Ready to become the undisputed hero of your next sales meeting? Whether you’re working for a scrappy startup or a corporate giant, we’re about to drop everything you need to create (and optimize) an effective sales plan that has clients practically throwing money at you. Stick around to the end and score our free sales plan template to make your life even easier!
What is a B2B sales plan?
Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, it’s helpful to go over a quick B2B sales plan definition. These plans are ways for companies to strategize and set goals for their sales departments. It’s not just some document that gathers digital dust in a shared folder—it’s your roadmap to revenue glory.
Why should you bother creating one? For starters, it gives your team crystal-clear objectives instead of leaving them to wander aimlessly through the sales wilderness. The research phase of creating the plan uncovers golden opportunities your competitors are missing. Plus, it allows you to track your performance goals and spot trouble before it tanks your quarter. This is a great way to find out if your team is growing stronger in their sales skills or if problems need addressing – think of it as your sales department’s GPS and early warning system rolled into one.
Now, let’s break down exactly what should go into this sales plan masterpiece you’re about to create, step-by-step.
What should you include in your strategic sales plan?
Your sales plan needs several key components to transform it from a snoozefest into a revenue-generating machine. Here is a quick overview of each section of a standard sales plan.
1. Introduction
Typically, the beginning of this plan is where you give a brief introduction of what this plan is going to cover. While it’s usually at the beginning, most people find it easier to create this 2–3 sentence introduction after formulating all other sections of this plan. Think of it as the movie trailer for your sales blockbuster.
2. Sales team structure
This next section provides key information about the structure of your team. This includes roles and responsibilities, as well as how general reporting flows through the entire department. Sales team structures also often include information about new hires, recent promotions, location changes, sales process changes, and other updates to the structure of your team.
3. Market position/industry
This is where you get brutally honest about where you stand compared to competitors – you’re going to need to find and report information about your competition. Yes, this means acknowledging that your competitor just launched an amazing new feature or landed that Fortune 500 client you were chasing.
Gathering competitive intel might sound like Mission Impossible, but modern digital marketing tools make it surprisingly easy to uncover traffic numbers, brand reach, and other juicy metrics. No black ops required!
4. Target audience
It’s also a good idea to research your company’s target customers while creating this type of business plan. Getting specific with your ideal customer profile pays massive dividends later. “SMBs in the healthcare space” isn’t specific enough. “Private practices with 5-15 physicians struggling with insurance claim processing and patient billing” lets your team know EXACTLY who to pursue and why.
5. Challenges
Think of your sales plan as an epic story. Every great tale needs obstacles for the heroes to overcome! This section is where you list the challenges your team faces and how you’ll conquer them.
Be brutally honest here—unexpected surprises are for birthday parties, not sales forecasts. Common challenges might include:
- New competitors entering your space
- Price sensitivity in your target market
- Longer sales cycles due to economic conditions
- Product gaps compared to competitors
6. Sales goals (short/long-term)
It’s also important to include a goals section in this plan. Challenges your team faces, listed in the section above, focus on things that are out of your team’s control. Goals, while still challenging, deal with things that your sales team can control.
Short-term plans measure sales objectives that span from weeks to quarters, while longer-term plans can range from six months to years.
This is also where you establish those all-important KPIs that will determine whether champagne or consolation coffee will be served at your next quarterly review. This can include celebrating a certain number of new clients, a growth in total sales over the last period, expansion into new territories, and similar types of information.
7. Plan of action (sales strategy)
This is the meat of your sales plan—the specific steps your team will take, and specific sales initiatives you’ll use, to achieve those ambitious business goals. Include concrete, actionable steps backed by data. Vague platitudes like “increase market penetration” won’t cut it. Instead, detail exactly HOW you’ll accomplish each objective with your sales operations.
8. Finances
Whether it’s a small business or large corporation, every company operates on some type of budget. Considering that, it’s essential to include financial information in your company’s sales plan. You’ll want to present accurate sales budget information including what’s available and how you plan on allocating this budget across your department. This is also a great opportunity to list sales totals and revenue goals compared to previous weeks/months/quarters/years. Also, make sure you use this section to list other types of financial goals your team is going after.
9. Summary
Wrap everything up with a concise 2-3 sentence conclusion that focuses on the future and leaves readers confident in your strategy. This is your mic drop moment!
6 steps to create a winning B2B sales action plan
Now, it’s time to learn a few tips on how to best write one of these plans. By using these tips, you’ll have plenty of information to include in your company’s sales plan.
1. Have realistic sales performance goals
While it’s tempting to impress the C-suite with astronomical targets, struggling to hit impossible goals is a fast track to team burnout and disappointment. Base your goals on historical data, accurate forecasting, and market realities.
For help with creating goals, use the SMART system, which stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-based
SMART goals separate the dreams from the actual plan and ensure your team is pursuing achievable targets rather than chasing unicorns.
2. Back up what you’re saying with data
General statements and gut feelings might work for motivational speeches, but they’re sales plan poison. Without data benchmarks, you’ve basically written a sales fantasy novel.
Every major claim in your plan should be supported by numbers:
- Market size estimates
- Competitive analysis metrics
- Historical performance data
- Customer acquisition costs
- Sales cycle length averages
This approach transforms your plan from “trust me, this will work” to “here’s precisely why this will work.”
3. Research your company’s target audience
Generic audience definitions lead to generic (read: ineffective) sales approaches. Dig deep into who your ideal customers really are:
- What specific problems keep them up at night?
- What’s their buying process like?
- Who has decision-making power in their organization?
- What industry trends are affecting their business?
This research often reveals prospecting gold mines you would have otherwise missed entirely.
4. Involve all sales employees during the sales plan creation process
What group of people know the most about the challenges and opportunities your sales department faces? Your sales reps!
The people making cold calls and running demos every day have insights no executive could possibly have. Tap into this knowledge mine by involving all your sales team members in the planning process.
They’ll tell you which objections are really killing deals, which competitor features are actually causing problems, and which market segments are secretly more promising than your current targets.
5. Think of how other teams are involved in the plan’s success
Sure, you’ve consulted your sales team, but your business needs solid lead generation tactics to feed your sales funnel. So, don’t forget to check in with marketing teams, too… they’re that not-so-secret sauce for bringing in those new leads and building up a marketing strategy that will keep that top of the funnel filled.
They might also help you craft sales enablement tools that will help you boost your conversion rates, and nail down your ideal customer profile and sales tactics with market research.
As for your customer success team? While you’re focusing on winning those coveted new customers and scoring new sales, they’ll complement your efforts with customer retention and satisfaction strategies. Be sure to account for retention in your sales plan, as selling to customers you’ve already won over’s an easier path to crushing your company goals. Look to your CS team when developing the retention piece.
6. Take a closer look at your competitors
Nobody enjoys dwelling on competition, but ignoring them is like driving with your eyes closed. You need to know what you’re up against.
Of course, no competitor is going to give you the keys to their kingdom. Instead, find the information you need by using digital marketing tools and programs to get the upper hand.
You’ll want to look for publicly available information about your competitors including:
- Social media: Utilize social listening to take a close look at your competitors’ followers, shares, likes, and similar engagement metrics.
- SEO results: With the help of a few marketing automation tools, you can learn more about the online presence of your company’s competition.
- Competitor news: While looking over this type of information, look for anything else your brand’s sales team can capitalize on.
Download our exclusive, free sales plan template
Let’s be real—most salespeople would rather be closing deals than formatting documents. We get it. That’s why we’ve created this ready-to-use sales plan template that includes everything we’ve covered above in a clean, professional layout.
Just click the image below to download it, customize it with your info, and boom—instant sales plan that makes you look like a strategic genius!
Wrapping it up
A well-crafted B2B sales plan isn’t just a document—it’s your secret weapon for aligning your team, identifying opportunities, and crushing revenue targets. With clear objectives, realistic goals, and data-driven sales tactics, you’ll give your sales team the roadmap they need to dominate your market.
Now go forth and conquer those sales targets! (And don’t forget to share this page with your sales colleagues who could use a little planning help.)
