How to Create a Sales Plan: Template + Examples

Do you have a sales plan? Entrepreneurs, sales executives, and sales managers all benefit from writing sales plans — whether for their business, department, or team. You must know where you’re going before you can hit your key targets, and from there, you must break down the strategies and tactics you’ll use to do it.

All of this information can be included in a sales plan (and more). Read on to learn how to draft a sales plan that’s right for your organization.

Free Download: Sales Plan Template

In this post, we’ll cover:

• What Is a Sales Plan?
• What Is the Sales Planning Process?
• What Goes In a Sales Plan Template
• How to Write a Sales Plan
• Tips for Creating an Effective Sales Plan
• Sales Plan Examples
• Strategic Sales Plan Templates

What is a sales plan?

A sales plan lays out your objectives, high-level tactics, target audience, and potential obstacles. It’s like a traditional business plan but focuses specifically on your sales strategy. A business plan lays out your goals — a sales plan describes exactly how you’ll make those happen.

Sales plans often include information about the business’ target customers, revenue goals, team structure, and the strategies and resources necessary for achieving its targets.

What are the goals of an effective sales plan?

The purpose of your company’s sales plan is to:

• Communicate your company’s goals and objectives.
• Provide strategic direction.
• Outline roles and responsibilities.
• Monitor your sales team’s progress.

Communicate your company’s goals and objectives.

You can‘t expect your sales team to work well if they don’t know your company’s goals and objectives. It is necessary to make sure the goals are clear and realistic. As they change over time, ensure you regularly communicate your strategy to the entire team.

Provide strategic direction.

A sales strategy is vital to selling your products or services. To execute your plan, your company needs to provide direction. Should your employees focus on email conversions versus social media conversions this quarter? Are you boosting your efforts on LinkedIn instead of Facebook? Your business needs to provide your team with guidance to be effective.

Outline roles and responsibilities.

Your company’s sales plan should outline the roles and responsibilities for your sales team and leadership. The benefits of this include efficient task delegation, improved collaboration, overlap reduction, and increased accountability.

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Strategic Sales Plan Examples

If you’re in need of some more inspiration, take a look at these sales plan examples.

1. Sales Plan Template by HubSpot

We’ve created a sales plan template that outlines the key elements of a sales plan. This template will walk you through each of the steps to write a sales plan of your own.

Our plan allows you to easily communicate to your organization what your goals are, how you’ll accomplish them, and what support you need.

2. Sample Sales Plan by BestTemplates

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Organizing your strategies and goals with a sales plan will make it easier for you and your sales team to stick to the targets you’ve set. This template is nine pages long and provides plenty of opportunities to create a concrete action plan.

We like it because it includes a goals section before breaking it down into more specific areas such as demand generation, implementation, and measurement and evaluation.

Create a Sales Plan that Grows with Your Business

There‘s no one-size-fits-all sales plan. The only wrong way to use a sales plan is to write it at the start of the year or quarter and never touch it again. You should periodically review and update it as time goes on to ensure you’re focused and on track. By continuously improving on your plan, you can ensure your company generates revenue more effectively than it ever did in the past.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.