There are many adages that have been taught to budding salespeople over the years. Most of these are based on years of experience boiled down and then summed up in a few succinct words. One of the first of these that comes to mind is, “Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan.” In those six words is the wisdom of the ages, wisdom that applies to nearly any undertaking, whether it is sales or digging a ditch. When you are confronted with a task, plan, plan and plan; figure out what you are going to do, how you are going to do it and what tools are needed to successfully complete the job.

 

Say you have just taken over a poor-yield sales territory and you want to get it turned around. The first step is to write a territory sales plan, so you analyze the data, evaluate various approaches, set goals, target key accounts and establish a timeline:

·        Customer list with their sales volume and potential volume.

·        Competitors, their strengths and weaknesses versus your company.

·        Develop sales programs and approaches that emphasize your strengths.

·        Develop a target account list of the largest volume customers and create a profile of each.

·        Establish a timeline of initial contacts, follow up and closes on the target accounts.

·        Establish a tracking and reporting system to monitor the results.

·        Remain flexible and adaptable; tune the plan as the results come in.

·        Initiate the plan.

 

 

The second part of the equation is to “work your plan.” If you have done your planning well, don’t let yourself be sidetracked.  Stick to the plan, making only minor adjustments as you progress. It’s like the football coach says, “Execute, execute, execute . . .” for the success of your game-plan. Regardless of your level of responsibility; sales territory, mid-level sales management or overall sales management, the rule remains the same. The higher you are up the ladder makes no difference, you must still “plan your work, work your plan.” If you are managing others, delegate the territory planning to each sales rep or other underling and then monitor their activities, but have your own plan that covers your entire responsibility. This all sounds a little simplistic, but it has worked forever and will continue to do so, despite all the advances in technical areas.