PLAN BETTER, ACT BETTER
By the end of October there will be just 38 selling days left until the end of the year. From our regular contacts with our readers we know that right now it is definitely all hands to the pump to close those all important orders before Christmas. Then we can take a week off to relax and prepare to start all over again on January 2nd. But start on what?
Planning for 2014!!; how are we going to deploy our resources to meet our budgets; which customers are likely to acquire and when; working out how we can do 12 months of sales in 11 months because the first month is a write off. This is not an atypical January for many companies, and if your year end is not December then substitute the month after year end for January. The time to start planning is now; having been there we know that you will say that you can’t afford the time to plan, however our view is that you cannot afford not to plan. December is a short month and there are many distractions, other than closing orders, and January is too late – so start now. January is when you should be executing your plans.
But what do we mean by planning? Our view is that sales and account plans should not be massive tomes, they won’t be read in any case. They should be concise, no more than two or three pages, action focused and based upon your customers’ needs not on what new products or services you are going to introduce. New products and services may help, but they are not the driver for your customers. Start from the basis that “customers are not interested in your business, only what you can do to help theirs” and where relationships permit involve the customer(s) in the process. This is particularly important in the case of key customers/accounts. The picture below shows our simple planning process:
Many organisations segment their customer base into key accounts and let’s call them territory accounts. In the external market and business context key customers are really important and the rest are very important too. However, the planning process for both is the same; it is depth that is the difference. More time, more understanding and more people are generally required to build key customer account plans. Whereas territory accounts are usually less people and time intensive. For a key account you need a couple of days planning time, and for territory accounts 2 – 3 hours. In relative terms this is a small investment and because the outputs are concise they will be used. A sales plan is a living document and as the planning process gains traction, it becomes a continuous activity and the outcome is that you always have an up to date plan. More importantly you can also see progress against key objectives.
Why do it? There are significant benefits to be gained which include:
– It focuses effort on sales objectives that can be won
– It improves sales peoples’ time management by focusing their efforts on the right thing
– It moves the seller up the value chain from vendor to business partner
– It offers competitive advantage and reduces competitive activity
– It aligns your business to the buyer’s needs
In essence it is a good use of sales time, and helps you perform better.