We’ve all heard it before, “If you fail to plan, plan to fail.” This is certainly true with sales planning. Sales planning has become an essential part of any successful business or sales team. This is more important today, given the current selling environment. Planning is not easy and takes real time and constructive thinking. The sales planning process helps you determine not only the mutual goals for success, but gives you a way to measure your progress. One of Windsor’s sales initiatives for 2011 is to develop quarterly plans with each of our customers on a consistent basis. Quarterly plans include components such as training on new products, selecting new targets on which to focus and defining new opportunities for growth. But, most importantly, it gives you a process to measure your success and growth.
Yet, quarterly sales planning can be a difficult process to start or follow through with. There always seems to be something better or more pressing to do, and most of the time sales planning can take a backseat to the issues of the day.
If you have ever asked yourself, “How did I get to this point? Where did my time go? Why am I not successful?”, you can usually associate it with a lack of sales planning. If you haven’t already, we would encourage you and your Windsor regional sales manager to carve out some time and develop a quarterly sales plan. We want to be part of your success!