The sales plan refers to the part of a project’s or company’s marketing plan that defines the different sales objectives and specifies how they will be achieved, quantifying them in the form of a budget.
In some cases, depending on the type of company, the sales plan will also include a plan of commercial actions. Below we look at several aspects directly related to the overall evaluation of the sales plan carried out and to customer satisfaction, such as:
- Producing follow-up reports on the plan’s objectives
You need to produce reports to track the objectives of the commercial plan, determining which elements of the sales process are working and which are not, through immediate feedback from your customers.
Monitoring program:
The purpose of the monitoring program is to assess how well the quality objectives set out in the Plan are being met, as well as to detect deviations and problems that prevent or hinder the achievement of the proposed objectives.
This program should enable the application of measures and actions aimed at eliminating or
reducing the deviations detected in the different actions that are going to be carried out.
- Planning decisions
Planning techniques are not based on predicting and preparing for the future, but on arranging resources so that the future is favorable. To do this, you have to control the events that are manageable and adapt to those that are not.
The Sales Plan comprises the following steps:
Gathering information: the first step involves gathering information about the issue at hand. Useful data can be obtained from both subjective and objective sources. Developing an adequate frame of reference for understanding a problem is an important management skill.
Setting objectives: objectives are set when defining the end results of a company or organization. An objective has five characteristics: it must be specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-bound.
Developing policies: policies refer to the different standing decisions concerning recurring strategic matters, and they restrict the types of strategies that are acceptable for achieving the objectives.
Developing programs: programs break objectives and strategies down into manageable steps that can be identified, delegated and implemented, and whose results can be measured. These action steps are also known as tactics.
Establishing procedures: procedures are action programs that are standardized and deal with recurring tactical matters.
They often make up the most efficient way to perform a task. They also provide uniformity for completing it. Recording an order may require standard procedures to be followed. Sales procedures can include: detailed descriptions for filling out order forms, handling expenses or accident reports, and so on.
Budgeting: allocating resources to programs. Resources include people, working capital and information. Information about the market and competitors has become a very costly resource when it comes to sales management. Salespeople and sales managers must budget their time, expenses and promotional materials.
- Evaluating sales reports
We must evaluate reporting systems, since they ensure that the organization is pursuing its objectives. To set up these systems, you need to determine what basic data is required and how and when it will be reported.
Performance evaluations of the sales team should be a tool that opens up a space for communication between the Sales Manager and the Salesperson. The conclusion of that space should be the generation of enthusiasm for the future development of the skills that lead to professional success.
The main objectives of evaluating the sales force are:
1. Evaluating each salesperson’s strengths and weaknesses
Building on strengths, while weaknesses must be corrected through training and firmer supervision. This means that one of the objectives of performance evaluation is to provide guidance both for training and for improving each salesperson’s performance.
2. Evaluating each salesperson’s performance in order to reward them
This serves to verify each salesperson’s different merits in order to reward them through their compensation.
To evaluate salespeople, you need to take into account each salesperson’s sales report, their sales performance, the report submitted by their managers or supervisors, the various customer surveys carried out, conversations with other salespeople, and so on.
- Consequences of the evaluation
As the ultimate purpose of the evaluation and the study of the sales reports, decisions will have to be made as a result of the data obtained, in order to correct the gap between the objectives and the final figures.
The consequences of failing to carry out a proper performance evaluation are set out below:
- There is no way to steer staff actions toward achieving the area’s objectives.
- It makes it harder to supervise staff, since there is no system for measuring the progress of actions.
- It reduces transparency in the system of incentives and promotions. Staff motivation decreases, which harms their productivity.
- The deterioration of the work climate is aggravated when there is no system capable of promoting fairness. When staff do not receive timely feedback, they may repeat mistakes or drift away from the established goals without any chance to get back on track.
- There is no opportunity for greater contact between manager and team member regarding task and development objectives, since the high impact of the performance appraisal interview is not being leveraged.
Evaluation program:
An evaluation program is one that has been designed to focus subordinates’ attention on the level of performance expected of them, to provide measures of the degree to which they reach those expected performance levels, and to communicate this information to them in a way that they accept and use as a basis for making any kind of change that may be necessary in their work.
When improvement in an individual’s performance cannot be expected, the evaluation can then be used to support any personnel action taken as a corrective measure.