Marketing plans and sales plans are not identical. Marketing plans are a broad-brush look at the customers you want and how you're going to get them. A sales plan details the steps your sales force needs to take to increase sales or enter a new market. Your sales strategy may become part of your overall marketing plan.
Marketing Plan
The first step in drawing up a marketing plan is to study your market. Ask yourself who your customers are; what they need from you; what your competition is like; what your strengths and weaknesses are; and what sort of marketing has worked for you so far. Think about what your company's goals are -- to roll out a new product, to maintain market share despite increased competition or expand into new areas, for example. Use the information you gather to think about the marketing strategy will achieve your goals.
Sales Plan
If you draw up a sales plan as part of your overall marketing strategy, it should focus on how your sales force can help accomplish your marketing goals. A sales plan's goal could be increasing the dollar value of each sale, selling to a number of new customers over the next six months, or selling the new product that you're about to roll out. Tactics to achieve the goal could include having your salespeople increase the number of cold calls they make, or training them in all the ins and outs of the new product.
Hypothetical Example
Suppose you run a software company that's had great success with large corporations but wants to grow sales to small businesses. Market research tells you that price is a major obstacle in this market segment because your competition is much less expensive. You could develop a marketing program showing that over time, your superior product will improve the bottom line, or target businesses looking to grow to the size of your usual customers. The sales plan might set a goal for small-business sales or to have your sales team contact a dozen small businesses every day.
Analysis
No matter how much research you do, it's possible that sales will fall short of the goals you set. Every six months, review your plan, using spreadsheets to give you hard numbers you can compare and evaluate. If you're falling short, talk to customers and salespeople and find out why. Potential problems include that you need different marketing tools; the market is shrinking; your marketing doesn't make customers aware of all you can do; or that your sales staff is undersized for the job you set for them. Once you've identified the problem, revise your plan to fix it.
Tags: your sales, sales plan, what your, goal could, marketing plan