How to build a sales plan for your startup.

Sales planning is a combination of both strategies and tactics necessary to achieve sales revenue growth within the company. The purpose of sales planning is to determine the expected volume of future sales to support business operations. A sales plan should be based in part on historical performance, but also factor a stretch or performance goal that considers new products, new territories, and changes in the marketplace.

A sales plan is direct and straightforward and focuses on how to identify and develop new customer sales opportunities as well as how do grow revenue opportunities from existing customers. Typically, the following four steps are used to frame the sales planning process:

Once the revenue goal is established and the segmented by new vs. existing customers, the next step would determine how to identify sales opportunities within those segments. For both segments, an analysis of the customer’s needs, values, and expectations (NVEs) are essential, as is a review of the competitive landscape. The outcome of the analysis will shape the products and services offered, as well as the price position of those offerings.

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