Categories: Sales Planning | Sales Process
Success at any organization is dependent upon the execution of basic fundamentals. Forecasting, pipeline generation and effective territory management are key components of a well-executed sales plan. John McMahon, a sales management veteran and former Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Services at BMC, believes that every organization needs to monitor, evaluate and focus in on the basics.
“It’s the fundamental things that make a difference in any company,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what size company you are, if you’re not paying attention to all the fundamentals, nothing else really matters.”
When it comes to effective planning, sales managers need to ask themselves key questions says McMahon. “How do you generate pipeline? How do you keep track of the pipeline? How do you qualify the pipeline so you can forecast the business more accurately?”
If you're a sales manager, here are three critical steps to help you meet quota goals, manage territories appropriately and grow your business.
Understand Your Territory:
Make sure your sales team thoroughly understands their existing territory from installed accounts, new accounts, partner-lead accounts and a competitive account perspective.
Identify All Pipeline Sources:
Help the team look beyond the opportunities they can capitalize on by themselves. Encourage them to use information from each other 
to uncover additional opportunities.
Reconcile the Pipeline:
Once your team has a clear picture of their territories and a viable strategy for success, the final step is to execute that strategy for growing your business.
These three steps will help ensure you are paying attention to the fundamentals. This may seem obvious, but so many sales organizations send their sales teams off and running without direction. You can avoid this pitfall by having a predictable sales planning process. You'll get more out of your existing accounts, win new acccounts and drive more revenue.
- What sales planning strategies have you found most effective?
- How do you make sure sales teams are communicating with each other?
