal. It is worth noting that this does not depend on the manager’s skills, because even a beginner, making a given number of calls, will be able to fulfill the plan in a month. If a manager does not make a plan for the day, then he will not receive a salary.
• The seller has extra responsibilities other than sales. If you distract a sales manager with other tasks, then he will do everything except sales. Do not combine purchasing and sales departments under any circumstances.
• The sales manager accompanies the client after concluding an agreement with him. This is one of the most common mistakes, which are committed by managers when, instead of sales, the manager continues to accompany clients and receives a percentage of each transaction for this. This should not happen in the right sales department. You should separate the sales department and the support department. The sales department manager receives interest only on the first transaction; the remaining contracts with the current client must be concluded by the support department managers. Otherwise, the sales manager will work with 10-20 of his existing clients and will not bring in new ones. The sales department's job is to work with new clients.
• Payment of salaries and bonuses even if the sales plan is not met. Very often, managers believe that if the manager is paid the entire salary with bonuses, even if the manager did not cope with the plan, then he will work more efficiently next month. No. This won't happen. The manager will work the same or even worse, because he will understand that he will still be paid a good salary and bonuses.
• Large salary and small interest on the transaction. Never tie a manager's salary to a high salary, otherwise you will deprive him of motivation. Motivation is exactly what allows a manager to be stimulated. If a manager receives a large salary and small percentages, then he has no incentive to sell more. You can make a higher salary for the first two months (subject to the fulfillment of daily plans) and a smaller percentage of the transaction, and for the 3rd month transfer it to a standard salary +% of transactions, because in 3 months the manager will be able to gain the necessary experience and close the required quantity transactions.
• Non-transparent system for calculating bonuses and interest. It often happens that a company has developed a calculator that allows a manager to calculate his salary independently. This calculator is often opaque and illogical. I remember a case when a manager came to us and told us that at my previous job, the more I had to work, the lower the salary. Also, the salary was reduced if the working day fell on the last day of the month, and therefore none of the sales people wanted to go out on that day. Management also could not explain the logic behind salary calculation.
• Lack of training and mentoring in the sales department. If you haven't developed a system of training and mentoring, then new sales employees will be ineffective. Managers often assume that managers will train themselves and will sell effectively.
• It takes a long time to fire ineffective managers. Very often, heads of companies or sales departments expect miracles from newcomers or existing “burnt out” managers who do not fulfill the plan and, often, do not even pay for themselves. This is a very big mistake, because if a manager does not pay for himself within 2 months, then he should be fired without hesitation, because in the end such managers disorganize more productive employees and bring losses to the company. Also, if a manager after employment does not show the necessary indicators even in the 3rd month after being hired, then this is also a reason to think about his qualifications.

Sales department plan

Having a plan in the sales department significantly increases sales and also allows you to monitor the effectiveness of managers. What is the reason for this, since each manager is personally interested in his effectiveness, because he receives a percentage of sales? Unfortunately, if a manager does not understand how much he needs to sell, he will sell less. Only a few managers exceed the “plan”.

How to set a realistic sales plan?

• Based on business needs (business plan). You must make up detailed business plan, which reflects all costs, which will allow you to clearly understand how many goods or services need to be sold in order to start earning money. Unfortunately, very often managers do not know the company's costs and estimate only the gross profit, thinking that this is enough. But gross profit is "dirty" money that has nothing to do with the company's profit.
• Once you have your sales team up and running and are profitable, you can evaluate your best salespeople and set a more realistic plan. You shouldn’t set a plan based on indicators best managers, because in every company there are always stars and outsiders. It is recommended that the plan be approximately 50%-70% of the best sales figures.

What difficulties did you encounter when forming a sales department? How do you formulate a plan? Write in the comments.

Making a profit is the most basic goal of everyone commercial enterprises. Therefore, the sale of goods and services is the most important function of the company, and the sales territory development plan is an essential component of a successful business plan. For the clearest idea of ​​how much your production will be able to sell goods in a given territory, it is necessary to understand what it is:

• potential of the territory;
• sales potential in the territory;
• sales forecast in the territory;
• sales quota in the territory.

The maximum amount of goods or services that can be sold in a given territory is called territory potential. For example, if a city has a population of 400 thousand families living in apartments with electricity, then they can all buy one TV. This means that the potential of this territory on TV will be 400 thousand for all market participants.

The amount of a product or service that can be sold by a specific enterprise is called sales potential. Since there are competitors in a certain territory, the sales market will be divided between them and you will receive only some part of the territory’s potential.

The sales territory development plan must necessarily contain a sales forecast. This factor must take into account market constraints. Usually the calculation is carried out with pessimistic and optimistic forecasts. The plan should include a pessimistic business development scenario, then you will hope for profit even in the worst case scenario. For example, your supplier can deliver goods to you from its only warehouse at a distance of no more than 5 kilometers - these are market restrictions. Let’s say, within the radius of the supplier, 2 thousand of your potential buyers live, and, according to optimistic forecasts, you will be able to sell 2 thousand TVs, and according to pessimistic forecasts, only 500 - these numbers should be included in the business plan.

Now imagine that in a given territory there are four sellers with equal opportunities, selling televisions from that same warehouse to 2 thousand buyers. Since they have the same rights, each of them will sell 500 units of the product. This value is sales quota televisions in a given territory for each of the distributors.

The sales territory development plan should take into account such factors as: population growth, its income level, the number of goods (or services) similar to yours in the territory, the number of other sellers of similar goods and services, and so on; Taking into account all this data, you will be able to quickly respond to all changes in the sales market.

How to calculate projected sales volume

In order to successfully develop a business in a particular industry, it is necessary to provide for a number of critical stages to achieve the company’s strategic goals. That is why experts trading enterprises make a sales forecast, determine advertising and promotion budgets, plan purchases and detail the entire production process. Since the conditions in the modern market are far from ideal (competition, percentage of purchasing power, regulations), manufacturing process requires constant attention and timely adjustments.

In order to know how to calculate the projected sales volume, you should estimate its volume (by assortment) in the upcoming reporting period. It is necessary to take into account the market capacity, the real need for this product, the estimated number of buyers and the results of proper advertising.

Sales volume forecasting:

• based on time series analysis (trend, seasonal variations, economic cycle are taken into account);
• conducting a break-even analysis (building a graph of fixed/variable costs and profits);
• intuitive methods (expert assessment);
• formalized methods (extrapolation, modeling);
• program-target method.

Each of the above methods allows you to both subjectively assess the current situation and predict prospects further development. Analyzing quantitative indicators With the help of economic and mathematical modeling, it is possible to determine the behavior of an economic object for a certain time period. Thus, company managers most effectively forecast production activities, allocate its resources and ensure expected sales. Known forecasting schemes have advantages and disadvantages, so they are often used for short-term forecasts (month, week, quarter).

Accurate sales forecast for different periods of time:

In order to more clearly record the activities of the enterprise, you need to create an accurate sales forecast that has a deviation from the actual volume of no more than 10%. To do this, calculate the seasonality coefficient and analyze the monthly performance of the company over the course of last year. If we additionally take into account the growth production capacity, level of influence external factors and the sales forecast for each employee from the sales department, then you can completely optimize the company’s functions and reduce existing costs.

Services for calculating projected sales volumes

The projected volume depends on the economic situation and political development of the country. If its values ​​are far from the actual number of sales, then all budgets require changes.

The procedure for payment for the provision of services that are on the account of the ministry social development and healthcare, developed for unified system formation of prices generally accepted for the provision of paid services. Similar rules are necessary for payment for over-established tasks that are supported by the state. Both legal and individuals on the same terms.

Paid services can be provided by an institution only at established prices that fully cover all costs. The organization has the right to independently determine the possibility of providing paid services, based on its material base and taking into account the qualifications and number of personnel, as well as the demand directly for the service.

The institution has the right to independently determine prices for paid services, guided by in accordance with the established procedure. However, the cost should not be more limit price, predetermined by the state.

An organization providing paid services must promptly inform legal entities and citizens reliable information with a list of services on a paid basis and the cost for each separately in a certain form.

To be able to predict sales volumes, it is necessary to be guided by the main groups.

Point forecast is based on specific numbers. It is considered the simplest because it contains the least amount of information. However, in practice other forecasting methods are usually used. Interval forecast involves establishing boundaries where values ​​with a certain level of significance will be located. Probabilistic forecast associated with the actual value of several groups for which intervals are set. However, when creating a forecast, there is a possibility that the actual volume will not correspond to the specified interval. Although forecasters are convinced that the probability is insignificant, therefore it is most often ignored at the time of planning.

Intervals that take into account all sales levels are called pessimistic, optimistic and probable.

Watch the video on YouTube: “Sales territory development plan”.

Instructions

The department development plan must be written taking into account general plan company development. Study and analyze it, as well as analyze the work of your department, get a clear picture of the available labor and material resources, equipment and computer technology.

Determine the timing of the plan. If this is a development plan, then its duration will clearly exceed a year. The optimal period would be 3 years, maximum – 5 years. Formulate the tasks assigned to your department, clarify the deadlines for completing each task. Think over the ways and solutions that are necessary to implement the tasks assigned to the department and estimate whether you have enough available labor and material resources to complete assigned tasks in a timely manner.

If personnel composition department does not allow meeting deadlines, this problem cannot always be solved by recruiting additional staffing units. Since we are talking about development, include employee education, training and continuing education courses in your plan. Increasing the professionalism of department employees should be a mandatory part of the development plan.

Think about how to create and implement a system of work regulations that allows you to obtain an objective assessment of the activities of the entire department and each of its employees. Learn the principles international system quality management, which has already been implemented in many Russian enterprises. Include employee certification in your plan.

In the department development plan, provide for the modernization of existing and installation of new equipment and computer facilities. Think about what means software will need to be installed. Perhaps it makes sense to include in the development plan the implementation automated system accounting or information systems, the use of which will improve the productivity and quality of the department.

Schedule the implementation of the plan by month or quarter. Outline the stages and timing of their implementation. Appoint executors and those responsible who will monitor the implementation of the stages of the plan and proceed to what is planned.

If you have ever thought about the fate of your country, you have probably thought about the fate of yours. region. If, when visiting neighboring regions, you realize that everything is much better there, you should think about improving the quality of life in your region. Read the recommendations below for how to do this.

Instructions

Attract investment. In order for yours to prosper, you need to pour in investments from outside. Just like that, of course, no one will allocate money to the region, so you need to come up with some kind of money so that money will flow into it like a river. For example, you can organize global events in the region, for example, the World or European Championships. The best option, of course, the Olympics, but the competition here is too high, since everyone in the world dreams of holding the Olympic Games. Sporting events will cause an influx of investment not only from the federal treasury, but also from various sponsors, including foreign ones, who want to show off on the banners of your sporting events region.In addition to sporting events, the opening of some kind of research center can influx into the region.

Limit the level of corruption. In order for money to go to the region, and not into the pockets of officials, it is necessary to carry out a global “cleansing” of the ranks of officials. The best option is until money for development starts flowing region When the region receives money for targeted development, it is worth continuing to monitor their path.

pay attention to strengths region. If your region is southern, then it is worth investing in the development of its agricultural program. If there are a lot of useful ones in your area, or metallurgy is developed, then you should develop the industrial component of your region. And in this case, the development of industrial will also have a beneficial effect on the development region generally.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• Modern instruments state regional policy

Thinking about the future, we paint colorful pictures, but in everyday life they rarely come true. The main problem is the lack plan individual development. Without setting priorities, we often confuse important and significant matters with voluminous but unimportant matters. Working on yourself in such a chaotic mode, it is difficult to achieve the desired goal.

Instructions

Defining a specific goal. We choose a goal, then write on paper what we will need for this goal. Don't delay, write down specific steps to the goal and everything that is necessary to complete each step. Break a big goal into small ones. This way you will achieve your main goal faster. Be sure to indicate the due date. Your first basic individual plan development ready. It is recommended to make additions to it that will more fully reveal each step.

Performing individual plan. The most difficult stage. It is very important to follow the plan and not delay the implementation of specific intermediate goals. For every small goal achieved, do not forget to praise and motivate yourself. If a planned step is not completed or deadlines are delayed, you must limit yourself in some way. In this way you will achieve the desired result.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• plan individual development baby

If you constantly do not have enough working hours and you are constantly forced to work in emergency mode and stay after work in order to finish things, then you should analyze this situation. It's likely that this isn't because you have too much work to do. The reason for this may be that you do not know how to organize individual planning of your working time.

Instructions

It is not enough to outline a list of things that you are going to do in a day. An individual plan must be drawn up taking into account the fact that your performance varies throughout the day and, for example, in the morning and at certain times in the afternoon it is maximum. You know yourself best, so identify these periods of increased performance. Take into account in your plan those daily tasks that you must complete within a strictly agreed time.

Review your daily to-do list and identify priorities and those that require maximum concentration. Schedule them to be completed during times when you can brag. high performance. Try to make the most of them and eliminate distractions, stay focused and ask your colleagues not to distract you.

Form large and similar tasks into blocks; this will help you avoid wasting time trying to reorganize. Such an organization of work based on the “conveyor” principle will contribute to more effective use working hours. When changing activities, take a break - drink tea or just get distracted for a few minutes to “free” your head.

If you are working on a large and long-term project, you should not put it off until later. Include working on it in your daily plan and do some of this work every day. After some time, you will receive some concrete results that will serve as an incentive to complete the remaining steps. You will thereby eliminate emergency situations and eliminate the cause of nervousness and stress.

In the event that the order does not have specific period execution, then install it yourself and systematically work on its implementation. Do those things that can be solved quickly right away - after all, you still get to know them beforehand. If possible, immediately after reading business letter or familiarize yourself with the order, give an answer or carry out the order.

Hello! In this article we will talk about how to create a sales plan.

Today you will learn:

• Why is a sales plan needed?
• How to calculate and formalize it;
• How to get employees to fulfill the plan.

Why do you need a sales plan?

Do you need a sales plan for your enterprise? The answer is unequivocal - yes. And not only for those who sell specific goods, but also for workers in the service sector, it is also simply necessary.

1. For labor organization. The enterprise must function as an established mechanism, when each employee has a goal for his work and knows what he must do to achieve it. Employees must have clear ideas about what awaits them after the sales plan is met or not met.
2. To increase profits. Try transferring the seller from fixed line wages at a minimum rate and a bonus for fulfilling the plan, and you will see how the employee’s motivation will affect the company’s income.
3. For development. fades if it stands in one place. Setting a goal and achieving it is the task for successful entrepreneur. Otherwise, he will be overtaken and crushed by more ambitious businessmen.

Types of planning

The basis of any sales plan is an understanding of the minimum and maximum quantities of goods the company must sell in order to exist.

The most important thing for beginning entrepreneurs is the minimum acceptable value; it marks the “bottom” below which it is no longer possible to function. For companies that have embarked on the path of growth and development, achieving maximum plans is more important.

There are several types of planning:

• Promising – long-term strategy for 5-10 years;
• Current – ​​developed for the year, clarifies and adjusts long-term planning indicators;
• Operational and production – tasks are divided into shorter periods (quarter, month, etc.).

Rules for creating a sales plan

The volume of possible sales depends on many factors. When creating a plan, you need to take into account all the points that are important to your area.

For example, these could be:

• Seasonality;
• Dynamics of development and trends in the market;
• Reasons for the decline in past periods;
• Changes in politics, economics and legislation;
• Changes in assortment and prices;
• Sales channels and potential buyers;
• Employees;
• Advertising.

Procedure for developing a sales plan

A complete annual plan, based on in-depth analysis, takes several months to create.

To get an adequate result and not miss anything you need to:

1. Analyze trends in politics and macroeconomics. How does it change Country's GDP? What is happening to oil and gas prices and exchange rates? It would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the opinions of experts and leading economic media.
2. Study the market situation. Will demand increase or decrease? Have new competitors and potential customers emerged?
3. Display sales statistics for past periods. For the year in general and for each month in particular.
4. Analyze the causes of decline and growth. This could be seasonality, changes in company policy, new assortment, personnel changes. When making a plan for the next year, be sure to rely on significant points.
5. Compile sales statistics separately for sellers and departments. It will be too optimistic to focus on the leaders, but try to bring the average value a little closer to them.
6. Form a base of regular customers. How much profit do they bring, how often and what goods do they come for? Of course, this stage does not apply to companies focused on one-time sales.
7. Set a goal. Based on the analysis done earlier, it is already possible to imagine what sales were last year, and how much they can be increased in the future. It is better to set two goals: feasible and ideal. It is the presence of the second that will remind you that you should not stop there.
8. Discuss the plan with subordinates. Set deadlines and personal instructions.
9. Make a budget. Having a clear sales plan makes it easier to calculate how much you will have to spend on purchases, advertising, and employee bonuses.

Methods for calculating the sales plan

When calculating planned sales, you can use the following methods:

1. Subjective: surveys, questionnaires, decisions based on the entrepreneur’s experience;
2. Objective: test sales, analysis of early periods, demand statistics.

There is no universal method for developing a sales plan for any company. Each enterprise chooses its own method, based on the needs and characteristics of its activities.

There are many methods, but you don't have to know them all. It is enough to select several that are suitable for a specific business and use them together.

Let's take a closer look at several basic methods used in calculating the sales plan.

Time series analysis

Moving average

Using the moving average method, projected sales in the future period will be equal to the sales volume for past periods of time. This does not take into account any other factors. The more periods are taken into account, the more accurate the forecast will be, which is why this method is not effective for young companies.

Example. The stationery store sold 2700 ballpoint pens in 2016, 3140 in 2015, 2900 in 2014. Forecast for 2017: (2700+3140+2900)/3=2910.

Exponential smoothing

A method for creating short-term forecasts based on the analysis of historical data. Convenient for predicting development retail sales. Allows you to calculate how much goods will be needed in the next similar period (month, week).

The smoothing constant (SC) can be from 0 to 1. At an average sales level it is 0.2-0.4, and during growth (for example, holidays) – 0.7-0.9. The most appropriate value of the KS is determined empirically - the value with the smallest error over past periods is selected.

Formula:KS * Actual demand for the current period + (1-KS) * Forecast for the current period.

Example. During the month, the stationery store sold 640 notebooks against the previous forecast of 610, KS - 0.3. Forecast for the next month: 0.3*640 + (1-0.3)*610= 619.

Decomposition and seasonality factor

The decomposition consists of seasonality, trend and cyclicality. In practice, many entrepreneurs stop at using the seasonality coefficient. It is used to create a sales plan based on historical income for a business whose turnover depends on seasonality.

Step 1. Determination of seasonal dynamics. A clear digital indicator here is the seasonality coefficient.

1. Take last year's total sales and divide it by 12. This will give you the monthly average.
2. Divide the sales amount for each month of the accounting year by the average.

Example. Over the past year, the store made sales of 850,000 rubles. Of these, 44,000 in January, 50,000 in February, and so on. Average monthly value 850000/12 = 70,830 rubles. Seasonality coefficient for January: 44000/70830=0.62, for February: 50000/70830=0.71.

As a result, each month will receive its own coefficient. For reliability, it is worth calculating such coefficients for several past years and leaving their average value for further actions.

Step 2: Define your goal. For example, let's say you set a goal to increase sales by 20%. The calculation is simple: you need to add 20% to the amount of sales for the previous year.

850000+20% = 1,020,000 rub.

Step 3. Make a sales plan for the month. The general plan for the year must then be divided into smaller periods - in our example, these are months.

1. Divide the annual goal by 12 to get an average plan for the month.
2. Multiply the average plan by the seasonality factor for each month.

Example. Medium shot for a month: 1020000/12 = 85,000 rub. Plan for January: 85,000*0.62 = 52,700 rubles, plan for February: 85,000*0.71 = 60,350 rubles.

The result will be a sales plan for each month. If the monthly plan is fulfilled, then the common goal to increase sales for the year. It is much easier to monitor the implementation of the plan over short periods of time and take prompt measures than to try to catch up with the goal in recent months of the year.

Preparation of a sales plan

The sales plan as a document consists of several points.

Let's list all the main ones in order:

1. A header consisting of a title (“Department Sales Plan...”) and an indication of the author (“Compiled by...” then the position and full name of the person who compiled the plan).
2. The first point is employees and achievements. Here it is worth listing all employees of the department, indicating the need for new personnel, if any, and also mentioning key achievements over the past period.
3. The second point is the results of the past period. For clarity, you can include in the document a graph of sales growth and decline, provide total values ​​not only for the department as a whole, but also for each employee in particular, in percentage indicate how much the previous plan was overfulfilled or underfulfilled.
4. The third point is a plan for the future period. The plan amount is indicated, the main planned transactions are listed, clients who are ready to enter into a contract and other points that ensure a guarantee of profit in the new period.
5. The fourth point is necessary measures. Further, we are talking about the actions that have yet to be performed to achieve the goal. It could be changes pricing policy, promotions, update technical base companies and many others.
6. Date and signatures of the managers who approved the plan.

All employees of the company should familiarize themselves with the resulting document. Only after collective discussion and approval can the plan be officially recognized as the “compass” along which the company will move in the new year, quarter or month.

Structuring the plan

A sales plan is a map for the development of any business that sells goods or services. Without this map, things run the risk of getting lost, going in circles, or even moving in the opposite direction. And the more detailed the map, the easier it is for the traveler not to go astray.

Based on the features, set goals in several directions at once:

• Regional and macro market share;
• Overall sales volume;
• Financial profit.

If possible, break down each large plan into more specific ones. For each direction, product, number of clients, and so on, depending on your business.

How more company, the more plans you will have to make. In addition to the general sales plan common to all employees, each branch, division, department, manager and ordinary seller should have their own goals.

Such detailed planning is necessary for every enterprise.

Structuring the plan should ideally occur across all available sections:

• Regions (where and how much will be sold);
• Sellers (who will sell and how much);
• Products (how much of what will be sold);
• Time (when and how much will be sold);
• Sales channels (to whom and how much will be sold);
• The nature of sales (how many sales are guaranteed and how many are only planned).

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1. Sales forecast instead of plan. The forecast can be part of the sales plan, but cannot in any way replace it. The forecast only describes a situation that may or may not occur in the future.

The plan contains a description of the goal that needs to be achieved and the conditions that will need to be met for this. It implies a set of specific tools with which the result will be achieved: promotions, employee training, price reductions.

Mistake 2. The plan is based only on last year's achievements. Sales plan analysis must take into account everything important factors. It is unacceptable to discount the economic situation in the country and region, competitors, new technologies and other changes that will certainly affect sales.

Error 3.Uniting all customers into one whole. Even the smallest retail businesses have certain groups of customers. They can be united according to various criteria: those who buy one category of goods, regular customers or new customers who make random purchases in point of sale or who found your products on the Internet. When forming a plan, you need to consider what you can offer each of the groups and what you can get in return.

Error 4. The plan does not indicate deadlines and responsible persons. In the sales plan, everything should be clear: what is the goal, when it should be accomplished, by whom and using what tools.

Mistake 5. The plan is not structured enough. Mine individual plan Every department and seller in particular should have one. Agree that when you don’t have your own plan, the temptation to place all the responsibility on your colleagues is too great.

Mistake 6: The plan was not discussed with the sales people. The plan will never be fully developed if it was drawn up by one manager, guided only by reports and graphs. Frontline salespeople should at a minimum have the opportunity to discuss the plan with management, and better yet, be directly involved in creating the sales plan.

Be sure that you made the plan correctly if, at the end of the period, it turned out to be 85-105% completed.

How to achieve the plan

It's one thing to make a plan for yourself. This can be done by an entrepreneur seeking to increase profits or a manager aimed at career growth.

But the situation is completely different with plans for subordinates. You should not severely punish for every failure to fulfill the sales plan and keep employees under a tight rein - this is ineffective.

It’s better to listen to the advice of experienced entrepreneurs:

1. Briefly, but as completely as possible, formulate what you want from your employees. It is better to convey this to them in writing.
2. Incentivize financially. The best employees deserve a bonus.
3. Set bonuses not only for 100% completion, but also for each passing of a certain minimum threshold (for example, 60%). The employee may not have fulfilled the plan, but it is clear that he tried.
4. Fine for systematic violations.
5. The entire vertical of employees (from an ordinary salesperson to a top manager) must be financially dependent on the implementation of plans.
6. Respect and value your employees and strive to ensure that they love their place of work and are interested in the development and prosperity of the company.