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Sales are the lifeblood of many businesses - but they arent easy to come by.

Sales lead to revenue and that ultimately determines if a business is successful or not.

A woman making a sales call in an office

Sales are not merely the result of efforts by the sales team, however.

Get started now and boost your team’s communication and productivity.

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What is a sales plan and how to create one in 5 steps?

So what is your overarching goal with your sales plan?

To ensure you focus on the right goal, be sure to involve all the relevant stakeholders.

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And dont forget to include the customers themselves.

These are the people ultimately responsible for conversion.

Competitor research could also be helpful when coming up with a mission statement.

A customer shopping on walmart dot com using her cell phone

If theres another store that you consider a rival, whatecommerce platformdo they use?

How do they position their marketing efforts?

Learn as much about them as you’re free to before deciding on your ultimate aim.

Deciding on the right metrics to measure and analyze is essential to validating your sales process.

Every business is different, of course, so what constitutes success will vary too.

Youll probably also want to take a close look at how your sales team and processes are performing currently.

What, if any, metrics do you currently measure?

Can you confidently state what your strengths are, as well as your weaknesses?

Again, communication is essential here.

If not, it might be time to change the sales metrics youre collecting.

As such, think carefully about your structure and team when creating your sales plan.

What skills and expertise will you’re gonna wanna achieve your goals?

You might need newHR softwareto help with onboarding, for instance, or anemployee managementplatform.

Clearly define each role within your sales team and communicate each member’s responsibilities as clearly as you could.

When including your customers in your sales plan, dont just list them either.

Segment based on certain criteria, such as demographics, challenges, goals, and other attributes.

Step 5: What needs to be done?

Your sales plan should now look great on paper, but so what?

Unless it leads to concrete action, its of little use.

Define your next steps and put several action items in place.

Of course, these shouldnt be implemented without consultation.

Communication and collaboration should have been fundamental to the creation of your sales plan right from the beginning.

And even then, your work isnt done.

A sales plan should be a living thing that adapts to market and consumer changes.

Dont be afraid to revise it when necessary.