Good planning is essential for good performance in the sales sector. The manager must always ask himself: how is my sales team doing? Was it well planned? Is everyone working for customer satisfaction? In this way, your company will have great opportunities in the market.
Learn how to develop a sales plan
Sales planning shows the direction your company should take. This process covers a few steps:
- a) Sales team goals: it establishes what your company hopes to achieve with the work of its salespeople. That is, the role played by them, the necessary information, and the efforts expended by these professionals. They are important for salespeople to know what the company expects of them and to understand clearly what their roles and responsibilities are.
- b) Sales team strategy: it outlines a company’s plans and allows them to define how it will achieve its objectives. Working in line with the entire team, you must determine how to serve customers, the way you should do it, the communication channels used, who the target audience is, how often customers should be approached.
- c) Sales team structure: the sales can be structured basically by products, by a customer, by region, or in a mixed way. The manager must answer questions such as: what are the main products sold? What are the main needs of customers? Which sectors and regions should each salesperson serve? However, in small and medium retailers, salespeople generally serve all types of customers and offer all kinds of products.
See how to put it into practice
Here are some tips for putting the sales plan into practice and achieving better results.
- Be considerate of customers
Regardless of the industry and the size of the business, one of the most important aspects is the attention to customers at the time of service. Therefore, salespeople must always be interested and willing to find solutions to people’s problems.
For this, it is important not only to know how to talk and have a good personal presentation but also to try to understand the needs of each client and to know how to negotiate.
- Encourage knowledge acquisition
Salespeople must have a good command of the area in which they operate so that they can assist customers in solving their problems in the best possible way.
For example, salespeople in a clothing store should know everything about fashion, new trends, types of fabrics, clothing trim. And salespeople at a building supply store should know how to use sand, gravel, wood, paint, and so on.
- Ask for help in organizing the store
Sellers must assist in replenishing stocks and organizing gondolas, shelves, and shop windows. This will ensure a good workflow and good customer service.
- Train with salespeople
In order to improve the qualification of your team, it is important to conduct training on the products sold in the store. For this, the manager can request the assistance of the companies that supply the products.
5. Review the salespeople profile
When drawing up your sales strategy, look at the salespeople profile, and see where each one performs best. Some salespeople are better at selling by phone, others do well at the counter, and there are still those who are very good at foreign sales. Each of them must have a well-defined role.
6. Search the market for information.
The manager must define that each seller has a form in which he will write down all the information related to customers, competitors, and new products in the market.
7. Define your sales structure
Sales can be structured basically by products, by a customer, by region or mixed. Therefore, you must take into consideration the type of market and the type of sale made. Does your business need salespeople specializing in certain products? How to share customer service? In small companies, salespeople serve all kinds of customers and offer all sorts of products.
8. Use the internet to your advantage
Selling over the internet does not require large investments and can yield many profits. You can hire a qualified professional for this function to develop a website where the company’s products, promotions, and advertising are available.
- Establish a quota
Quotas help plan and evaluate salespeople’s activities and store development. When you have a value to follow and to conquer, people tend to try harder and seek the goal you set with more enthusiasm and motivation.
- Have a sales manager
Every company must have someone responsible for sales. This person is accountable for monitoring salespeople, giving them daily support, and also evaluating how they are doing. Also, it will be responsible for planning, guiding, and developing sales support activities.