How to make a business plan｜Explanation of tips for creating a plan to achieve goals with a template

In this article, we will introduce how to create a business plan that leads to results. We also explain how to make goals and action plans in the business plan, and the points you should know when making a business plan, so please take advantage of it.

Table of contents

A sales plan is a summary of numerical targets, issues, targets, sales strategies, etc. in sales activities . Specifically, items such as team composition, target market, positioning, and action plan are organized and compiled into a single plan.

A business plan is similar to a business plan. While the business plan presents the goals of the entire business, the sales plan focuses on sales activities and defines specific approaches and strategies to achieve the numerical targets set in the business plan.

Since management resources are limited, it is important to sort out what should be done and what should not be done to achieve the goal. It can be said that the purpose of formulating a business plan is to clarify the methodology for reaching the business goal . By taking action according to the set plan, you will naturally be in a situation where you can achieve your business goals, and you will be able to make good use of limited management resources.

HubSpot offers a free downloadable sales plan template.

This template has 10 types of items that are essential for creating a sales plan.

1. mission and background
2. team composition
3. target market
4. tools, software and resources
5. positioning
6. marketing strategy
7. New project acquisition strategy
8. action plan
9. the goal
10. budget

From here, we will explain in detail the entry examples, ideas, and points to note for each item. Please help us to create a consistent and easy-to-understand sales plan.

1. Mission and Background

<entry example>

• Mission statement: Always create the best value from the customer’s point of view
• Vision Statement: We want to be a sincere company that earns the trust of our customers.
• Company history/history: Founding period/Developing customers with a backlash from zero sales

At the beginning of the sales plan, write your company’s mission statement and vision statement so that the motivation and purpose of the business can be shared with the entire sales team. The mission statement should talk about the “present” state, and the vision statement should talk about the “future” direction and goals.

It is a good idea to briefly describe the company history and history so that the reader can easily understand the background of the business .

2. Team composition

<entry example>

• Sales leader: Name, title, work history, face photo
• Sales team composition: Sales manager > Group general manager > 1st group, 2nd group
  *You can paste the organization chart as it is
• Recruitment plan: number of recruits, unit price, publication medium, publication period, cost
  * It is also possible to paste the recruitment plan table as it is.

Describe the person in charge of the sales department, the composition of the entire sales department, and the recruitment plan for the sales department. If you have an organizational chart or recruitment plan for your sales department, you can post it as is.

In addition to summarizing the organization chart concisely, the team composition will be easier to understand if you describe it concretely, such as “1 manager manages 5 people in charge”.

3. Target market

<entry example>

• Regional targeting:
  Utilizing the ability to attract customers as a commercial facility in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, create a lively atmosphere for the entire city. We aim to coexist with the local community by collaborating with the government and other industries.
• Buyer persona, non-target persona:
  The manager of a small and medium-sized construction company based in Hiroshima City. In order to respond to an increase in the number of employees, we would like to realize a large-scale order of in-house equipment and cost reduction.
• Customer experience:
  Through direct visits by corporate foreign traders, you can receive planning proposals from disaster prevention specialists with a wealth of specialized knowledge. Uniforms, satellite materials, disaster prevention stockpiles, and other emergency supplies can be efficiently procured, contributing to crisis management and disaster prevention measures.

Include information about the target of your product or service. As in the example above, specifying detailed information such as regional targeting, buyer persona, customer experience, etc. will make it easier to target in sales activities.

For regional targeting, it is a good idea to briefly summarize the target region as well as the regional strategy. For companies that operate nationwide, one way to do this is to prioritize each region.

A buyer persona represents an image of an ideal customer created based on actual data of existing customers and market research. If you want to learn more about Personas, check out this article.

Target market details can change significantly as your solutions and strategies become more sophisticated and your products gain market acceptance.

For example, when we started to develop our business, we set our prices low and mainly targeted start-up companies. is not.

Therefore, it is important to review your personas and targeting on a regular basis as your business develops .

4. Tools, software and resources

<entry example>

• Software you need to reach your goals: CRM, SFA
• Tools and resources:
  Training programs to refine negotiation skills, customer case studies, recordings of sales calls Budget for incentives based on sales performance

List the software your sales team uses to reach their goals. Also, be specific about any tools or resources that help your sales reps do their job.

Typical software that can be used for sales activities is CRM (customer management system) and SFA (sales support system). In addition, there are sales enablement tools to systematize sales activities and increase productivity, as well as an internal portal system and collaboration tools that are convenient for sharing information across teams.

5. Positioning

<entry example>

• Market environment:
  The market size of the coffee shop industry has been stable for the past 20 years
  . During the same period, Starbucks and Doutor dominate the market.
• Competitive advantages and market risk factors:
  Strengths/Compared to competing cafés, uniform
  weaknesses in service and quality at each store/Opportunities with low brand recognition in Japan
  /Threat of customers demanding a wide variety of menus
  / Increased number of stores may intensify competition

By describing your company’s position in the industry, readers of the sales plan can smoothly understand your company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the differences from your competitors.

Include the market environment and trends that show the overall industry situation, the value proposition that shows your unique value proposition, and the pricing strategy you need to maximize your profits. Also, if you are using a positioning framework such as 3C analysis or STP analysis, you can post the diagram as it is.

6. Marketing strategy

<entry example>

• Product A: Price increase from 4,000 yen to 4,500 yen on February 2nd
  (monthly sales are expected to decrease by 2%)
• Product B: Free upgrade with another customer referral during January 1-20
  (estimated 20% increase in monthly sales)
• Product C: Price reduced from 43,000 yen to 40,000 yen on March 1
  (expected 15% increase in monthly sales)
• Product D: No change

In this section, let’s organize pricing and promotion plans. Predict the actions needed to increase brand awareness and lead generation and their impact on sales.

Marketing strategy is closely related to sales strategy. By combining the two strategies, the marketing and sales departments will be able to work together more efficiently. In this article, you will learn more about the need for a marketing strategy and how to design it.

7. New project acquisition strategy

<entry example>

• Conditions for sales representatives to contact: Acquisition of inquiries for document requests
• Ways to get new deals: follow up on incoming emails, socialize at industry events
• Customer feedback process
  (1) Voice of the customer
  (2) Construction of feedback database
  (3) Data quantification and prioritization
  (4) Actions for quality improvement

Describe the procedures and methods for narrowing down promising prospective customers from the prospective customers created by marketing activities and contacting them.

Defining your criteria will ensure that your sales reps only spend time with prospects. And with a clear customer feedback process, you can use the voice of the customer to improve your sales cycle.

8. Action plan

<entry example>

1. Improving the referral rate
   • Conduct a 3-day workshop to learn techniques for getting referrals
   • Conduct a referral sales performance contest
   • Increase your referral sales commission by 5%
2. Development of new business partners
   • Select 100 qualified prospects and assign a dedicated team
   • A bonus will be given to the fastest team to acquire 3 business partners

Outline the specific actions your sales team should take to reach your company’s goals.

Work backwards from your goals to come up with an action plan.

In addition to clarifying the actions that each sales representative should take, it is also important to visualize the process leading to the goal. By recording the actual actions while executing the action plan, you can discover deviations from the plan and make course corrections at an early stage.

9. Goals

<entry example>

• Improve your referral rate from customers this quarter by 30%
• Create 20 new business partners

Goals should be set using KPIs that represent specific numerical targets. By clarifying the target indicators and numerical values, as in the entry example, you will be able to extract issues based on the difference between the target and the actual results, and improve the content.

It is also important to set realistic goals so that the sales plan does not become meaningless. Use the Positioning section as a reference to set reasonable goals that take into account the maximum achievable market size and the price of your product.

10. Budget

<entry example>

• salary and commission payments
• sales training costs
• Cost of sales tools and resources
• Cost of winnings and prizes for sales contests

Organize expenses related to sales activities and determine the necessary budget for sales targets. Concisely summarize sales reps salaries and bonuses, as well as software installation costs, travel costs, food and beverage costs, training costs, and more.

After making a plan, it is important to carry out budget and actual management in order to check whether the actual results have changed according to the budget . By constantly monitoring the discrepancies between the budget and actual results, problems can be found at an early stage.

Among the 10 items I have talked about so far, the most important are the goals and action plans. If these two points are not clarified, the direction of sales activities will be ambiguous and the expected results will not be obtained.

Let’s clarify the goals and action plans in the sales plan by referring to the following steps.

1. Organize the current closing process
2. Back calculate the number needed for each process
3. Identify critical processes that need improvement
4. Make an action plan for improvement

1. Organize the current closing process

First, let’s organize the current contract closing process in sales activities. This process is different for each company.

To reach your final sales goal, you need to work backwards from right to left in the above process. That’s why it’s important to visualize the underlying closing process in the first place .

2. Back-calculate the number needed for each process

Back-calculate the numbers you need for each process to reach your sales goals.

For example, let’s say you set a sales target of 5 million yen and the average spend per customer is 50,000 yen. Then, by dividing the average cost per customer from the sales target, we can figure out the required number of contacts of 100.

Here is a diagram of the above example applied to the closing process. If you have a clear sales target and average customer unit price, you can figure out not only the number of contacts you need, but also the number of prospective customers and potential customers in the previous stage.

3. Identify critical processes that need improvement

After calculating the necessary figures for each process, identify areas that need improvement.

Sales targets are generally set to exceed the previous year’s figures. However, in order to surpass the previous year’s target, we have to overcome a high hurdle unless there is an increase in resources, such as a significant increase in personnel.

Therefore, if you calculate backwards for each process, you can see the points that are difficult to achieve at present. For example, “Even though we are already doing email marketing and tele-appointment sales to the last minute of our resources, we need more prospective customers in order to achieve our goals.”

Identify these issues and come up with a concrete action plan for improvement.

4. Create an action plan for improvement

Create a concrete action plan to improve the issues identified so far.

For example, if it is not possible to obtain the target number of appointments with the current rate of negotiations, it may be necessary to improve the quality of proposals compared to competitors, or review the procedures and methods of interviews. .

In addition, after creating multiple action plans, decide which ones should be prioritized. We determine the appropriate person in charge and schedule, taking into consideration the degree of difficulty in realizing the action and the return that can be obtained when it is realized.

When making a business plan, if you understand the following three points, you can prevent failures such as “the purpose and direction are ambiguous” and “the plan is not implemented as planned.”

1. Know your sales bottleneck
2. Set Quantitative Goals for Action
3. After planning, verify the effect

I will explain each point in detail.

1. Know your sales bottleneck

In many cases, there are multiple reasons behind the lack of desired results in sales. Among them, clarify the high-priority issues that are bottlenecks and reflect them in the sales plan. When disseminating the sales plan to sales members, it will be easier for them to understand if you explain the background of the plan.

2. Set Quantitative Goals for Actions

After determining the final sales target, work backwards from there and set quantitative and specific targets such as the closing rate and the number of business negotiations. Quantitative goals make it easier for sales reps to understand action plans.

To set quantitative targets, work backwards from sales targets to calculate target values ​​for each process.

3. After planning, verify the effect

Effectiveness verification is essential at the stage of executing the proposed business plan. Regardless of the business plan, after planning, you must check the results against the numerical targets. Knowing the exact results will help you improve your sales plan.

CRM and SFA are useful for effective verification and management after planning. By introducing CRM/SFA, it becomes possible to reduce management costs and share information between sales members, enabling more efficient execution of sales activities.

If you want to know more about CRM and SFA, check out this article.

Creating a business plan is essential for an organization to operate and grow. By creating a detailed sales plan, necessary actions and issues will be clarified.

When creating a sales plan, it is important to work backwards from the sales target to calculate specific and quantitative target values. If you make a necessary action plan from that target value, you will be closer to achieving your goals.

A sales plan created in an appropriate manner can be an important tool for improving the results of sales activities. While introducing CRM and SFA, proceed with data utilization and segmentation, and create a sales plan that will lead to growth.