sample sales plan presentation

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How to Create a Winning Sales Plan Presentation

As sales professionals, you are used to writing sales plans, but presenting them to stakeholders is a different story. People in your organization, including executives and decision-makers, often possess high-level industry knowledge and business acumen. They are also incredibly impatient and don’t have time to sit for long presentations. Therefore, your sales plan presentation should go beyond mere information-sharing; it should be about aligning your sales plan with their existing understanding concisely and time-efficiently.

In this article, we will guide you through the process of creating a presentation material based on your sales plan. Expect useful presentation templates along the way!

Table of Contents

Key Elements of an Effective Sales Plan Presentation

Executive summary, goals and objectives, market analysis, sales strategies and tactics, financial projections, contingency plan and risk management.

• Tips for Sales Presentations

Preparing your sales plan presentation parallels your steps when writing the document. After all, your goal didn’t change; that is, to spell out the objectives, strategies, and implementation measures guiding your sales efforts.

Your sales plan presentation should cover the following elements.

Let’s discuss each component in detail.

An executive summary is the preface to your larger sales plan document, so it should also precede the body of your sales plan presentation. This slide provides a concise overview of the entire sales plan, including your objectives and strategies, setting the stage for what’s to come.

Normally, executive summaries are written in paragraph form proportionate to the report’s length. But it is different when it comes to PowerPoint presentations. Executive summary slides should be visually dynamic to draw the audience’s attention to the most critical information of the report. 

Here’s an example of a sales plan presentation’s executive summary slide . Note that the following slides outline a hypothetical sales plan for FreshBite Delivery, a fictitious company. The data and market trends presented in this example are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect actual market conditions.

Following the executive summary is a slide/s that outlines the goals and objectives you want to achieve with your sales efforts. Depending on the size of your organization, this part might cover the specific goals of each department involved in the sale. Imagine being in a larger company; different groups might work parts of the sales process. So, you’d discuss the goals for each of those groups. 

You may talk about when you expect certain things to happen as well. Like, when do you plan to reach certain milestones? For the employees, this helps create a clear line of sight between the goals and their day-to-day work. For decision-makers, this shows where the sales plan is taking the company.

Let’s continue our FreshBite Delivery sales plan and see what a Goals and Objectives slide may look like.

Presenting the findings of your market analysis activity holds significant importance in proving the validity of your chosen sales goals and strategies. Your market analysis presentation builds confidence among decision-makers that your approach is grounded in a solid understanding of the market’s realities. Through this section, you can also address a crucial concern they often have: whether there’s a genuine demand or space for your products or services.

There are several market analysis templates you can use, but the best ones should allow you to do the following:

• Assess available market factors (e.g., volume and value)
• Identify and quantify target customer
• Identify competitors

For example, FreshBite Delivery’s market analysis presentation could include a slide dissecting the market segments they can turn into customers.

Another option presenters can consider is using a Perceptual Map to present the company’s position against competitors in the same market.

Now, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of your presentation by talking about your sales strategies and tactics. This part is the heart of your presentation, where you’ll outline the key activities you intend to implement to achieve your sales goals.

So, what should a sales strategy slide include? It should typically answer the following questions:

• How will we reach our target customers?
• Who is responsible for what?
• What’s the timeline for implementation?

Reaching Target Customers

This section zooms in on the methods and channels you’ll use to connect with your intended audience. Can you leverage social media, email campaigns, direct sales calls, or a mix of these approaches?

For example, the sales and marketing team of FreshBite Delivery may launch targeted advertising and search engine marketing campaigns to reach potential customers. They may also offer subscription discounts for long-term commitments to encourage repeat orders. All of these strategies are in line with their sales goal of increasing their monthly revenue.

Presenting the Team

In your presentation, it’s also important to identify the individuals or teams who will be accountable for different aspects and execution of your sales plan. You’ll want to showcase the connections between individuals and their driving strategies. This demonstrates the coordinated effort that’s underway. Whether it’s the marketing team spearheading digital advertising or the customer support team nurturing customer relationships, this alignment of roles is the backbone of your sales success.

Setting Timelines

In this timeline slide , you will outline the actionable tasks contributing to achieving your sales goal with a clear completion timeline. Each task would be accompanied by its responsible party, a brief description, and a specific completion deadline. You may also list the activities in a way that assumes logical dependencies between tasks. 

When presenting your sales plan to stakeholders, you outline your company’s growth roadmap. However, numbers speak louder than words, and a well-crafted financial projection serves as a quantitative validation of the strategic path you are advocating. This projection offers a calculated glimpse into the financial outcomes your sales initiatives are poised to generate.

In this section of your presentation, you may include the following:

• Sales Revenue Projection – an estimate of your expected sales revenue based on your sales strategies, market demand, and historical data.
• Sales Growth and Market Trends –  anticipated market growth rates and trends that could impact your sales.
• Cash Flow Projection – a breakdown of the inflow and outflow of cash over a specific period.
• Break-Even Analysis – the point at which your total revenue equals your total expenses.
• Churn Rate – the proportion of customers who are leaving.

A sales plan aims to provide your organization with a systematic approach to achieving your revenue goals successfully. However, unforeseen incidents may catch you off guard and disrupt your plan’s progress. It’s paramount to let the stakeholders know that you have a “Plan B.”

According to Forbes Advisor , a contingency plan is a plan that will guide how your team should react to factors that interrupt the normal course of business. On the other hand, risk management is a broader approach focused on identifying and mitigating potential risks before they materialize into disruptions. Both concepts are crucial components of a sales plan.

Here’s a sample presentation of a contingency plan and risk management strategy for our made-up organization, FreshBite Delivery.

Tips for Sales Plan Presentations

1. keep your presentation concise.

When you present a wordy slide during a sales plan presentation with the stakeholders, a lot can go wrong. They may inadvertently read ahead or, worse, lose interest in the presentation altogether. Hence, you need to make a conscious effort to prioritize brevity and clarity in your slides.

One technique that can help you in this regard is the 1-6-6 rule, which suggests that there should only be one main idea for each slide, a maximum of six bullet points, and six words per bullet point.

Guy Kawasaki, on the other hand, suggests that an engaging presentation consists of no more than 10 slides, lasts no longer than 20 minutes, and is no lower than 30 points in size. This is known as the 10/20/30 rule of presentation .

2. Use Graphs, Charts, and Infographics

Sales plan presentations often include data-heavy information that visuals can convey more effectively than words alone.

For example, you can use a bar chart to compare revenue growth over quarters or a pie chart to showcase the percentage distribution of customer segments. You may also utilize a sales funnel to visualize the customer journey and the strategies you must implement for each stage.

Visual representations can simplify complex data, enhance comprehension, and make the information more engaging for your audience.

3. Create Narratives to Connect with the Audience

Stories are one of the most engaging ways to grab an audience and gain support for your strategies in the context of a sales plan presentation. A well-crafted story can illustrate the rationale behind your proposed plan and emotionally connect stakeholders to your vision.

Instead of directly stating your resource requirements, for example, you can weave a story highlighting employees’ challenges in completing a transaction. This demonstrates how these challenges affect revenue and explains why you need more resources to do better.

4. Anticipate Objections

Facing objections during a sales plan presentation can be nerve-wracking, but you can also use them to strengthen your case and increase stakeholder buy-in.

When faced with customer objections , what you need to do is to respond to the real issue. Shift the conversation towards potential solutions and showcase how your strategies address the concerns. Support your response with concrete evidence to add credibility to your arguments.

So, if a stakeholder objects to the potential risks of entering a competitive landscape, highlight your risk mitigation plan and cite market trends to prove that your strategies are grounded on tangible data.

5. Send Follow-Up Info

The next crucial step is to maintain momentum and solidify the impact of your presentation, which you can do by sending follow-up information.

You can start your follow-up email by thanking your audience and concisely summarizing the main points discussed in your presentation. You may also further address objections and reiterate how your strategies solve those concerns.

Don’t forget to attach the complete sales plan document to your email so your audience can revisit and study the content.

For more information, check our article about strategy presentations .

Crafting an effective sales plan presentation is paramount for achieving support and buy-in from your organization’s decision-makers. By meticulously analyzing market trends, setting clear goals, and transforming them into insightful presentation materials, your presentation becomes a potent tool for engaging stakeholders and realizing organizational objectives. Our presentation templates can help you level up the clarity of your proposals necessary to secure the backing you need for successful implementation.

1. Simple Executive Summary Slide Template for PowerPoint

You don’t have to go overboard to express the Executive Summary in a Sales Plan Presentation. Work with this visual one-pager slide with three colorful sections to showcase the main business objectives. Clipart icons help to add value to your presentation as visual cues of what the objective is oriented.

Use This Template

2. Executive Summary PowerPoint Template

The Executive Summary slide used in the case study of this guide can be part of your upcoming sales plan presentation. This highly visual template is intended for QBR presentations, as it summarizes the business plan’s milestones, a market analysis, and strategies, and you can even include the company’s vision and operational processes.

Work with the included icons, and resize or reorganize the elements listed in this 100% editable executive summary slide deck.

3. Perceptual Map PowerPoint Template

A selection of 3 layouts to express a Perceptual Map in your sales plan presentations. Using this tool, you can instantly map companies in how they rank according to two key attributes – such as price and quality.

This perceptual map template helps companies understand where their product or service stands in the market compared to other industry actors. Edit the included icons in terms of size, color, and positioning in just seconds.

4. Brand Positioning Map PowerPoint Template

An alternative to express a brand’s stance in the market, use this Brand Positioning Map PowerPoint template to analyze and present your brand against competitors in the same niche according to two ranking metrics. This two-axis map is expressed through multiple formats, such as a simple map diagram, a 3×3 matrix, a multi-map layout, and more. You can edit all details in this template, such as shapes and colors used to represent brands and their overall position.-

5. Member Profile PowerPoint Template

Introduce your team in a detailed format by highlighting their core skills in relation to your company’s sales plan. Using our Member Profile PowerPoint template, we can ditch the dull org chart slides and get your team closer to stakeholders in a layout resembling a website or social media profile.

Try and edit these 3 creative meet-the-team slides, and tailor their color scheme to your branding requirements in just a couple of clicks.

6. Editable Gantt Chart for PowerPoint

Express deadlines, overlapping tasks, and dependencies by using an elegant and simple Gantt Chart Template for PowerPoint. This fully editable template shall help you represent your tasks by using three main properties: Start Date, End Date, and Task Curation Percentage.

This template allows full customization of color, shape sizes, task count, time period, etc., to help presenters narrow down the core areas of their projects in an efficient format. Using a two-tone bar, this Gantt Chart stands out as a sort of 3D graphic, making it an attractive visual asset for your presentation.

7. Financial Projections & Key Metrics Template for PowerPoint

Represent the numbers managed in your financial projections in a visual format. This Financial Projections & Key Metrics Template for PowerPoint uses a table format that is fully editable to cover as many years as required or even lists other metrics than Customer Number, Revenue, Expenses, and Cash Flow.

Easy to update, the pre-made slides cover 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, and 5-year plan projections.

8. Sales Action Plan PowerPoint Template

Use this Sales Action Plan PowerPoint template to turn your sales goals into an actionable plan. The template features two slides with 3 columns for different sales channels: In-Store, Online, and Wholesale. Each slide is a variation of the layout, either in vertical or horizontal format.

List down the core elements of your action plan according to your KPIs, and measurement parameters like projected sales, deadlines, distribution strategy, and more.

9. 30 60 90 Days Plan Timeline Template

Your sales plan presentation can feature a 30-60-90 days Plan Timeline Template to express short-term actions and when is the expected deadline for them. We list five different layouts for this purpose, so presenters can easily adapt these slides to their graphics style.

10. Creative TAM SAM SOM Slides Template

An alternative to this article’s TAM SAM SOM slide, this pyramid format presents the market size subsets in a funnel layout. The usage of this tool is relevant to any business size but particularly relevant to small business owners to initiate their operations with the right selling strategy.

Use this template today and smartly create lead-generation strategies with these insights.

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Presentation Approaches, Sales Filed under Business

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Top 7 Strategic Sales Plan Examples with Templates and Samples

Vaishali Rai

Imagine being a painter without having the correct color palette or a chef without a knife. They may still be able to create something, but the end result won’t be as polished and refined as it could have been.

Similarly, a sales team without a well-defined strategic sales plan is like a lost ship without a compass, wandering and missing out on potential opportunities.

Sales success: It's all in the plan!

Sales success isn't a race; it's a strategy game! With a killer sales plan, you'll know where you're headed and how to reach there faster than your competitors. So, work smarter, not harder!

Your sales action plan should give your organization clarity on everything about sales, from your mission, your target market, and positioning to your marketing and lead generation strategy.

A well-structured sales plan is a guide for a productive sales team. It spells less wasted time and money, increased sales and profits, and a greatly enhanced business value. A clear strategy enables you to focus on highest priorities and largest opportunities to achieve success rather than wasting time on tasks and leads that do not provide value.

Don't just tell them; show them! Use SlideTeam’s Top 5 Sales Execution Plan Templates to create engaging visuals that bring your sales plan to life.

Don't let planning hold you back!

Creating a comprehensive strategic plan from scratch can be daunting, which is why Strategic Sales Plan Templates are essential. Our user-friendly templates are designed to streamline the planning process, providing a framework that businesses can use to identify their strengths and weaknesses. With our well-structured strategic sales plan templates in hand, businesses can navigate any competitive landscape with confidence, outperform the competition, and hit their revenue targets with ease.

So let’s get started with creating a sales plan template that packs a punch!

Template 1: Strategic Sales Plan Powerpoint PPT Template Bundles

This power-packed sales plan bundle maps out your sales strategy, outlines your key goals, revenue goals, and value propositions, and showcases your products or services engagingly and persuasively. It also includes elements like corporate alignment, SWOT analysis, and go-to customer strategy. The template can be customized to suit your brand’s unique style and include charts, graphs, and visual aids to help you communicate your message.

Download Now!

Template 2: Strategic Sales Planning Generic Roadmap

Boost your sales with our Strategic Sales Planning PPT Template! Designed for entrepreneurs, sales executives, and managers, our sales roadmap slideshow covers essentials: Objectives, revenue goals, team structure, target audience, tactics, barriers, and more. No need to stress over creating a killer sales presentation, our aesthetically pleasing sales layout has got you covered! Download now to start impressing your stakeholders!

Template 3: Seven-Step Strategic Sales Plan

Maximize your organization's market share and profitability with our strategic seven-step sales plan template! This comprehensive plan covers setting milestones, defining target customer profiles, conducting a SWOT analysis, crafting a marketing strategy, setting revenue targets, establishing positioning, and taking action. Download this slide now to chart a course to success for your business!

Template 4: Strategic Sales Plan Marketing Risks Pipeline Sales Management

This template is your ultimate sales strategy solution! Introducing the Strategic Sales Plan Marketing Risks and Management Template! With editable graphics and five stages, this premium template will help you tackle topics like marketing risks, strategic sales planning, and pipeline sales management . Impress your audience and make a lasting impression by downloading this fully customizable template and incorporating it into your next sales presentation. Don’t wait– Download this template to win and crush those sales goals!

Template 5: FMCG Strategic Sales Plan with KPIs

Looking to skyrocket your organization’s sales in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry? Get ready to level up your FMCG business with our Strategic Sales Plan KPI template! With a focus on market development, process implementation, people development, and product development, this template will help you track your progress. Whether you’re a pro or new to the industry, our template will guide you every step of the way. Let's get selling, download the template now!

Template 6: Bi-Fold Strategic Sales Plan Summary Document Report PDF PPT Template One-Pager

Do you want to give your print marketing a facelift? Move away from the stale trifold format and try out our versatile Sales Plan Summary Bi-Fold, tailor-made to suit your organization’s communication style and marketing strategies. This summary document comprises crucial components such as the company’s vision, SWOT analysis, critical success sales, goals, and activities. Get ready to dazzle your customers and stakeholders with the most impressive and tactile approach through print marketing with this bifold!

Template 7: Strategic Sales Plan One-Page Summary Presentation Report Infographic PPT PDF Document

Achieving revenue and sales targets requires a strategic plan. Our Strategic Sales Plan One-Pager is here to help. This user-friendly template helps you create a winning sales plan by defining key tactics and channels, presenting revenue targets and budget allocations, and showcasing your products and services. There’s more: Showcase your products and services, and define your distribution strategy to provide a clear direction to your sales team. Don't waste time creating a presentation from scratch - grab this all-rounder and take your sales to new heights!

STREAMLINED SALES PLAN WORKS LIKE MAGIC

A sales plan is the backbone of any successful business! Concluding our discussion on Strategic Sales Plan Templates, it’s clear that these templates can be a lifesaver in creating comprehensive sales plans for your business. With the help of our customizable templates, companies can streamline their sales process, set clear objectives, and improve their bottom line. It is vital to remember that a sales plan template is just a starting point. To make the most of it, businesses need to customize templates to their specific needs, set realistic goals, and regularly review and adjust the plan to stay on course. With a well-crafted sales plan in place, companies can have a clear path to success, increase revenue, and gain a competitive edge. Don't wait any longer – start your strategic sales plan today!

FAQs on Strategic Sales Plan Templates

What are the four sales strategies.

The four main strategies for sales are:

• Need-based selling or Relationship building strategy: This is meant to foster strong customer relationships is a key sales strategy. This involves developing trust, understanding customer needs, and personalizing the sales pitch to meet those needs.
• Script-based selling or cold calling: It involves reaching out to those customers who have not expressed interest in your product or service. The first step is making the initial contact with customers, conversing with them, sending them selling scripts/proposals, and convincing them to buy.
• Upselling: This technique encourages customers to purchase more expensive or higher-value items. It often involves finding ways to make the customer’s purchase more valuable, such as offering additional features or services.
• Cross-selling is used to encourage customers to purchase additional products or services related to items they are buying. This involves finding ways to make the customer's purchase complete, such as offering additional perks, additional offers, or services.

What are the seven steps to creating a sales plan?

A sales plan provides guidance and structure for the sales team to reach its goals. A sales plan is not a one-time document. It’s a tool that should be updated regularly based on new data and feedback. Here are the seven steps that go into creating a good sales plan:

• Define your target market: The first step is to Identify the ideal customer for your product or service. This includes demographics, psychographics, and other relevant characteristics defining your target market.
• Set your sales goals: Map out your sales targets and revenue goals that make your business dreams a reality, both in the short and long run. Remember to set realistic and achievable goals.
• Analyze your Current Performance and Competition: Once you've set your goals, the next step is to analyze the current performance of the sales team. Take a look at sales data, customer feedback, and other key metrics to observe your team’s performance. This includes identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the sales team. Also, analyze your competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you identify opportunities and threats in the market.
• Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP): What's your secret sauce? Pinpoint what makes your product or service one-of-a-kind, and develop a USP that spices things up and sets you apart from the competition.
• Define your sales strategy: Identify channels and tactics you will use to reach your target market. This may include advertising, social media, direct mail, cold calling, or other methods. Set strategies for each area of the sales process, including lead generation, sales pitches, and customer service.
• Create a sales template: Develop a template outlining your sales process, from initial contact to a final close. Our content-ready templates include scripts, email templates, and other materials to help your sales team convert leads into customers. It enables you to track sales figures, customer feedback, and other metrics to measure the success of the team.
• Measure and evaluate: Finally, establish metrics for measuring and evaluating your sales plan's success. This involves tracking KPIs like conversion rates, sales revenue, and customer acquisition costs. Leverage this data to refine your strategy and make adjustments as needed.

What are the five selling strategies?

Enlisted below are the five prominent selling strategies:

• Relationship selling involves building a lifelong relationship with the customer over time, where trust and honesty are key ingredients.
• Consultative selling is like being a detective, uncovering clues about your customer's needs, and finally presenting a tailored solution to solve their case. It involves understanding the customer's needs, asking questions to gather information, and recommending a solution that meets their needs.
• Value selling: It is a strategy where you showcase the product's hidden benefits and make them appear, magically, more valuable than they already are. This involves highlighting the product’s or service’s value and benefits rather than focusing solely on the features.
• Solution selling: This involves identifying the customer's problems or pain points and then presenting a customized solution to address those problems.
• Insight selling: Build customer trust by imparting your industry knowledge and expertise to the customers, making them go, "Wow, I never thought of that! This kind of selling helps positions the salesperson as a trusted advisor and differentiates them from competitors.

Related posts:

• The Ultimate PowerPoint Template Toolkit For Effective Strategic Management in 2021
• Top 10 Sales Strategy Templates to Help You Maximize Your Revenue
• Sales Process: A Step-by-Step Guide With PowerPoint Templates
• How To Draft A Yearly Sale Plan With Sample Templates To Boost Your Annual Sales! [Free PDF Attached]

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10+ Sales PowerPoint Presentation Examples To Get Inspired!

One of the biggest challenges B2B sales and marketing teams face is creating sales presentations that impress potential customers and lead to conversions.

So, what does an excellent sales presentation look like? Today, we'll explore some of the best examples to help you craft your own outstanding presentation. And that’s not all, we’ve interviewed our head of sales, Robert Juul Glaesel , to provide you with the BEST insights to unlock success. So…let's dive in!

We’ll be covering the following topics

What is a sales presentation?

Sales presentation vs. sales deck vs. pitch deck.

• Sales Presentation PPT Examples - and why they were successful

Sales Powerpoint Presentation Templates

Sales presentation video examples, get ready to create the best sales presentation: tips from our sales expert, unlock success: expert support for your sales presentation design.

Let’s start from the top! - Or, as always, you can skip to your preferred section.

A sales presentation is a crucial part of the sales process. It refers to a meeting where a sales team showcases their product or service , persuading potential customers to purchase.

This meeting typically takes place after initial contact with the prospects , either through marketing efforts, cold calls, or expressions of interest from potential customers themselves.

In this meeting, the sales team usually provides a comprehensive overview of the product or service. They address key points such as:

• What is the product or service?
• How is it used?
• What distinctive features does it have?
• What problem does it solve?
• Why is this their best option?

→ Free Download: 10+ Sales PowerPoint presentation template [Access Now]

The sales presentation and sales deck are pretty similar. On one hand, a sales presentation is designed to persuade potential customers about the value of your product or service. It typically includes detailed information about your product, its features, benefits, pricing, case studies, testimonials, and more.

On the other hand, a sales deck is essentially a condensed version of a sales presentation . It is usually concise and only includes key highlights.

In contrast, a pitch deck is a presentation created for investors to secure funding. It generally contains information about the company's vision, the problem it aims to solve, market opportunities, business model, and financial projections.

Sales Presentation PPT Examples: and why they were successful

Below are several sales presentation examples you can use as inspiration to create your own. Let’s look at each of them and see exactly why they were successful.

Spendesk is a powerful spend management platform designed to help users save time and money by offering a clear view of their company expenses. Their sales presentation is the definition of a successful sales presentation: it is incredibly clear and straightforward . It clearly defines the problem it solves and introduces you to the solution, highlighting how it stands out from the competition.

As you’ll see, this presentation is not overloaded with text - it's simple and easily shows you how the product works. And most importantly, it’s branded! Which is key for brand positioning and visual consistency .

To check it out, click here .

Reddit Advertisement Sales Presentation

Reddit's sales presentation is definitely one of a kind. By incorporating memes and other pop-culture images throughout their deck, they engage the audience and stay true to their brand identity . This approach not only resonates with the Reddit community but also sets them apart from mundane sales pitches.

The presentation not only provides valuable data and showcases the effectiveness of its product but also does so effortlessly, proving that a presentation does not have to be overly serious to be effective.

Click here to explore Reddit's engaging sales presentation.

Zuora, a SaaS platform for subscription billing, takes a compelling approach in its sales presentation. It starts by highlighting the industry's changing landscape , effectively showing the importance of adapting to these changes.

But Zuora doesn't stop there. Throughout their presentation, they also showcase what their platform can do for the audience and provide social proof to back it up . This includes quotes from CEOs and other business executives who have successfully used their platform to improve their subscription billing process.

See for yourself and check out one of the best sales deck examples here .

Drift, a web-based live-chat tool for sales and marketing, takes a unique approach to its sales presentation. They begin by highlighting a common problem that many businesses face : how traditional communication methods, such as email, calls, and forms, are insufficient.

The presentation then goes on to showcase how Drift can provide a solution to this problem. They demonstrate how their live chat tool offers a more personalized approach to communication that can lead to impactful results.

Check out Drift's impressive sales presentation here .

Salesforce, an integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, provides a valuable lesson about creating sales presentations that convert . They start by explaining how the industry has undeniable changes and how we need to adapt to keep our businesses successful.

But they don't stop there. They continue showing us what things can look like, in other words, "the promised land," and how their product can change everything about how companies do things. And obviously, they finish with the greatest success stories from CEOs and clothes executives.

Click here to get inspired by the Salesforce presentation.

→ Free Download: 10+ Sales PowerPoint presentation PDF [FREE]

Snapchat Advertising

Snapchat Advertising's sales presentation stands out not only for its visually appealing design but also for its unique features. The presentation begins by emphasizing the vast reach of its platform and key age demographics, providing valuable insights for those looking to make the most of their marketing campaign .

In addition, Snapchat Advertising effectively compares itself to the competition, showcasing its unique features and advantages. And, of course, the presentation is visually branded with the company's iconic ghost character , making it instantly recognizable.

Check out their captivating sales presentation here .

Klima’s sales presentation is a special one. This climate change app’s presentation makes sure we know they are a company that focuses on “what truly matters.” It presents itself as a business with real, global impact.

And that’s not all. One standout feature of Klima's sales presentation is its visually appealing design. The slides effectively showcase the app's interface and demonstrate its key features. This visual representation really helps prospects consider getting an employee benefit with purpose .

Click here to get inspired by one of the greatest b2b sales deck examples.

Are you ready to create the best Sales PowerPoint presentation? We’ve got great news for you! Discover our sales presentation templates that you can download for exactly $0 .

Any of these templates could be a GREAT starting point for your next sales presentation . And what’s best…they are completely free for you to download at our Templates platform ! You’ll find not only these ones but also hundreds of other PowerPoint templates, for ANY industry, completely at your disposal.

Sales presentations can take various forms, including videos. Video presentations can effectively engage and captivate the audience by combining visual content, audio narration, and sometimes animations or graphics. Here are a few examples of sales presentations that are delivered in video format:

Medallia's video presentation showcases the effectiveness of using video to clearly represent their platform. The video highlights the platform's features, demonstrating how it can be a powerful tool for businesses.

By utilizing video, Medallia effectively shows viewers what the platform looks like and what they can expect to access and analyze in terms of data. The detailed exploration of each feature gives potential clients a comprehensive understanding of the platform's capabilities and how it can benefit their business.

Click here to check it out.

Moodcaster, a digital casting platform, starts with the main problem: how time-consuming castings can be and how tedious auditions are . It then shows you how they can be a great solution and how the platform works.

This video presentation truly shows what the client can expect when using the platform , by showing the process step-by-step. And if they are not convinced yet, it ends up listing all the fantastic features it has one by one, leaving the best impression.

Click here to view Moodcaster’s incredible video sales presentation.

Viable, the pioneering experience analysis platform, doesn't just identify the problem you're facing; it swiftly transitions to showcasing how they can provide the solution . They offer a real-time demonstration of how their platform works, providing concrete insights into how it can improve your business.

Finally, they conclude by highlighting all the advantages, features, and versatile applications that can benefit your specific needs.

Click here to take a look at Viable’s video sales presentation.

We know that creating the best sales presentation is key for your business. So, in order to provide valuable insights, we consulted Robert Juul Glaesel , head of sales at 24 Slides, who understands the importance of a good presentation for your business.

Let’s take a look at some insights from our head of sales:

Insight #1: Take elements out instead of adding elements in

Remember that quality is always more important than quantity . So, keep in mind not to overload your presentation with excessive text, because your audience’s attention will go directly there, instead of your speech. In Robert’s words:

“If you incorporate too many elements, it results in clutter, obscuring the main message and making it more challenging for the presenter to effectively convey their message.”

Insight #2: Don’t rely on your slides

We know this might sound counterintuitive, given that all this article is about creating your presentation, but remember that the presentation and the story are yours . As Robert says:

“Make sure that your presentation supports your story, it shouldn't tell your story. You, as the presenter, are the storyteller. Therefore, presentations should emphasize key points.”

Bonus insight #3: Brand your sales presentation !

This is one of your most crucial presentations; it should reflect who you are . There should be consistency between what they see on your website, social media, etc., and what they will see in this presentation. So, it is extremely important that you show that you care about your image and pay close attention to detail.

Creating a sales presentation is an incredibly important task, so it's best to leave it to the experts. Here at 24Slides , we can assist you in creating an amazing sales presentation that perfectly aligns with your brand. All you need to do is share the content you want to include and your brand guidelines. In less than 48 hours, you'll have your presentation ready for sales!

Want to learn more? Check out these articles!

• The Best Sales Presentation Services for Winning Sales Decks
• How to Create the Perfect B2B Sales Presentation
• Learn How to Start an Effective Sales Presentation
• Top 20 Free Templates for Corporate and Business Presentations
• +20 Self Introduction PowerPoint Templates: Download for free!

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Sales Strategy Presentation Template

A sales strategy helps sales teams achieve their sales goals and close more deals. Beautiful.ai’s sales strategy template enables managers and sales reps to prioritize and engage with potential customers, while developing different selling models to reach prospective clients. 

Our customizable template has everything you need for a sales strategy like key performance indicators (KPIs), sales process, and product overview. A thoughtful sales strategy presentation can help teams understand things like target market, response time between inbound leads and first sales touch-point, and how to properly demo the product.  

Our sales strategy template can also help you:

• Identify objectives and provide guidance to your sales team 
• Create product positioning guidelines  
• Share sales pipelines and wins with the team and other stakeholders

Use our template to create an effective sales strategy presentation

A sales strategy presentation is an integral component to your sales team’s success – one that requires a concise format, clear layout, and seamless flow. That’s why our template includes everything you need to create an effective presentation. Whether you need to establish ways to improve the sales cycle or share target clients with key players, you can quickly bring your visions to life with slides such as:

Tips to create a memorable sales strategy presentation

As you use this template to craft your sales strategy presentation, keep these do’s and don’ts in mind:

Sales strategy presentations are meant to hype up internal sales teams and set them up for success. Lead by example and tell a compelling story with your strategy so that they’re client-facing pitches are compelling, too.

It can be easy to get caught up in target logos and sales goals, but first you need to identify your value proposition. Make sure that is front and center of your sales strategy.

Remember: Sales teams are busy, and they don’t need every detail of their pipelines in a visual presentation. Limit the amount of content and data you add to each slide to only the most need-to-know information.

Sales strategy presentations don’t have to be boring and repetitive. Liven up your presentation with video clips of sample demos, logos of prospects, and infographics explaining the sales process.

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How to create an effective sales plan and present it: components and tips

Any business involves sales, and forecasting and planning are some of the major activities for a sales team. In this article, you will learn what a sales plan is, how to create an effective one, and how to make a sales presentation PowerPoint based on this plan. We will also discuss some sales plan examples.

What’s sales plan, and why do you need it?

A sales plan is a part of an extensive sales planning process. It helps forecast the sales success a business wants to achieve and outlines a plan to help it accomplish its goals.

Here are the reasons why you need an effective sales plan:

• It helps foresee risks.
• It makes it easier to track company goals.
• It helps find any bottlenecks in the process.
• It helps set clear revenue targets to achieve within a specific period.
• It helps improve lead generation efforts.
• It helps unify labor policies and ensure consistency in operations.
• It helps understand the business’s strengths and weaknesses.
• It helps track progress.
• It helps identify sale strategies that match the target market.
• It helps evaluate the sales team’s performance.
• It helps define each salesperson’s role and delegate work.
• It helps lay out tactics to execute the sales team’s strategies.

Sales plan structure

A sales plan outline will help you present critical metrics, KPIs, processes, tools, objectives, and strategies necessary to hit your sales goals.

If it is your first time creating a sales plan, below are the sections that must be included:

1. Your target revenue

In a sales plan, you can set a revenue-based goal, such as a target of $10,000 in 5 new deals in one month or $150 million in annual recurring revenue. You will need to keep that revenue target achievable.

Here are a few tips for setting your target revenue:

• Determine a reasonable sales goal according to prior sales results and your ability to reach a new market.
• Calculate the anticipated expenses for a specific period.
• Use projected sales forecasts based on estimates or industry standards.

2. Your ideal customer profile and buyer personas

To establish the target market or ideal customer, you must create a series of unique customer profiles that include geographics, demographics, job positions, behavior, and interests. From there, you can clearly define buyer personas and develop more targeted marketing and advertising strategies.

3. Your sales team

A sales team plays a vital role in implementing any sales plan. You must clearly delegate roles and responsibilities to the sales managers, customer service representatives, account executives, sales development representatives, and other sales professionals.

What’s more, there should be smooth communications and a handoff process. You can even consider using a Customer Relations Management (CRM) system to bring visibility and transparency to the sales process for all team members.

4. Your resources

Is your team small? Then, it would help if you determine how to expand the team to meet the sales targets and state how many resources are necessary within a specific period in your business plan.

You may also utilize specialized sales software for effective sales operation management. One such tool is snov.io , which helps scale a small business while engaging better quality leads with the product or service.

5. Safety of communications

Effective communication is essential in a sales team as it keeps each member productive, engaged, and informed. It also performs the following functions:

• Provides analytics needed to measure engagement with sales goals and benchmarks.
• Encourages marketing and sales teams to collaborate on projects.

That’s where you need to ensure the security of your communications and take advantage of dialpad.com, a workspace dedicated to team and customer communications. It is designed for global teams, where they can safely and efficiently communicate through voice, video, and AI contact centers.

6. Your position on the market

Position on the market is about competition, market trends, risks, and predictions. It outlines what your company must do to market your products and services to your target customers.

If you know how to position your business on the market, you will have a big picture of how you can establish the identity or image of your brand. It also allows you to achieve superior margins for the product or brand relative to competitors.

7. Your prospecting strategy

Prospecting strategy involves how you will generate quality leads and what inbound and outbound methods your sales team will use. Your goal here is to create interest and convert it into a sales meeting.

Below are easy ways to start your prospecting strategy:

• Build a list that includes who your sales team wants to generate meetings with.
• Research your prospects to ensure your new leads are a good fit.
• Craft your offer to drive value.
• Create a prospecting campaign to generate appointments with potential buyers and include a solid value-based offering.

8. Your pricing strategy

Your sales plan’s pricing strategy is about determining how you plan to change the price of your product and within what period. It will help you choose prices that maximize your shareholder value while considering the market and consumer demand.

Pricing strategy accounts for many business factors, such as product attributes, brand positioning, target audience, marketing and revenue goals. It is influenced by external factors, such as economic and market trends, competitor pricing, and consumer demand.

When creating a pricing strategy, consider the following:

• Pricing potential evaluation
• Buyer personas
• Historical data
• Your business goals vs. value
• Competitor pricing

9. Your goals, objectives & DRIs

Goals often include one to three- or five-year projections. Your goals must reflect recurring or existing customers’ expected sales and revenue. Then, you will need to have sales objectives that prioritize the activities your sales team needs to engage in.

Assigning Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs) also helps make a successful strategic sales plan. These individuals are typically responsible for making sure particular tasks are well-executed.

10. Your action plan

Part of creating an effective sales plan is defining your action plan. It deals with summarizing your plan to achieve each specific objective. For instance, if your sales goal is to increase your referrals by 20%, your actions would be:

Holding referral technique workshops Running a contest to boost referral sales Increasing referral sales commissions by 5%

11. Your budget

In this section, you must outline all costs you believe will be required to achieve your sales targets. Some expenses include hiring, printing, travel, training, sales tools, commissions, salaries, etc. These expenses are meant to be estimates, but due diligence and research should be done to prevent financial errors.

Sales plan examples

When it comes to creating a sales plan, there is no unified sales plan template. Each sales plan differs based on the company’s purpose. While you can encounter different sales plans, here are the common ones:

1. 30-60-90-day sales plan

A 30-60-90-day sales plan is milestone-based. This means it specifies a short-term goal you must achieve within 30, 60, or 90 days. This type of sales plan is suitable for new sales managers, helping them establish tactical and strategic activities according to this plan.

2. Territory sales plan

A territory sales plan features tactics dedicated to the sales team in different territories. You will need to consider a specific area’s market dynamics and working environment.

With a territory sales plan, you can:

• Target specific customers, opportunities, regions, and industries.
• Align the sales team with the prospects.
• Set realistic goals, optimize the strategies, and track progress.
• Spend more time selling.

When creating this sales plan, you have to:

• Define larger sales goals.
• Define the target market.
• Assess account quality and prospects.
• Map out the sales representatives’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Assign leads. Polish your plan.

3. Sales plan for specific sales

When it comes to this sales plan type, you must familiarize yourself with different sales domains, such as sales training plans or compensation, as well as:

• State the company’s mission
• Set objectives and timeframe
• Define the sales team
• Define the target market
• Evaluate the resources
• Create a comparative analysis of your offerings
• Set the sales budget
• Define the marketing strategy
• Work out the strategy
• Define the action plan

4. Monthly sales plan

If you prefer a traditional sales plan, you can opt for a monthly sales plan. It features tactics and revenue goals, which have to be accomplished within a month.

5. Sales tactics plan

A sales tactics plan includes execution strategies. It also involves detailed daily or weekly plans, including prescribed call sequences, meeting appointments, and email follow-up frequency.

Tips on how to create a sales plan

Are you looking for effective recommendations on how to make sales plan for your company? Then, check out the following:

Tip #1: Back up your plan with research and statistics

It is advisable to always back up your sales plan with research and statistics. This will help you define the sales team’s tasks needed to better meet your sales goals. These tasks should primarily stem from statistics and research.

Tip #2: Use SWOT analysis to analyze your capacities

From a sales perspective, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis will help assess your company’s position in the market. It will also allow you to gain insights into leveraging your selling points, acquiring market shares, and comparing your business’ position with that of your competitors.

To make this easier, you can use a visualizing tool to document the results of your SWOT analysis. You can choose from flow-chart tools, spreadsheet apps with SWOT analysis templates, mind mapping software, SWOT analysis generators, or online presentation or graphic design tools.

Tip #3: Split your sales plan into specific tactical plans

You can use specific tactical plans to achieve your sales goals. The details depend on different variables, such as resources and time. You can make a plan for individual areas of sales, such as SDRs, sales enablement, sales operations, and customer success.

As you create a tactical plan, you have to consider the following key elements:

• Company mission
• Key performance indicators
• Flexibility
• Action items
• Responsible parties

These key elements will help you identify the plan’s success in many ways, including the likelihood of accomplishing it.

Tip #4: Use previous performance data

You can use previous performance data to build incentive, territory, quota, and sales capacity plans. Using this data as your crucial decision-making tool, your sales team can have a basis for making informed decisions and forecasting performance more efficiently and accurately. In return, your sales plan will likely help achieve efficiency, higher performance, and bottom-line growth.

Tip #5: Outline the tracking methods you’ll use

By outlining tracking methods, you can set process workflows, allowing your sales representatives to determine where each prospect stands and which steps they need to take next.

You can also track the following:

• Sale cycle length.
• Number of closed deals.
• Conversion rate.
• Average contract value.
• Pipeline value by quarter, by month, and by individual and team.
• The number of unclosed deals after reaching a specific stage.

Now that you know the peculiarities and components of a sales plan, let’s find out how to make a sales plan presentation, what to include in it, and discover the top 14 sales presentation tips from vetted professionals.

What is a sales deck, and how to best present one?

A sales deck is a set of slides you can use to guide your audience through your sales strategy presentation.

Slide presentations can help your target audience grasp crucial information, pricing, and product characteristics your sales representatives can build their story around.

The best sales presentation slides serve as a touchstone for your sales team’s pitches. They allow your sales managers to draw on their personal knowledge to deliver additional information tailored to the prospects and stakeholders they are presenting to.

What are the types of sales presentation?

Sales presentations are classified into three types: standard memorized presentations, formulated sales presentations, and need-satisfaction presentations. Each sales presentation deck type has distinct characteristics that suit different scenarios.

1. Standard memorized presentations

Standard memorized presentations are very detailed and precise and always follow a predefined structure. They ensure no detail is overlooked and enable the sales team to produce a well-rehearsed, flawless presentation, leaving no room for misinterpretations or potential inaccuracies.

2. Formulated sales presentations

Formulated sales presentations offer a balance between rigidity and flexibility. While they follow a structured sales presentation outline, they allow salespeople to adjust their presentation in real time based on the customers’ reactions. Because of this flexibility, the sales presentation is not set in stone but revolves around customer preferences and queries.

3. Need-satisfaction presentations

Need-satisfaction presentations follow a customer-centric approach, allowing the salesperson to focus on satisfying the customer’s individual demands. The emphasis here is on establishing a dialogue rather than presenting a monologue, encouraging the customer to actively engage in the process.

What are the features of a sales presentation?

The content of your sales presentation PowerPoint must be written carefully and portray the story behind the specific product or service. As time is of the essence in sales, ensure your presentation is no more than 10 minutes and the overall meeting time does not exceed one hour.

When you invite people to come to your sales presentation, make sure they are decision-makers and are related to the things you are selling. Also, try not to lose the prospect’s attention by choosing the wrong points. Your sales presentation doesn’t have to concentrate too much on your service or product. Instead, show the audience how your service or product will change their lives in a good way.

Sales presentation structure

Here’s how to build a sales presentation that catches your audience’s attention and delivers your product’s value proposition in the best way possible:

• Introduce the pain points of your prospects.
• Describe the impact of the problem your prospects are facing.
• Explain why change is urgently necessary and what they stand to lose by not acting.
• Present the solution: a clear path toward the prospect’s goals.
• Provide evidence, address reservations, and FAQs.

To create personalized sales decks quickly, you can use a sales presentation template with the most recent FAQs and case studies. This will allow you to easily copy a deck and create a customized sales presentation for each new prospect in a matter of minutes.

What to include in a sales deck?

Good sales decks have a few key elements, such as:

• Introduction. Say a few words about your company, mentioning your activities and mission. Make sure you grab the audience’s attention with a memorable opening slide or cover image.
• Definition of the problem. Identify the main issues that your company is trying to solve. Provide your audience with some data. Metrics can come from third-party sources or your own sales dashboard.
• Social proof. For instance, you might add quotes and success stories from customers to support your sales presentation. However, you must not repeat the things you say.
• Customized content. Customize your sales presentation for every single prospect so as to build a bridge between your services or product and your audience. In other words, make sure it is personalized.
• Next steps. Include a clear and brief call to action. Offer a few next steps for your potential prospects.
• Visuals. Graphs, charts, and other design elements are all effective techniques to illustrate your point. However, make sure they are simple. Do not overwhelm your sales presentation with too much data; use more visuals instead.

Lastly, make sure that the font (and font size) used in your sales presentation design is legible to everyone in the room.

Other points to consider

1. the product.

Demonstrate how your service or product operates in action. Create a perfect environment to showcase how the product works, if it is physical. Utilize technology if it is a digital product. For instance, you might ask your prospects to download the app. In some cases, you might use video as a demo.

2. Handouts

Hand out some materials to your audience. For instance, it might be a QR code or contact data. The information must be clear and to the point. Distribute the handouts once the sales presentation is over.

3. Practice and teamwork

Double-check your sales presentation with a few salespersons. Practice a lot before the actual presentation. Come earlier to make sure everything works well. Also, decide who will say some information during the presentation and who will do certain things to help you.

Expert tips: How to create your sales presentation?

Tip #1: sync.

Your main points must be synchronized with your sales deck. When you present statistics, you should speak slowly. Emphasize your tone of voice when you are talking about pain points. Express relief when you showcase how your company wants to tackle specific issues. Make sure all the questions you ask your audience have straightforward answers or are rhetorical.

Tip #2: Involve storytelling

People like exciting stories related to their daily lives and problems. They will listen to your sales presentation even more attentively if you tell a story that solves their everyday problems.

Tip #3: Avoid using technical slang

In your sales presentation, use general terms that are clear to every audience member. Do not use slang words. Most people in the room might not have a clue about your offering, so the simpler the lexicon is, the better the result.

Tip #4: Emphasize the value of your product or service

Try to demonstrate how your product or service differs from your competitors. Tell about the main differences slowly. Mention how your product or service will make other people’s lives more comfortable. In other words, emphasize their value.

Tip #5: Practice body language

Your body language must be confident during the presentation. Improve your body language by maintaining eye contact and standing straight. It will prove to people that you are interested in communicating with them.

Tip #6: Be funny

Use your sense of humor. For instance, you might play jokes, but you would better not force them. Keep in contact with your prospects by telling funny stories. Make sure everyone in the room is comfortable and relaxed.

Tip #7: Emphasize your expertise

Do not talk too much about your company. You should focus your sales presentation on the field of your expertise instead. For instance, you might demonstrate a slide with logos of the companies that have already invested money in your brand.

Tip #8: Focus on benefits

Emphasize the strong points and tell how your product or service will improve your prospects’ lives. Do not focus too much on the pain points. Make sure your presentation is personal and describe all the benefits they will get. You might also mention the names of people in the room to make them feel valued.

Tip #9: Include research

Add internal and external types of research to your sales presentation. Use statistics or graphs and cut the information into brief pieces for your company to get more authority. Add relevant numbers and examples to demonstrate how you helped previous clients.

Tip #10: Showcase the return on their investment

Tell how your company will master productivity, multiply market share, make more money, eliminate costs, and boost sales. In other words, you should show the results of investments both long- and short-term.

Tip #11: Rehearse

Rehearsing before a presentation will help boost your confidence and smooth “rough spots.” You will also get to know the approximate amount of time needed to deliver your presentation.

Tip #12: Talk directly to your audience

Do not speak just to your slides. Utilize slides to emphasize the things you say. If you fail to do so, your presentation will most likely sound boring. Try to engage every member of the audience. Express yourself by using your hands. For instance, you might ask them to raise their hands if they agree to some of the points.

Tip #13: Add a clear call to action

Make sure your last slide includes a call to action. Add your contact data, but do not go deeply into detail. Know when it is the right time to stop.

Tip #14: Answer the audience’s questions

Your prospects will ask questions, and you have to be prepared to stop the presentation and answer their questions as they appear. Your audience must be sure that you take them seriously. At the end of your presentation, you can also offer a product’s trial, discount, or other incentive to motivate the audience or create a sense of urgency. The main goal here is to make the audience involved.

Lastly, follow sales presentation best practices to ensure a polished and persuasive delivery. This includes maintaining a clear and concise narrative, addressing potential objections proactively, and incorporating compelling storytelling techniques. Utilize engaging visuals to enhance your message and capture the audience’s attention. Practice your delivery to ensure a confident and natural presentation style and encourage audience interaction through discussions.

By adhering to these best practices, you can create a sales presentation that not only increases the likelihood of successful outcomes but also fosters positive connections with potential clients or stakeholders.

Still wondering how to create a sales deck?

Don’t worry—our presentation design service has got you covered! With profound expertise in designing compelling presentations in different software and thousands of satisfied customers from across the globe, it will be a no-brainer for our dedicated team to transform your ideas into a visually stunning, impactful sales presentation. Take the first step towards a winning presentation by reaching out to us today.

Your success story begins with professionally crafted pitch deck slides —let SlidePeak help you make it a reality!

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• Presenting techniques
• 50 tips on how to improve PowerPoint presentations in 2022-2023 [Updated]
• Present financial information visually in PowerPoint to drive results
• Keynote VS PowerPoint
• Types of presentations

Introduce a new product idea in a presentation

• Design Tips

A complete guide to perfect pitch deck design: structure, tips & examples

8 rules of effective presentation

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Blog Business How to Create a Sales Plan: Strategy, Examples and Templates

How to Create a Sales Plan: Strategy, Examples and Templates

Written by: Aditya Rana Mar 25, 2024

The difference between a company struggling to drive sales and one that’s hitting home runs often boils down to a well-crafted sales plan.

Without knowing how to write a sales plan , your sales reps will lack vision, not understand the market, and be ineffective at engaging potential customers.

Most businesses fail in sales planning because they don’t focus on their unique value. If you’re struggling with sales, here’s what you need to do: define your goal(s), create customer personas, and create an action plan for success.

One of the best ways to organize this information in one place is to use sales planning templates . In this post, I’ll show you how to write a sales plan (…with plenty of template examples included of course!).

Click to jump ahead:

What is a sales plan?

Benefits of a sales plan, how to create a sales plan, sales plan example, sales plan templates.

A sales plan is a strategic document that outlines how a business plans to convert leads into sales. It typically details the target market, customer profile, and actionable steps that must be taken to achieve revenue targets.

Here’s a great example of a sales plan that includes all these elements neatly packed into one document.

Every company needs a sales plan, but have you ever wondered why?

Why should businesses invest time and resources in creating sales plan when they could…well…be focusing on sales?

Sales plans are worth it because they tell sales employees what to do.

Without a sales plan, your sales efforts will end up becoming a disorganized mess. Let’s explore the benefits of sales plans in detail.

Help you identify and target the right market

A sales plan helps you figure out the target market that’s most likely to be responsive to your messaging.

I mean do you really want to waste your time trying to sell to someone who has no need for your product or isn’t interested in your offering?

But if you know who your customer is, you can target their pain points.

Help you set goals

All great sales plans require you to set goals that are actually attainable and budgeted for.

Without goals, your sales team essentially operates in the dark unsure of what success looks like and how to achieve it.

One of the best ways to set goals is by conducting a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to understand the market landscape.

Help you forecast sales

Since sales plans require you to study historical sales data , you have the ability to understand trends, seasonality, and customer buying patterns.

This information can be used to accurately forecast future sales performance.

And when you chart it out visually like in this example, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize your sales strategy.

Help you identify risks

Because sales plans require you to study the market, you’ll be able to uncover risks such as market saturation, competitors, and shifting customer needs.

With this knowledge, you have the ability to be flexible in your approach.

Besides market risks, sales plans also help you pinpoint risks within your company such as a lack of qualified leads or unclear communication between departments.

Improve customer service

It may sound counterintuitive but creating a sales plan also actually improves your customer service.

Researching and trying to understand customer needs means new insights that you can share with the customer service team which allows them to tailor their approach.

You’ll also be able to train sales service reps to anticipate questions and concerns so that they can communicate effectively.

Increases sales efficiency

Sales plans help standardize sales tactics and ensure sales reps follow the same best practices to reduce inconsistencies and improve effectiveness.

One of the best ways to standardize practices is to use a flowchart like in this example to make sure everyone knows what to do when facing a decision.

Increases your profits

Sales plans generally guarantee a boost in profits because it allows sales team to laser-focus on high-value opportunities instead of being headless chickens.

Reducing wasted effort and a higher frequency of closed deals is a win in my book any day.

One of the best ways to measure changes in profits is to use a simple template to review performance like in this example.

Help you understand customer needs

Contrary to what you might think, sales plans aren’t just about selling but also about understanding customers at a deeper level.

The process of creating a plan forces you to analyze customer data, buying habits, and pain points, all of which will help you understand what makes your customers tick and build trust and loyalty.

Here’s a great example of a customer persona you can edit to include in your sales plan.

A sales plan is a document that helps you maximize profitability by identifying valuable segments and outlining strategies to influence customer behavior.

Common elements most sales plans include:

• Sales goals : Information on revenue, market share, and more.
• Sales strategy: Information on how to reach potential customers and convert them.
• Target audience: Information on ideal customers and their needs.
• Metrics : Methods to track progress.
• Resources :  Tools, budget, and personnel needed to achieve sales goals.

Let’s take an in-depth look at how to create a sales plan.

( Note : You don’t need to include each of these points in your sales plan but I recommend you cover most of them to build a plan that’s well-rounded).

Define your business mission and positioning

Before you jump into tactics, build a strong foundation by defining your company’s mission and positioning.

Here’s why this step is a must-do:

• Your mission statement defines your company’s purpose and values and gives your sales team and customers something to relate to.
• Your positioning statement defines how your product or service meets a specific need and sets you apart from the competition.

Trying to sell without any alignment to company values will lead to inconsistent messaging and damage your brand reputation.

Here’s a great example of a sales plan template you can customize with your own brand’s mission and positioning statements.

Define your target market

Unless you think you can sell to every person possible, you’ll need to define your ideal target market.

Study your customer base and ask questions like: do most of the customers belong to a specific industry? Or do they all face the same pain point?

Also, keep in mind that target market can change over time due to changes in your product, pricing, or factors out of your control, so it’s important to review and update your target market frequently.

Understand your target customers

This step often gets mixed with the previous one, so pay close attention.

Your target customers are those who your business wants to target because they’re most likely to make a purchase.

You can figure out who your target customers are by creating customer profiles by breaking down your target market into smaller groups based on geography, behavior, demography, and more.

Here’s a great sales plan template where you can edit in your own customer persona.

When making your buyer personas, make sure you answer the following questions.

• Motivations and challenges:  What are customer pain points? What drives purchasing decisions?
• Behaviors and preferences:  How do customers research products? What communication channels do they prefer?
• Goals and aspirations:  What are your prospective customers trying to achieve? How can your product or service help them get there?

Define sales objectives and goals

Setting clear, measurable goals gives you a method to measure performance of your sales strategies.

More importantly though, they give your sales team targets to aim for which then allows them to work in a structured and focused manner.

Your sale goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). This is to make sure they’re realistically achievable within a set timeframe.

Here’s a comparison of good sales goal setting vs a bad one.

• ✅Drive $100,000 in sales of product X by Y date using Z tactics
• ❌ Increase overall sales in each product line

You can organize this information using a template like in this example, especially if you have multiple product lines.

Define your value proposition

Your value proposition is a concise statement that explains why a customer should choose your product or service over the competition.

Here’s an example of a value statement:

“For busy small business owners, we provide a user-friendly accounting software that saves you time and money, allowing you to focus on growing your business.”

Then, it doesn’t matter if you own a restaurant, have developed a bike rental service, run a gym, or created hotel management software . Your value proposition must clearly convey unique benefits and show how your product stands out.

Here are some tips on defining your value proposition:

• Identify customer needs:  What are the core challenges and pain points your ideal customer faces? Understanding their needs allows you to position your offering as the solution.
• Highlight your unique benefits:  What sets your product or service apart? Focus on benefits you deliver that address the customer’s needs.
• Quantify the value:  When possible, quantify the value you offer. Can you demonstrate a cost savings, increased efficiency, or improved outcomes?

Map out the customer journey

Unless you’re extremely lucky, no one is going to purchase from you during the first interaction.

That’s why it’s crucial for you to know the steps a customer takes from initial awareness to purchase. Mapping out their journey allows you to personalize messaging and influence behavior.

Here are some tips on how to create a customer journey map :

• Identify the stages:  Break down the journey into distinct stages, such as awareness, consideration, decision, and post-purchase.
• Define touchpoints: Pinpoint the different touchpoints where your customer interacts with your brand (example: website, social media, customer reviews).
• Understand customer needs at each stage: What information are they looking for at each stage? What are their concerns and motivations?
• Identify opportunities to engage:  Identify opportunities to engage with your potential customers and move them along the buying journey.

Want some help creating customer journeys?

This customer journey map template is an excellent way to bring customer journeys to life.

Gather existing sales data

This step involves collecting and analyzing all available data on past sales performance.

This data is critical in helping you spot trends, patterns, and areas for improvement in your sales operations.

Perform sales forecasting

Sales forecasting is the practice of estimating future sales which can be presented as a report highlighting expected sales volume weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Though not always 100% accurate, sales forecasting is key to writing sales plans because it’ll provide you with a clear picture of the ground reality which leads to better decisions on budgeting.

Here’s a template you can use to perform sales forecasting to makes the sales planning process effective.

Define your sales KPIs

KPIs are a fancy way of saying that you need to set metrics to track effectiveness of your sales strategy and team’s performance.

Some example KPIs you can include in sales plans are:

• Number of sales
• Sales revenue
• Average deal size

This sales report template is a great example of how you can include KPIs in your meetings to test performance and adjust strategy.

Identify gaps in the sales process

This step is all about analyzing your current sales process to figure out gaps and/or potential obstacles preventing you from achieving goals.

When you identify a gap, brainstorm potential solutions so that you can create a specific action plan.

Understand the sales stages

When writing a sales plan, make sure you cover each stage of the sales cycle. If you’re unsure of what the sales stages are, here’s a quick recap.

Prospecting

This is the foundation of the sales process where you identify potential customers who might be a good fit for your product or service.

Preparation

Once you have a list of prospects, you need to research their needs, challenges, and buying habits.

This is all about how you contact and communicate with prospects.

Presentation

This section is your opportunity to showcase the value proposition of your product or service. Tailor your presentation to address the prospect’s specific needs and demonstrate how your offering can solve their problems.

Handling objections

Identify common objections your sales team might encounter related to price, features, competition, or need. Develop clear and concise responses to address these concerns proactively.

Equip your sales team with effective closing techniques to secure commitments from prospects who are interested but might hesitate.

Plan your follow-up strategy based on the prospect’s decision timeline and the stage of the sales cycle. For longer timelines, periodic updates and information sharing through digital sales rooms can maintain engagement and provide valuable resources conveniently.

Organize the sales team

Organizing the sales team entails defining roles and responsibilities clearly to cover all aspects of the sales process effectively.

This might involve segmenting the team based on product lines, customer segments, or territories.

Here’s an example of how it might look:

Sarah — Sales Director — will lead the sales team, set overall strategy, goals and direction. Michael and Jessica — Business Development Executives — will focus on prospecting new leads. They will research potential customers, identify those who might be a good fit for the product, and qualify leads by gathering information and assessing their needs. William — Sales Development Manager — will manage the business development executives and ensuring they follow best practices. Chris and Lisa — Account Executives — will handle qualified leads. They build relationships with potential customers, present product demos, address objections, and close deals.

Using an org chart like in this example is a great way to visualize this information.

Outline the use of sales tools

Sales tools play a crucial role in streamlining the sales process and enhancing productivity.

Make sure you outline the tools your team will use, how they fit into different stages of the sales process, and any training required to maximize their utility.

This ensures that your team has the resources needed to engage effectively with prospects and customers.

Set the budget

Setting the budget involves allocating resources efficiently across various sales activities to achieve your objectives without overspending.

This includes expenses related to personnel, marketing initiatives, customer entertainment, and tools like CRM software, automation, cybersecurity solutions, and even a corporate travel platform .

A well-planned budget balances investment in growth opportunities with the overall financial health of the business.

Create a sales strategy and action plan

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork of what you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve it, it’s time to bring it all together into a single view.

Create an action plan which not includes your strategy but also concrete steps.

Your action plan should outlines specific activities for each stage of the sales funnel from prospecting (lead generation channels) to closing (structured process and follow-up strategy with timelines) and everything in between.

Performance and results measurement

Last but not least, your sales plan should present a clear and quantifiable means to track the effectiveness of sales activities.

How are you going to measure outcomes against predefined targets?

Performance measurement is key because it builds accountability and allows you to always have a pulse on customer behavior, preferences, and trends that’ll help you make decisions based on data.

If you’ve made it this far, give yourself a pat! I’ve covered A LOT on elements that you can include in a sales plan.

However, in most cases, you don’t always need to go that in-depth and instead should aim for brevity so that anyone in your team can stay up-to-date without having to worry about the nitty gritty details.

Here’s a sales plan example that’s brief but highly effective. It includes a summary of all you need in one document, a target market analysis, a customer profile, and an action plan.

Want even more sales plan templates for design inspiration or to customize and make your own?

This 30-60-90 day sales plan provides a great way to organize goals, priorities, performance goals, and metrics of success over three three timeframes: first 30 days, first 60 days, and first 90 days.

This sales plan is structured around key components that drive the sales process: objectives, strategies, tactics, and key metrics. It emphasizes a multi-channel approach to sales,, with a strong focus on measuring performance through metrics.

This sales roadmap is a great way to visualize activities such as defining strategy and generating leads to more advanced steps.

Conclusion: Save time on designing and updating sales plans and focus on growing your business with Venngage templates

Though there’s no secret formula for effective sales plan design, it’s good practice to include the basics or information on the target market, a customer persona, and a strategy on how you plan to sell.

What you definitely shouldn’t do is write a sales plan and then never look at it again.

And trust me, I know how time-consuming and frustrating it can be to edit your sales plan especially if you don’t have design skills. One small change might make the icons or numbers go all out of whack.

That’s why I recommend customizing our sales plan templates instead so that you can focus your energy on strategy.

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How to create a sales plan in 7 Steps

A sales plan is the first step toward defining your sales strategy , sales goals and how you’ll reach them.

A refined sales plan is a go-to resource for your reps. It helps them better understand their role, responsibilities, targets, tactics and methods. When done right, it gives your reps all the information they need to perform at their highest level.

In this article, we outline what a sales plan is and why it’s important to create one. We also offer a step-by-step guide on how to make a sales plan with examples of each step.

What is a sales plan and why create one?

Your sales plan is a roadmap that outlines how you’ll hit your revenue targets, who your target market is, the activities needed to achieve your goals and any roadblocks you may need to overcome.

Many business leaders see their sales plan as an extension of the traditional business plan. The business plan contains strategic and revenue goals across the organization, while the sales plan lays out how to achieve them.

The benefits of a sales plan

A successful sales plan will keep all your reps focused on the right activities and ensure they’re working toward the same outcome. It will also address your company's specific needs. For example, you might choose to write a 30- , 60- or 90-day sales plan depending on your current goals and the nature of your business.

Say your ultimate goal for the next quarter is $250,000 in new business. A sales plan will outline the objective, the strategies that will help you get there and how you’ll execute and measure those strategies. It will allow your whole team to collaborate and ensure you achieve it together.

Many salespeople are driven by action and sometimes long-term sales planning gets neglected in favor of short-term results.

While this may help them hit their quota, the downside is the lack of systems in place. Instead, treat sales processes as a system with steps you can improve. If reps are doing wildly different things, it’s hard to uncover what’s working and what’s not. A strategic sales plan can optimize your team’s performance and keep them on track using repeatable systems.

With this in mind, let’s explore the seven components of an effective sales plan

1. Company mission and positioning

To work toward the same company goals, everyone in your organization must understand what your organization is trying to achieve and where in the market you position yourself.

To help define your mission and positioning, involve your sales leaders in all areas of the business strategy. Collaborating and working toward the same goals is impossible if those goals are determined by only a select group of stakeholders.

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To get a handle on the company’s mission and positioning, take the following steps:

Collaborate with marketing: Your marketing teams live and breathe the positioning of your company. Take the time to talk to each function within the department, from demand generation to performance marketing to learn what they know.

Interview customer success teams: Customer support reps speak with your existing customers every day. Interview them to find common questions and pain points.

Talk to your customers: Customer insights are a foundational part of any positioning strategy. Speak directly with existing and new customers to find out what they love about your product or service.

Read your company blog: Those in charge of content production have a strong understanding of customer needs. Check out blog articles and ebooks to familiarize yourself with customer language and common themes.

Look for mentions around the web: How are other people talking about your organization? Look for press mentions, social media posts, articles and features that mention your products and services.

These insights can provide context around how your company is currently positioned in the market.

Finally, speak with the team in charge of defining the company’s positioning. Have a list of questions and use the time to find out why they made certain decisions. Here are some examples:

What important insights from the original target audience research made you create our positioning statement?

What competitor research led us to position ourselves in this way? Does this significantly differentiate us from the crowd? How?

What core ideals and values drove us to make these promises in our positioning statement? Have they shifted in any way since we launched? If so, what motivates these promises now?

How to communicate mission and positioning

In this section of the sales plan, include the following information:

Company mission : Why your company exists and the value you’re determined to bring to the market.

Competition: Who your direct competitors (those who offer similar products and services) and indirect competitors (brands who solve the same problem in different ways) are.

Value propositions: The features, benefits and solutions your product delivers.

What is brand positioning: The ultimate guide with 4 examples

2. Goals and targets

Define your revenue goals and the other targets sales are responsible for.

As mentioned earlier, sales goals are usually aligned with business goals. Your boardroom members typically establish the company’s revenue goals and it’s your job to achieve them.

Revenue goals will shape your sales strategy. Use them to reverse engineer quotas, sales activity and the staff you need to execute them.

Break your big-picture revenue goal down further into sales targets and activity targets for your team. Activities are the specific actions you and your reps can control, while sales targets are the results provided by those activities.

9 steps to creating the perfect sales strategy (with free template)

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10 predictable revenue hacks to grow your sales

Use data on sales activity and performance from previous years to calculate sales targets. You should break this down by pipeline stage and activity conducted by reps across all functions.

For example, how many cold emails does it take to generate a deal? What is the average lifetime value (LTV) of your customer?

Breaking down these numbers allows you to accurately forecast what it will take to achieve your new revenue goal.

This part of your sales plan might include setting goals like the following:

200 total cold emails sent per day

200 total cold calls made per day

25 demos conducted per day

5 new sales appointments made a day

100 follow-up emails sent per day

Breaking down your goals into specific activities will also reveal the expertise needed for each activity and any required changes to your organizational structure, which will come into play in the next step.

How to communicate goals and targets

Within this section of the sales plan, include the following information:

Revenue goals : Reverse engineer the boardroom revenue goals to identify achievable sales goals and the number of staff needed to reach them. Sales targets : Use data on sales activity and past performance to define quotas and metrics for each stage of the sales pipeline.

Expertise needed for each activity: What qualities and attributes do your staff need to achieve these predefined activities? How much experience do they need vs. what can be learned on the job?

3. Sales organization and team structure

Identify the talent and expertise you need to achieve your goals.

For example, a marketing agency that depends on strong relationships will benefit more from a business development executive than a sales development representative (SDR) .

Use the targets established in the previous section to identify who you need to hire for your team. For example, if the average sales development rep can send 20 cold emails a day and you need to send 200 to achieve your goals, you’ll need around ten reps to hit your targets.

Include the information for each team member in a table in your sales plan. Here is an example.

Visualizing each role helps all stakeholders understand who they’re hiring and the people they’re responsible for. It allows them to collaborate on the plan and identify the critical responsibilities and qualities of their ideal candidates.

You want to avoid micromanaging , but now is a good time to ask your existing teams to report on the time spent on certain activities. Keeping a timesheet will give you an accurate forecast of how long certain activities take and the capacity of each rep.

How to communicate your sales organization and team structure

Team structure: These are the functions that make up your overall sales organization. The roles of SDR, business development and account teams must be well-defined.

Roles and responsibilities: These are the roles you need to hire, along with the tasks they’re responsible for. This will help you produce job descriptions that attract great talent.

Salary and compensation: How will the company remunerate your teams? Having competitive salaries, compensation schemes and sales incentives will attract top performers and keep them motivated.

Timeline: Attempting to hire dozens of people at once is tough. Prioritize hiring based on how critical each role is for executing your plan. Take a phased hiring approach to onboard new reps with the attention they deserve.

Building a sales team: How to set your group up for success

4. Target audience and customer segments

A sales plan is useless without knowing who to sell to. Having clearly defined customer personas and ideal customer profiles will help you tailor your selling techniques to companies and buyers.

Whether you’re looking to break into a new market or expand your reach in your current one, start by clearly defining which companies you’re looking to attract. Include the following criteria:

Industries: Which markets and niches do you serve? Are there certain sub-segments of those industries that you specialize in?

Headcount: How many employees do your best accounts have within their organization?

Funding: Have they secured one or several rounds of funding?

Find out as much as you can about their organizational challenges. This may include growth hurdles, hiring bottlenecks and even barriers created by legislation.

Learn about your buyers within those target accounts, learn about your buyers. Understanding your buyers and personalizing your sales tactics for them will help you strengthen your customer relationships.

These insights will change as your business grows. Enterprise companies may wish to revisit their personas as they move upmarket. For small businesses and startups, your target audience will evolve as you find product-market fit.

It’s important to constantly revisit this part of your sales plan. Even if your goals and methodologies are the same, always have your finger on the pulse of your customer’s priorities.

How to communicate target audience and customer segments

Profile: Include basic information about their role, what their career journey looks like and the common priorities within their personal lives.

Demographics : Add more information about their age, income and living situation. Demographic information can help tailor your message to align with the language used across different generations.

Attributes: Assess their personality. Are they calm or assertive? Do they handle direct communication themselves or have an assistant? Use these identifying attributes to communicate effectively.

Challenges: Think about the hurdles this persona is trying to overcome. How does it affect their work and what’s the impact on them personally?

Goals: Analyze how these challenges are preventing them from achieving their goals. Why are these goals important to them?

Support: Use this insight to define how your product or service will help these people overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Behavioral segmentation: What is it and how can it drive engagement and loyalty

5. Sales strategies and methodologies

Define your sales approach. This includes the strategies, techniques and methodologies you’ll use to get your offering out to market.

This part of your sales plan may end up being the largest. It will outline every practical area of your sales strategy: your sales stages, methodologies and playbooks.

Start by mapping out each stage of your sales process. What are the steps needed to guide a prospect through your deal flow?

9 essential sales stages

Traditionally, a sales process has nine sales stages :

Prospecting and lead generation : Your marketing strategy should deliver leads, but sales reps should boost this volume with their own prospecting efforts.

Qualification: Measure those leads against your target account criteria and customer personas. Ensure they’re a good fit, prioritizing your time on high-value relationships.

Reaching out to new leads : Initiate emails to your target customers to guide new leads into the sales funnel. This outreach activity includes cold calling and direct mail.

Appointment setting: Schedule a demo, discovery call or consultation.

Defining needs: After the initial meeting, you’ll understand your prospect’s problems and how your product or service can solve them.

Presentation: Reveal the solution. This can be in the form of a proposal, custom service packages or a face-to-face sales pitch .

Negotiation: Dedicate this stage to overcoming any objections your prospect may have.

Winning the deal: Turn your prospects into customers by closing deals and signing contracts.

Referrals : Fostering loyalty is an organization-wide activity. Delight your customers and encourage them to refer their friends.

Not all of these stages will be relevant to your organization. For example, a SaaS company that relies on inbound leads may do much of the heavy lifting during the initial meeting and sales demo . On the other hand, an exclusive club whose members must meet certain criteria (say, a minimum net worth) would focus much of their sales activity on referrals.

Map out your sales process to identify the stages you use. Your sales process should look something like this:

To determine your sales methodologies, break each sales stage down into separate activities, along with the stakeholder responsible for them.

With your sales activities laid out, you can do in-depth research into the techniques and methodologies you need to execute them. For example, if you sell a complex product with lengthy sales cycles , you could adopt a SPIN selling methodology to identify pain points and craft the best solution for leads.

Finally, use these stages and methodologies to form your sales playbooks . This will help you structure your sales training plan and create playbooks your reps can go back to for guidance.

How to communicate sales strategies and methodologies

Within this section of the sales plan, include the following:

Sales stages: The different steps required to convert prospects into paying customers.

Sales methodologies: The different practices and approaches you’ll adopt to shape your sales strategy.

Sales playbooks: The tactics, techniques and sales strategy templates needed to guide contacts throughout each stage of the sales process.

6. Sales action plan

You have the “who” and the “what”. Now you must figure out “when” to execute your sales plan.

A well-structured sales action plan communicates when the team will achieve key milestones. It outlines timeframes for when they’ll complete certain projects and activities, as well as the recruitment timelines for each quarter.

The order in which you implement your sales action plan depends on your priorities. Many sales organizations prefer to front-load the activity that will make a bigger impact on the bottom line.

For example, when analyzing your current sales process and strategy, you may find your existing customers are a rich source of qualified leads . Therefore, it would make sense to nurture more of these relationships using a structured referral program.

You must also consider how recruitment will affect the workload in your team. Hire too quickly and you may end up spending more time training new reps and neglecting your existing team. However, taking too long to recruit could overload your existing team. Either can make a big impact on culture and deal flow.

To complete your sales action plan, get all stakeholders involved in deciding timelines. When applying this to your sales plan, use GANTT charts and tables to visualize projects and key milestones.

A GANTT chart shows you the main activities, their completion dates and if there are any overlaps. Here is an example:

By prioritizing each activity and goal, you can create a plan that balances short-term results with long-term investment.

How to communicate your sales action plan

Key milestones : When do you aim to complete your projects, activities and recruitment efforts? You can map them out by week, month, quarter or all of the above. Let your revenue goals and priorities lead your schedule.

Short- and long-term goal schedules: With a high-level schedule mapped out, you can see when you will achieve your goals. From here, you can shape your schedule so that it balances both short- and long-term goals.

7. Performance and results measurement

Finally, your plan must detail how you measure performance. Outline your most important sales metrics and activities, how you’ll track them and what technology you’ll need to track them.

Structure this part of your plan by breaking down each sales stage. Within these sections, list out the metrics you’ll need to ensure you’re running a healthy sales pipeline.

Performance metrics can indicate the effectiveness of your entire sales process. Your chosen metrics typically fall into two categories:

Primary metrics act as your “true north” guide. This is commonly new business revenue generated.

Secondary metrics are those that indicate how well specific areas of your sales process are performing. These include lead response time and average purchase value.

The metrics you select must closely align with your goals and sales activities. For example, at the appointment setting stage, you might measure the number of demos conducted.

Each team also needs its own sales dashboard to ensure reps are hitting their targets. Sales development reps will have different priorities from account executives, so it’s critical they have the sales tools to focus on what’s important to them.

Finally, research and evaluate the technology you’ll need to accurately measure these metrics. Good CRM software is the best system to use for bringing your data together.

How to communicate sales performance metrics

Sales stage metrics : Identify the metrics for each specific sales stage and make sure they align with your KPIs.

Chosen sales dashboard: Explain why you chose your sales dashboard technology and exactly how it works.

Performance measurement: Outline exactly how and what tech you will use to measure your team’s activities and metrics.

How to track, measure and improve your team’s sales performance

Developing a sales plan involves conducting market research, assessing current sales performance , identifying sales opportunities and challenges, setting measurable goals, creating a sales strategy, allocating resources and establishing a monitoring and evaluation framework.

To write a sales business plan, include:

An executive summary

A company overview

A market analysis

A target market description

Sales strategies and tactics

Financial projections

A budget and timeline

Make sure that you clearly articulate your value proposition, competitive advantage and growth strategies.

Final thoughts

An effective sales plan is an invaluable asset for your sales team . Although you now know how to create a sales plan, you should remember to make one that works for your team. Writing one helps with your sales strategy planning and aids you in defining targets, metrics and processes. Distributing the sales plan helps your reps understand what you expect of them and how they can reach their goals.

Providing supportive, comprehensive resources is the best way to motivate your team and inspire hard work. When you do the work to build a solid foundation, you equip your reps with everything they need to succeed.

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7 Amazing Sales Presentation Examples (And How to Make Them Your Own)

7 Types of Slides to Include In Your Sales Presentation

Inside the mind of your prospect: change is hard, before-after-bridge: the only formula you need to create a persuasive sales presentation, facebook — how smiles and simplicity make you more memorable, contently — how to build a strong bridge, brick by brick, yesware — how to go above and beyond with your benefits, uber — how to cater your content for readers quick to scan, dealtap — how to use leading questions to your advantage, zuora — how to win over your prospects by feeding them dots, linkedin sales navigator — how to create excitement with color, how to make a sales pitch in 4 straightforward steps, 7 embarrassing pitfalls to avoid in your presentation, over to you.

A brilliant sales presentation has a number of things going for it.

Being product-centered isn’t one of them. Or simply focusing on your sales pitch won’t do the trick.

So what can you do to make your offer compelling?

From different types of slides to persuasive techniques and visuals, we’ve got you covered.

Below, we look at data-backed strategies, examples, and easy steps to build your own sales presentations in minutes.

• Title slide: Company name, topic, tagline
• The “Before” picture: No more than three slides with relevant statistics and graphics.
• The “After” picture: How life looks with your product. Use happy faces.
• Company introduction: Who you are and what you do (as it applies to them).
• The “Bridge” slide: Short outcome statements with icons in circles.
• Social proof slides: Customer logos with the mission statement on one slide. Pull quote on another.
• “We’re here for you” slide: Include a call-to-action and contact information.

Many sales presentations fall flat because they ignore this universal psychological bias: People overvalue the benefits of what they have over what they’re missing.

Harvard Business School professor John T. Gourville calls this the “ 9x Effect .” Left unchecked, it can be disastrous for your business.

According to Gourville, “It’s not enough for a new product simply to be better. Unless the gains far outweigh the losses, customers will not adopt it.”

The good news: You can influence how prospects perceive these gains and losses. One of the best ways to prove value is to contrast life before and after your product.

Luckily, there’s a three-step formula for that.

• Before → Here’s your world…
• After → Imagine what it would be like if…
• Bridge → Here’s how to get there.

Start with a vivid description of the pain, present an enviable world where that problem doesn’t exist, then explain how to get there using your tool.

It’s super simple, and it works for cold emails , drip campaigns , and sales discovery decks. Basically anywhere you need to get people excited about what you have to say.

In fact, a lot of companies are already using this formula to great success. The methods used in the sales presentation examples below will help you do the same.

We’re all drawn to happiness. A study at Harvard tells us that emotion is contagious .

You’ll notice that the “Before” (pre-Digital Age) pictures in Facebook’s slides all display neutral faces. But the cover slide that introduces Facebook and the “After” slides have smiling faces on them.

This is important. The placement of those graphics is an intentional persuasion technique.

Studies by psychologists show that we register smiles faster than any other expression. All it takes is 500 milliseconds (1/20th of a second). And when participants in a study were asked to recall expressions, they consistently remembered happy faces over neutral ones.

What to do about it : Add a happy stock photo to your intro and “After” slides, and keep people in “Before” slides to neutral expressions.

Here are some further techniques used during the sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Use Simple Graphics

Use simple graphics to convey meaning without text.

Example: Slide 2 is a picture of a consumer’s hand holding an iPhone — something we can all relate to.

Why It Works: Pictures are more effective than words — it’s called  Picture Superiority . In presentations, pictures help you create connections with your audience. Instead of spoon-feeding them everything word for word, you let them interpret. This builds trust.

Tactic #2: Use Icons

Use icons to show statistics you’re comparing instead of listing them out.

Example: Slide 18 uses people icons to emphasize how small 38 out of 100 people is compared to 89 out of 100.

Why It Works:  We process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.

Tactic #3: Include Statistics

Include statistics that tie real success to the benefits you mention.

Example: “71% lift driving visits to retailer title pages” (Slide 26).

Why It Works:  Precise details prove that you are telling the truth.

Just like how you can’t drive from Marin County to San Francisco without the Golden Gate, you can’t connect a “Before” to an “After” without a bridge.

Add the mission statement of your company — something Contently does from Slide 1 of their deck. Having a logo-filled Customers slide isn’t unusual for sales presentations, but Contently goes one step further by showing you exactly what they do for these companies.

They then drive home the Before-After-Bridge Formula further with case studies:

Before : Customer’s needs when they came on

After: What your company accomplished for them

Bridge : How they got there (specific actions and outcomes)

Here are some other tactics we pulled from the sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Use Graphics/Diagrams

Use graphics, Venn diagrams, and/or equations to drive home your “Before” picture.

Why It Works:  According to a Cornell study , graphs and equations have persuasive power. They “signal a scientific basis for claims, which grants them greater credibility.”

Tactic #2: Keep Slides That Have Bullets to a Minimum

Keep slides that have bullets to a minimum. No more than one in every five slides.

Why It Works:  According to an experiment by the International Journal of Business Communication , “Subjects exposed to a graphic representation paid significantly more attention to , agreed more with, and better recalled the strategy than did subjects who saw a (textually identical) bulleted list.”

Tactic #3: Use Visual Examples

Follow up your descriptions with visual examples.

Example: After stating “15000+ vetted, ready to work journalists searchable by location, topical experience, and social media influence” on Slide 8, Contently shows what this looks like firsthand on slides 9 and 10.

Why It Works:  The same reason why prospects clamor for demos and car buyers ask for test drives. You’re never truly convinced until you see something for yourself.

Which is more effective for you?

This statement — “On average, Yesware customers save ten hours per week” — or this image:

The graphic shows you what that 10 hours looks like for prospects vs. customers. It also calls out a pain that the product removes: data entry.

Visuals are more effective every time. They fuel retention of a presentation from 10% to 65% .

But it’s not as easy as just including a graphic. You need to keep the design clean.

Can you feel it?

Clutter provokes anxiety and stress because it bombards our minds with excessive visual stimuli, causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t important.

Here’s a tip from Yesware’s Graphic Designer, Ginelle DeAntonis:

“Customer logos won’t all necessarily have the same dimensions, but keep them the same size visually so that they all have the same importance. You should also disperse colors throughout, so that you don’t for example end up with a bunch of blue logos next to each other. Organize them in a way that’s easy for the eye, because in the end it’s a lot of information at once.”

Here are more tactics to inspire sales presentation ideas:

Tactic #1: Personalize Your Final Slide

Personalize your final slide with your contact information and a headline that drives emotion.

Example: Our Mid-Market Team Lead Kyle includes his phone number and email address with “We’re Here For You”

Why It Works: These small details show your audience that:

• This is about giving them the end picture, not making a sale
• The end of the presentation doesn’t mean the end of the conversation
• Questions are welcomed

Tactic #2: Pair Outcome Statements With Icons in Circles

Example: Slide 4 does this with seven different “After” outcomes.

Why It Works:  We already know why pictures work, but circles have power , too. They imply completeness, infiniteness, and harmony.

Tactic #3: Include Specific Success Metrics

Don’t just list who you work with; include specific success metrics that hit home what you’ve done for them.

Example: 35% New Business Growth for Boomtrain; 30% Higher Reply Rates for Dyn.

Why It Works:  Social proof drives action. It’s why we wait in lines at restaurants and put ourselves on waitlists for sold-out items.

People can only focus for eight seconds at a time. (Sadly, goldfish have one second on us.)

This means you need to cut to the chase fast.

Uber’s headlines in Slides 2-9 tailor the “After” picture to specific pain points. As a result, there’s no need to explicitly state a “Before.”

Slides 11-13 then continue touching on “Before” problems tangentially with customer quotes:

So instead of self-touting benefits, the brand steps aside to let consumers hear from their peers — something that sways 92% of consumers .

Leading questions may be banned from the courtroom, but they aren’t in the boardroom.

DealTap’s slides ask viewers to choose between two scenarios over and over. Each has an obvious winner:

Ever heard of the Focusing Effect?

It’s part of what makes us tick as humans and what makes this design move effective. We focus on one thing and then ignore the rest. Here, DealTap puts the magnifying glass on paperwork vs. automated transactions.

Easy choice.

Sure, DealTap’s platform might have complexities that rival paperwork, but we don’t think about that. We’re looking at the pile of work one the left and the simpler, single interface on the right.

Here are some other tactics to use in your own sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Tell a Story

Tell a story that flows from one slide to the next.

Example: Here’s the story DealTap tells from slides 4 to 8: “Transactions are complicated” → “Expectations on all sides” → “Too many disconnected tools” → “Slow and error prone process” → “However, there’s an opportunity.

Why It Works:   Storytelling in sales with a clear beginning and end (or in this case, a “Before” and “After”) trigger a trust hormone called Oxytocin.

Tactic #2: This vs. That

If it’s hard to separate out one “Before” and “After” vision with your product or service because you offer many dissimilar benefits, consider a “This vs. That” theme for each.

Why It Works:  It breaks up your points into simple decisions and sets you up to win emotional reactions from your audience with stock photos.

Remember how satisfying it was to play connect the dots? Forming a bigger picture out of disconnected circles.

That’s what you need to make your audience do.

Zuora tells a story by:

• Laying out the reality (the “Before” part of the Before-After-Bridge formula).
• Asking you a question that you want to answer (the “After”)
• Giving you hints to help you connect the dots
• Showing you the common thread (the “Bridge”)

You can achieve this by founding your sales presentation on your audience’s intuitions. Set them up with the closely-set “dots,” then let them make the connection.

Here are more tactical sales presentation ideas to steal for your own use:

Tactic #1: Use Logos and Testimonials

Use logos and  testimonial pull-quotes for your highest-profile customers to strengthen your sales presentation.

Example: Slides 21 to 23 include customer quotes from Schneider Electric, Financial Times, and Box.

Why It Works: It’s called  social proof . Prospects value other people’s opinions and trust reputable sources more than you.

Tactic #2: Include White Space

Pad your images with white space.

Example: Slide 17 includes two simple graphics on a white background to drive home an important concept.

Why It Works:  White space creates separation, balance, and attracts the audience’s eyes to the main focus: your image.

Tactic #3: Incorporate Hard Data

Incorporate hard data with a memorable background to make your data stand out.

Example: Slide 5 includes statistics with a backdrop that stands out. The number and exciting title (‘A Global Phenomenon’) are the main focuses of the slide.

Why It Works:  Vivid backdrops are proven to be memorable and help your audience take away important numbers or data.

Psychology tells us that seeing colors can set our mood .

The color red is proven to increase the pulse and heart rate. Beyond that, it’s associated with being active, aggressive, and outspoken. LinkedIn Sales Navigator uses red on slides to draw attention to main points:

You can use hues in your own slides to guide your audience’s emotions. Green gives peace; grey adds a sense of calm; blue breeds trust. See more here .

Tip: You can grab free photos from Creative Commons and then set them to black & white and add a colored filter on top using a (also free) tool like Canva . Here’s the sizing for your image:

Caveat: Check with your marketing team first to see if you have a specific color palette or brand guidelines to follow.

Here are some other takeaways from LinkedIn’s sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Include a CTA on Final Slide

Include one clear call-to-action on your final slide.

Example: Slide 9 has a “Learn More” CTA button.

Why It Works:  According to the Paradox of Choice , the more options you give, the less likely they are to act.

Step One : Ask marketing for your company’s style guide (color, logo, and font style).

Step Two: Answer these questions to outline the “Before → After → Bridge” formula for your sales pitch :

• What are your ICP’s pain points?
• What end picture resonates with them?
• How does your company come into play?

Step Three: Ask account management/marketing which customers you can mention in your slides (plus where to access any case studies for pull quotes).

Step Four:  Download photos from Creative Commons . Remember: Graphics > Text. Use Canva to edit on your own — free and fast.

What are the sales presentation strategies that work best for your industry and customers? Tweet us:  @Yesware .

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SALES STRATEGY

The big picture on sales strategy.

Conceptualize, measure and understand the opportunities to improve your customer pipeline and journey.

SALES STRATEGY: "HOW DO WE GET MORE CUSTOMERS TO BUY OUR STUFF?"

WHAT DOES A SALES STRATEGY LOOK LIKE?

SALES IS SIMPLY A SERIES OF INTERACTIONS & CONVERSATIONS

When you strip out all of the noise, from a customer's point of view, their journey to purchase is a series of interactions and conversations. A customer is trying to solve a problem, and in their journey to solve it, they may become aware of your potential solution, show interest by seeking more information, consider the solution versus other competitors, and hopefully convert into a customer and a loyal repeat customer.

These interactions could be through a company's website, app, online content, stores, salespeople, partners and distributors, and other customers. You can conceptualize this series of customer & company interactions in two ways. From the perspective of the customer, you can codify the interactions in a customer journey map. From the perspective of a sales team, you can conceptualize the interactions in a  sales pipeline.

The first step in developing a strong sales strategy is to abstract the performance of the sales pipeline by applying a series of longitudinal metrics to each stage of the pipeline. How many potential targets are there, suspects, prospects, customers, or repeat customers? How long do they stay in each stage? How many drop off in each stage? How valuable are they in each stage? How have the metrics evolved over time?

Like any process , if you can't measure it, it becomes challenging to improve it. High-performing sales teams automate much of this data through a well-utilized and updated sales CRM system. If your company can't systematically report on the sales pipeline, then developing the capability, infrastructure, and discipline to measure and improve the pipeline should be an initiative in your sales strategy.

TAKING SALES INSIGHT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

THE 4 WAYS TO GROW SALES

There are four ways to grow sales through a customer pipeline:

• Increase Addressable Market - put more people through the mouth of the funnel
• Accelerate Deal Velocity - make each step/stage shorter for the customer
• Improve Stage Gate Success - have the customer say yes to the next step more often
• Increase Deal Size - upsell and focus efforts on the larger deals

Understanding how these four growth metrics evolved over time is a good starting point for diagnosing customer pipeline issues and opportunities.  These four growth metrics are outputs of the sales growth drivers, which we go into next.

THE 3 SALES GROWTH DRIVERS

Sales growth comes down to better customer interactions and conversations, more of them, along with a better value proposition and marketing . To make these things a reality, there are three main components to a strong sales strategy:

1. Improving the alignment between the target customer , the differentiated value proposition , marketing, and distribution

2. Incorporating corporate growth strategy initiatives in the sales strategy

3. Developing a strong sales team strategy to improve the sales process and interactions executed by the salespeople, infrastructure, and partners

1. DON'T PASS GO UNLESS YOU HAVE A KILLER VALUE PROPOSITION

Many CEOS misdiagnosis their weak sales by concluding, "it must be the sales team."  

A strong sales team is important, but the most important driver of sales is a killer value proposition that creates more value than the competition for target customers. Once you have a killer value proposition, then you need the right messaging, marketing, and distribution that clearly amplifies the value proposition to the target customers.

So, the first thing any sales strategy should address is to make sure there is a clearly defined and articulated target customer, a killer value proposition for the target customer, and impactful messaging, marketing, and distribution focused on the target customer. Alignment on a target customer will make everyone's efforts more focused, efficient, and effective, while differentiation will make customers say yes more often.

Seriously, don't overlook this point. Pretty much every company that grows for decades and becomes a leader in their industry has and continually improves a killer value proposition that creates more value than competitors for the target customers. It is the heart that makes the sales flow for any strong sales team.

Now, we often hear, "well, that isn't under my control."  Well, you better figure out how to influence it, because, without alignment and differentiation, the customer will more often than not choose not to do business with your company.

2. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE BIG PICTURE STRATEGY STUFF?

Hopefully, you have a killer value proposition and aligned marketing and distribution, now what? Well, you need to think through how the high-level corporate growth strategy is going to affect sales and the sales team. Is the company expanding into new markets , customer segments, and geographies? Are there new and improved products , services, and pricing ? Are there new distribution channels or marketing campaigns? While it may be a lot to think through, growth expansion initiatives can have a significant impact on sales and the sales team.

Now, a few words of caution. First, be careful not to go after too many options , which can quickly overextend the sales team and the entire company. Companies that fail often go after too many new markets , customer segments, and geographies at the same time. Inevitably, the ambitious agenda creates fragmented efforts, massive complexity , opportunity cost , and ultimately failure. Second, while sales leadership should have a sizeable role in shaping the corporate growth strategy, it should not lead the effort. We see too many companies that try to say yes to everything sales wants to do, which often leads to a lot of running in place and going nowhere. Successful companies have a strong and balanced leadership team stewarding the big decisions and execution around corporate growth strategy.

Growth strategy initiatives are significant inputs into the last part of sales strategy, which is the sales team strategy. The big question is how growth strategy initiatives will affect sales and the sales team. Is there a need for new processes, people, partners, and technology? What is the expected impact on sales, quotas, customer metrics, and pipeline dynamics? This is one of the reasons why sales strategy is so complicated since there are so many dimensions that ultimately need to be addressed by the sales team, with the ultimate goal of having better customer interactions and conversations and more of them.

3. WHAT THE HECK ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THE SALES TEAM?

Now to the heart of sales strategy, which is the sales team strategy. Any team, including a sales team, is simply a collection of processes executed by people, infrastructure, and partners. And, strategy is simply the goals we choose and the actions we take to achieve those goals. So, sales team strategy comes down to the sales team goals and the portfolio of initiatives to improve the processes, people, infrastructure, and partners to a level necessary to achieve the goals.

Below are some options to focus those sales team strategy initiatives on. We'll go over the high-level framing of some of the strategic options .

GET THE PROCESS RIGHT AND THE SALES WILL FOLLOW

Everything every member of a sales team does is a process, whether acknowledged as one or not. Has your sales team documented their processes, measure them? If not, that is a great place to start.

There are four main levels of a sales process outlined below.

At the highest level is the sales team governance , which includes the processes that strategically manage the sales strategy, forecasting, opportunities, overall pipeline, and sales operations. It typically involves weekly or monthly pipeline reviews, quarterly business reviews, and annual strategic planning , budgeting, and forecasting. The better the governance , the better the accuracy of forecasts, sales strategy, performance, and understanding of cause and effect.

The next level of the sales process is the customer journey, which includes every aspect of the journey customers take through an organization's processes to discover, evaluate, purchase, and consume the company's services and products. Strategic initiatives typically target reducing customer effort (e.g., self-help, automation , digital enablement), leaning out the customer processes, and increasing the rate of success on prioritized pipeline stages.

The sales methodology is one of the most critical processes for a sales team. The sales methodology is the overall sales approach between sales team members and customers to drive deal velocity and success. Most sales books focus on sales methodologies, such as spin selling , solution selling , MEDDIC , key account selling , GAP selling , and many others. We'll go a little deeper and synthesize all those books into a handful of important questions to quickly qualify and accelerate a deal.

The last level of the sales process to solve for is the daily, weekly, and monthly activity at the team and individual levels, which typically includes the day-to-day activity management and reporting to drive productivity and deal velocity through the pipeline.

ANSWER THE BASIC QUESTIONS TO ACCELERATE & CLOSE DEALS

There are hundreds of good books on sales methodology, but most of the methodologies come down to answering the basic 5 Ws (who, what, where, why, when) and 1 H (how) questions of a deal to qualify, accelerate and close the deal.

Once again, sales growth is driven by better customer interactions and conversations, and more of them. Weaving these questions into customer interactions, and recording and addressing the answers will help deals get through the pipeline. If you don't have a strong sales methodology, then start developing one that asks and answers the basic customer questions necessary to get a deal done.

TAKE A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO THE PEOPLE PART OF A SALES TEAM STRATEGY

For many B2B companies, sales expense, in the form of salary and commission, is often their largest financial expense, making it especially important to elevate and realize the potential of salespeople and the collective sales team.

There are many questions to answer about the people part of a sales strategy, which all fall into the various categories of our people strategy framework:

• Org Design ( Mission , Corporate Strategy, Structure, Roles & Competencies)
• Employee Journey (Recruiting, Hiring, Onboarding , Development, Evaluation, Advancement)
• Culture (Comp & Benefits, Environment, Norms, Values )

For a complete overview, visit our entire section on organizational strategy , hr strategy - org design , and hr strategy - employee journey & culture . Below, we'll cover some of the more unique elements of sales team strategy.

WHAT SHOULD THE SALES ORG LOOK LIKE?

A challenging question that typically comes up is, "what should the sales org look like?" 

There is a lot of art and science in answering this question. Regarding the size of the sales org, utilize benchmarks on revenue productivity per sales team member and percent of sales spend to revenue. You should also analyze the span of control, where each manager should have 8-12 direct reports. You also need to solve for the right amount of levels to the org, the fewer, the better. Finally, there are the actual roles and accountabilities , which we'll get into a bit more next.

HOW SHOULD WE ORGANIZE THIS SALES TEAM?

For many sales teams, better customer conversations and interactions necessitate a high level of specialization to address the needs of specific customer segments , markets, geographies, or stages within the sales funnel. This specialization leads to sales teams organizing around one or more of these dimensions (customer segments, markets, geography , sales funnel stages). What dimensions to organize around is a function of the customer experience, specialization, economics, and complexity.

Many companies are constantly reorganizing their sales team from one dimension to another, such as reshuffling the team from a segment focus to a geographic focus. These reorganizations often fail, due to the ensuing chaos. Most existing sales teams have optimized and refined their multitude of internal and external processes based on their existing organizational dimensions. When a sales team reorg happens, a sales team has to reconfigure its processes, infrastructure, and partners. If the change management of the sales reorg isn't stellar, often the customer journey and sales team devolves into a bit of chaos.

THE LOW HANGING FRUIT OF A SALES TEAM STRATEGY

The adage goes "it's all about the people."   We like to expand that to it's all about the recruiting, hiring, onboarding, development, evaluation, and advancement of the people. Improving the employee journey is essential in any sales strategy. The first place to start is to establish best practices in recruiting and hiring. The lowest hanging fruit is typically increasing the number of candidates you recruit and interview while professionalizing the interview and hiring process with standard interview guides and scorecards, group and immersive interviews, and team decision-making .

When it comes to the rest of the employee journey , one of the most impactful exercises is to survey team members about their employee journey, which not only creates a baseline but also solicits good ideas while providing built-in buy-in to improvements. Furthermore, there are a ton of established best practices in each stage of the employee journey.

YOU GET WHAT YOU REWARD

CREATING A SALES STRATEGY

In developing a sales strategy, always keep in mind you are solving for two things: 1.  the goals the sales team will strive to achieve, and 2. the strategic sales initiatives necessary to achieve the goals.

Whether it takes a few days, a few weeks, or a few months, there are typically four steps in developing a sales strategy, which is:

• Generate insights into the sales pipeline, customer journey, corporate growth strategy, sales team, and overall alignment & differentiation.
• Develop opportunities on how the sales team can improve the processes, people, partners, and infrastructure.
• Prioritize the potential initiatives based on value & benefit versus cost & effort.
• Set the goals and roadmap of the portfolio of sales initiatives

Given the breadth of possible analyses, gaps, opportunities, goals, and initiatives, it is imperative to assemble the best possible internal strategy team to develop and execute a very focused and impact-oriented project plan .

STEP 1: GENERATE SALES STRATEGY INSIGHTS

In developing a strong sales strategy, there are five main areas to generate insights on 1. the sales pipeline, 2. the customer journey, 3. corporate growth strategy initiatives, 4. alignment & differentiation, 5. the sales team (processes, people, infrastructure and partners).

A focused set of hypotheses and analyses will generate a ton of insights, otherwise, a team can "boil the ocean," wasting precious time and resources on things that don't matter. Focus on answering the key questions below, utilizing some of the typical strategic analyses and tools. By doing so, the team will generate the big "aha" insights that will guide the entire strategy project.

STEP 2: DEVELOP SALES STRATEGY OPPORTUNITIES

Once you have foundational insights for the sales strategy, then you enter the "create options" phase, where you need to come up with and develop the improvement opportunities that will drive sales to the next level. This phase drives the overall value of the strategy, since the number and quality of options limits strategies. Make sure you solicit ideas from as many places as possible and get the most creative and knowledgeable people involved to push the thinking.

There is always the opportunity to improve the customer journey, internal sales processes, and cross-functional processes. The lean toolkit , automation , and digital strategies will help sprout and nurture the best ideas. Solicit ideas and feedback from the entire sales team. A simple survey with both structured and open-ended questions will do the trick. There are also hundreds of best practices to improve the maturity of the sales processes , methodologies, people, and infrastructure.

STEP 3: PRIORITIZE THE GREAT IDEAS

Hopefully, at this stage of the project, you have more improvement ideas than resources and budget to execute.  Now, we are in the prioritization phase of the project. Before diving into prioritizing the ideas, you first want to see how much you can simplify , rearrange and combine the ideas into some larger potential initiatives.

Now, we get to the fun and collaborative stage of decision-making. Utilize some sort of prioritization or decision matrix to problem solve and debate the potential value/benefit , and cost/effort of each initiative. Get the right leadership and stakeholders in the room to have this robust debate, and potentially have a few rounds to refine and improve the thinking. In the end, focus the strategy on those "no brainer" ideas that are high value/benefit and low cost/effort with a shorter time horizon (3 months to 1-2 years).  For the "big bet" initiatives, figure out the timing, budget, dependencies, etc., before making a decision.

One of the most difficult challenges for sales team leadership is deciding on the right portfolio of initiatives. The first part of this challenge is getting enough skilled talent mobilized to successfully execute the initiatives and change management . The second part of the challenge is understanding the amount of change the sales team can realistically handle.

Whatever your decision-making governance , by the end you should have a strong portfolio of initiatives, budgets, owners, timing, and a pretty clear idea of the potential impact on the core metrics of the sales team.

STEP 4: SET THE SALES GOALS, FINALIZE THE ROADMAP, AND EXECUTE

Strategy comes down to setting goals and executing the portfolio of improvement initiatives necessary to achieve the goals.  You should distill all of the strategic analyses, problem solving , collaborating, and decision-making into one page of sales goals and initiatives. Of course, there should be a lot more detail (e.g., project plans, resource plans, change management plans, budgets, spreadsheets) behind the one page. However, as you think about communicating the big sales strategy to upper management, the internal sales team, external stakeholders, and partners, one page is always best.

One last thought, invest the time, resources, and commitment to change management . The hardest part of executing any strategy is the necessary behavioral change at the individual level. Thinking through the change management framework for each initiative will pay dividends in driving the change you are seeking.

If you want to talk about your sales strategy with an experienced strategy coach, set up some time with Joe Newsum , a Mckinsey Alum, and the author of this content and website.

DOWNLOAD THE SALES STRATEGY PLAN PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

Download the 100-page Sales Strategy Plan PowerPoint Presentation . The fully editable and professionally designed deck will give you a jump start on your sales strategy and plan.

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35+ Best Sales PowerPoint Templates (Sales PPT Pitches)

Learning to craft successful and better-looking sales presentations is one of the key skills you should master as a marketer or sales rep.

In this digital era, being able to deliver great presentations is not enough. You also need to be able to design attractive and beautiful slides that engage with your audience while adding more context to your speech.

The good news is that you don’t have to be a designer or take courses to design such effective PowerPoint presentations. All you need is the right PowerPoint template.

In this post, we bring you a collection of PowerPoint sales presentation templates to help you find the right designs for your sales plan, proposal, and pitch slide decks. Be sure to save these templates for future events and meetings.

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SalesUp – Sales & Marketing PowerPoint Template

SalesUp is a dynamic PowerPoint template designed for effective sales and marketing presentations. With 15 unique slides, a light background, and a widescreen format, this template also includes a handmade infographic feature that can be fully customized for any business. It’s ideal for making your business propositions more impactful.

Sales Growth – Marketing PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is perfect for showcasing your sales and business development journey. It features 15 unique slides, a light background, and captivating handmade infographics, all housed within a widescreen format. The template is fully customizable, allowing a personalized touch to your presentations.

Sales Deck Presentation PowerPoint Template

A versatile PowerPoint template designed to enhance your sales and business presentations. It boasts features like a 16:9 widescreen size, unique slide variations, editable charts and elements, a preset color scheme, and more. This easy-to-use template equips you with infographics for each stage of business development, aiming to boost user satisfaction and improve your brand’s presence.

Modern Sales Strategy PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is a highly customizable slideshow for creating impactful presentations. Featuring a yellow and purple design, the template includes 20 unique slide layouts with easily editable graphics, infographics, and placeholders for pictures. Ideal for a range of business purposes like sales strategies or company profiles.

Dark Sales Strategy PowerPoint Template

A stylish PowerPoint template aimed at enhancing your sales presentations. Featuring a widescreen format, unique slides, editable charts, and elements, it is user-friendly and adaptable to your brand’s needs. From kick-starting a project to improving goal propositions, this template is designed to give your talks an edge.

Sales Plan PowerPoint Template

An expertly crafted PowerPoint template designed to communicate sales strategies and objectives clearly to varied audiences. Its presentation potential spans from showcasing marketing campaigns to 30-60-90 day plans. The template allows for easy customization of features such as pie charts, colors, and text to fit your specific needs.

Sales Growth Strategy PowerPoint Presentation

This is an impressive PowerPoint template that allows you to build sales presentations in minutes. It’s perfect for various needs – be it a sales pitch, an innovative sales strategy display, or regular business meeting. The template includes useful features like fonts, color schemes, and image placeholders.

Sales Growth PowerPoint Template

A carefully crafted PowerPoint template perfect for illustrating sales tactics, performance indicators, and growth plans in a professional and engaging way. Tailored for sales pros, business development teams, and marketing managers, this template, presented in PowerPoint format, offers uncomplicated personalization options.

Business Funnels Infographics PowerPoint Template

This is a unique and professional PowerPoint template to enhance your sales presentations. With 16 characterized slides, it’s easily customizable and comes with drag-and-drop image options, editable charts, and distinctive mockup devices. This template is specially designed to emphasize text readability and usability, ensuring your ideas are well communicated.

Sales Dashboard Infographic PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is perfect for dynamic business and sales presentations and showcasing company profiles. This package features 30 unique, widescreen (16:9) infographic slides, designed for accessibility and ease of use.

Business Sales PowerPoint Presentation Template

Sales presentations don’t always have to be all stats and data, they can be beautiful too. This PowerPoint template allows you to design more effective slideshows with modern layouts with creative animations. There are more than 50 unique slide designs included in this template. You can easily edit and customize them to your preference.

Sales Strategy Powerpoint Template

If you want to make your sales strategy presentations more effective, you should consider creating a slideshow with more visual elements. This PowerPoint template will help you get that job done. It includes 30 unique slides you can use to present your sales plan and strategy in a step-by-step approach.

Sales Pitch PowerPoint Template

A great pitch deck goes a long way to make sure your sales pitch stays on point. It will also help convince your audience of your skills and knowledge on the topic. Be sure to use this PowerPoint template to design such a killer slide deck for your sales pitch presentations. It includes 20 master slide layouts with fully customizable layouts.

Marketing & Sales Strategy PowerPoint Template

There are many different types of charts, graphs, and infographics you need to use in your sales presentations to visualize data and key points. This PowerPoint template includes 30 unique slides you can use to add some of the most popular charts and graphs to your presentations. There are slides for sales cycles, planning, strategy model, B2C and B2B strategy plans, and much more.

B2B Marketing and Sales PowerPoint Template

Whether you’re working on a smart strategy for your B2B marketing approach or creating a master plan to beat your competitors, this B2B marketing PowerPoint template will help you create the best presentation to showcase your plan. It includes a total of 60 slide layouts that can be used to create both marketing and sales presentations.

Sales Meeting – Free PowerPoint Template

This is a free PowerPoint template that comes with a set of slides you can create professional slide decks for sales meetings. It features 30 unique slides with modern designs and fully customizable layouts.

Free Sales Planning Process PowerPoint Template

With this free PowerPoint template, you can create visual presentations for your sales process presentations. There are 35 different slides included in this template that you can edit and customize to change colors, fonts, and images.

Sales – Marketing PowerPoint Presentation

This professional PowerPoint sales presentation template uses a beautiful color scheme to create a consistent look across all its slides. The template lets you choose from 40 different slide designs to create slideshows for all kinds of sales and marketing presentations. The template includes master slides as well.

Sales Funnel PowerPoint Template

Sales funnels are an important part of creating an effective sales strategy. With this PowerPoint template, you can create a presentation to showcase your plan for sales funnels with lots of visual elements. There are 20 unique master slide layouts included in this template that feature important charts, graphs, and infographics for sales funnel presentations.

Sales Proposal PowerPoint Template

With this PowerPoint presentation, you can create professional slideshows for presenting your sales proposals. The template comes with some of the most important slides for sales slide decks, including slides for showcasing your marketing plan and business strategy. Each slide comes in 5 pre-made color schemes as well.

Anasalez – Sales Analysis PowerPoint Presentation

You can make a complete visual analysis of your sales process or plans using this useful PowerPoint template. It comes with more than 50 unique slides that are designed specifically for sales presentations. Each slide is available in both light and dark color themes as well as 10 pre-made color schemes.

Sales and Digital Funnel PowerPoint Templates

This professional PowerPoint template allows you to create more effective slides for showcasing your sales funnels. There are 20 different styles of sales funnel designs included in this template. Each slide can be customized to your preference to change colors, fonts, and images.

Free Creative Sales Strategy Presentation Template

Another free PowerPoint template for creating sales strategy presentations. This template has over 30 unique slides with very creative designs. It features colorful shapes, illustrations, and graphs as well.

Free Sales Process PowerPoint Infographic Slides

Grab this free PowerPoint template to design effective presentations for outlining your sales process. It includes 32 unique slides with many different styles of sales infographic designs.

Dashi – Sales Report PowerPoint Presentation

Dashi is a PowerPoint template made just for professional marketers. You can use it to design visual and beautiful slideshows for presenting your sales dashboards and reports. The template has 10 slides featuring more than 30 character positions, over 2000 vector icons, and 30 business concepts. Each slide is available in light and dark color themes as well as 30 pre-made color schemes.

Sales Pitch Presentation PowerPoint Template

This is a multipurpose PowerPoint template for making all kinds of pitch proposals. Whether it’s a sales pitch, marketing pitch, or even startup pitch decks, this template can handle them all. There are more than 120 unique slides in this template with 6 different color schemes to choose from, making it a total of over 800 slides.

Sales Playbook PowerPoint Template

Creating an attractive slideshow for your sales and marketing campaigns will get much easier when you have this PowerPoint template at your side. It features over 35 unique slide layouts with professional designs. Everything in each slide design, including the colors, fonts, shapes, and images are fully customizable as well.

Sales Process PowerPoint Presentation Template

Use this PowerPoint template to create slides with visual diagrams and graphs for presenting your sales process in a professional way. There are 40 unique slides in this template with useful sales process designs. Each slide is available in 10 different pre-made color schemes, which makes it a total of 400 slides to choose from.

Kanigara – Marketing & Sales PowerPoint Template

Kanigara is another multipurpose PowerPoint template that comes with modern and stylish slides for making all kinds of sales presentations. The template features over 40 slides with beautiful layouts. There are lots of creative graphs, charts, and graphics included in this presentation.

Felicia – Free Sales Presentation PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with lots of colorful and creative slide designs for making sales presentations that will surely leave your mark. It includes more than 20 unique slides. And it comes in both PowerPoint and Google Slides versions.

Ardall – Free Sales Presentation Template

Ardall is another free PowerPoint template that’s also available in Google Slides format. This template features a set of modern and professional slides for making sales and marketing presentations. There are 20 slide layouts included in the template.

B2B and B2C Digital Marketing & Sales Presentation

This PowerPoint template works perfectly for creating presentations for both B2B and B2C marketing slideshows. The template includes over 35 unique slides and you can choose from 5 pre-made color schemes as well. The slides are easily customizable to your preference.

Real Estate Marketing & Sales PowerPoint Template

If you’re working on a marketing presentation for a real estate agency, this PowerPoint template will come in handy. It includes 50 unique slides that are designed with property and real estate marketing presentations in mind. They are available in 7 different color schemes.

3D Stairs Diagram for Sales Process Presentation

The stairs diagram is commonly used in marketing and sales presentations to showcase various stats and reports. This PowerPoint template will help you add such diagrams to your presentations with ease. It includes 6 unique slides with 3D-like stair diagram designs.

Ozone – Sales & Marketing Portrait PowerPoint Template

Ozone is a creative PowerPoint template that comes in portrait-style slide designs. There are 50 unique slides included in the template with over 60 master slide layouts to choose from. It features transition animations and infographics as well.

For more great presentation templates, check out our best professional PowerPoint templates collection.

Sales Strategy

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How do you juggle multiple high-priority tasks across an entire sales lifecycle? A well-balanced strategy. Plan, analyze, market, and drive your sales team with this Sales Strategy deck. Segment your target customers and organize your sales team to maximize returns. And don't forget to use sales control tools to assess performance and improve progress.

Questions and answers

What case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of this sales strategy?

Specific case studies are not mentioned in the content provided. However, many companies have seen success with a well-balanced sales strategy. For instance, companies like Salesforce and HubSpot have effectively used sales strategies that involve planning, analyzing, marketing, and driving their sales teams. They segment their target customers and organize their sales teams to maximize returns. They also use sales control tools to assess performance and improve progress.

Can you compare this sales strategy with other sales strategies?

This sales strategy focuses on planning, analyzing, marketing, and driving the sales team. It emphasizes segmenting target customers and organizing the sales team to maximize returns. It also encourages the use of sales control tools to assess performance and improve progress. Compared to other strategies, this one is comprehensive and holistic, covering all aspects of the sales lifecycle. However, other strategies might focus more on specific aspects, such as customer relationship management, aggressive marketing, or price competition.

How can this sales strategy enhance a company's overall business strategy?

A well-balanced sales strategy can enhance a company's overall business strategy by ensuring that high-priority tasks across the sales lifecycle are effectively managed. It allows for the planning, analysis, marketing, and driving of the sales team. By segmenting target customers and organizing the sales team accordingly, a company can maximize returns. Additionally, the use of sales control tools can help assess performance and improve progress.

Slide highlights

A sales mind map defines the process of how you will find, acquire, and retain then transform customers into repeat sales who refer others. (Slide 2)

Use a SWOT Analysis to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that could benefit or impede your sales strategy. (Slide 14)

Use a customer survey to conduct post-sales surveys or questionnaires and keep up your customer relationship management. (Slide 26)

How does a sales strategy align with digital transformation initiatives?

A sales strategy aligns with digital transformation initiatives in several ways. Firstly, digital transformation can enhance the sales process by automating routine tasks, freeing up sales personnel to focus on more strategic activities. Secondly, digital platforms can provide valuable data insights that can be used to refine sales strategies. For instance, customer behavior data can help in segmenting the market and personalizing sales approaches. Lastly, digital transformation can improve customer relationship management by enabling real-time communication and feedback, leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

What are the practical applications of a sales strategy in the retail industry?

In the retail industry, a sales strategy can have several practical applications. It can help in segmenting target customers, organizing the sales team, and driving sales. It can also aid in identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that could impact sales. Post-sales surveys or questionnaires can be conducted to maintain customer relationships. Moreover, a sales strategy can assist in transforming customers into repeat buyers who refer others, thereby increasing sales and customer base.

How does a sales strategy compare to other business strategies?

A sales strategy is a plan that positions a company's brand or product to gain a competitive advantage. It is more specific than other business strategies as it is directly related to the selling of the company's product or service. Other business strategies may include marketing strategies, growth strategies, or financial strategies, which have broader scopes. While a sales strategy focuses on how to sell more products or services and achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace, other business strategies might focus on how to expand the business, how to manage the financial aspects, or how to improve the overall operations.

With a strategic action plan that works for your organizational circumstances, you can prospect, qualify, and close more sales across a wide variety of channels.

Develop a solid sales concept with a well-rounded marketing mix. Manage time more efficiently and juggle multiple priorities. Improve a weak sales pipeline and identify your ideal customers, classified by order of greatest opportunity, to maximize your efforts.

Application

Sales mind-map.

A sales strategy begins with a sales mind-map. This is where you define and map out the process behind your sales strategy. To have a healthy funnel of customers, you must find, acquire, then retain them.

To find customers, research the market first. This consists of an evaluation of your product's position in the marketplace and a competitive audit of other prominent players in the current landscape.

To actually acquire customers, begin with the marketing process. Craft a brand message and determine your target audience.

After the marketing kickoff, create your sales plan and budget, and your sales control strategy.

Next comes customer data management and analysis of improvement areas. This analysis is to improve in areas where you lost sales or couldn't gain customers so you can conduct follow-ups to warm up cold leads with new tactics. You can also welcome back recurring customers to repurchase or refer you to new customers. (Slide 2)

What are some common challenges in implementing a sales strategy and how can they be overcome?

Some common challenges in implementing a sales strategy include identifying the right target market, managing customer data, and analyzing areas for improvement. These challenges can be overcome by segmenting your target customers, effectively managing and analyzing customer data, and conducting follow-ups to warm up cold leads with new tactics. Additionally, welcoming back recurring customers to repurchase or refer you to new customers can also help overcome these challenges.

How can a sales strategy help in managing multiple high-priority tasks?

A sales strategy can help manage multiple high-priority tasks by providing a structured approach to sales activities. It allows for the prioritization of tasks based on their impact on sales goals. A well-planned strategy can help in segmenting target customers, organizing sales teams, and managing customer data. It can also aid in identifying areas of improvement, conducting follow-ups, and re-engaging with recurring customers. This systematic approach ensures that all tasks are addressed effectively and efficiently.

What is the role of customer segmentation in organizing a sales team?

Customer segmentation plays a crucial role in organizing a sales team. It allows the team to divide their target market into manageable segments based on certain characteristics. This way, the sales team can tailor their strategies and approaches to meet the specific needs and preferences of each segment. This can lead to more effective sales pitches, better customer relationships, and ultimately, increased sales.

Sales strategy sub-areas

First, create a sales plan. This should cover price management (how will the product be priced?) and quantity management (how much of the product needs to be purchased from suppliers?). You will also need to determine how to distribute company resources to carry out these sales. What's the sales team's budget, how many team members are there, etc.?

How can companies implement price and quantity management in their sales operations?

Companies can implement price and quantity management in their sales operations by first creating a comprehensive sales plan. This plan should detail how the product will be priced and how much of the product needs to be purchased from suppliers. The company needs to determine how to distribute resources to carry out these sales, including the sales team's budget and the number of team members. Regular monitoring and adjustments based on market trends and customer feedback are also crucial.

Are there any case studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of a sales strategy?

Yes, there are numerous case studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of a sales strategy. For instance, a study by Harvard Business Review highlighted how a company increased its sales by 30% by implementing a well-structured sales strategy. Another case study by McKinsey showed how a company improved its customer retention rate by 20% through a targeted sales strategy. These case studies provide valuable insights into how a well-planned sales strategy can significantly improve a company's sales performance.

A sales strategy is a plan that positions a company's brand or product to gain a competitive advantage. It is more specific than other business strategies as it focuses on the direct interaction with customers and the achievement of sales targets. Other business strategies, such as marketing or operational strategies, have a broader scope, focusing on market positioning or efficiency of operations respectively. All these strategies, however, are interconnected and aim to ensure the overall success of the business.

Next, determine how the effectiveness of your strategy will be measured. You can set sales goals, create a reporting process, or assign KPIs as part of sales control.

Sales channels are another indispensable part of your strategy. For instance, will you sell through a single channel or multiple channels? Will this be a pop-up shop or an online store only? Will you have a storefront or will your products be stocked by large retailers?

The organization component signifies how sales-related tasks are distributed across the company. What does the marketing team do? What about the management team? What about HR? Or the current sales team? For managers, who do they oversee?

The process component is about how customers are acquired. Begin with lead acquisition strategies, develop sales team workflow processes, and then establish prospective, current, and recurring customer management protocols — which includes aftercare for after the transaction has been completed. (Slide 3)

Can you explain the role of the process component in a sales strategy?

The process component in a sales strategy refers to the methods and procedures used to acquire customers. It starts with lead acquisition strategies, which are methods to attract potential customers. Following this, sales team workflow processes are developed to efficiently manage these leads. The process component also includes the establishment of management protocols for prospective, current, and recurring customers. This includes aftercare, which is the service provided after the transaction has been completed.

Why is aftercare important in the sales process and how can it be effectively implemented?

Aftercare is crucial in the sales process as it helps in building long-term relationships with customers, ensuring customer satisfaction, and fostering customer loyalty. It can lead to repeat business and referrals, which are vital for business growth. Effective implementation of aftercare can be achieved by: 1. Providing excellent customer service post-purchase. This includes addressing any issues or concerns the customer may have with the product or service. 2. Regular follow-ups to check on the customer's experience with the product or service. 3. Offering maintenance or support services if applicable. 4. Keeping customers informed about new products, services, or promotions that they might be interested in.

What are the key elements in managing prospective, current, and recurring customers?

The key elements in managing prospective, current, and recurring customers include lead acquisition strategies, sales team workflow processes, and customer management protocols. Lead acquisition strategies are used to attract potential customers. Sales team workflow processes ensure that the team works efficiently and effectively. Customer management protocols are used to maintain relationships with current and recurring customers, and include aftercare for after the transaction has been completed.

Sales concept development

The sales concept development process is useful to create an action plan for your sales and marketing will be conducted. Begin with a market strategy that assesses how much potential your product has, compares them to your competition, and defines your market position and strategy. Break this strategy up and apply it to target customer segments. Then combine your mix of products, communications, and sales strategies to formulate an action plan.

What case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the sales concept development process?

There are numerous case studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of the sales concept development process. However, due to the proprietary nature of these studies, they are often not publicly available. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon have used this process to successfully drive their sales. For instance, IBM's shift from hardware to service-oriented business was a result of a well-planned sales concept development process. Similarly, Amazon's customer-centric approach is a testament to their effective sales strategy. These examples show how the sales concept development process can help businesses identify their target market, understand their competition, and formulate an effective sales strategy.

Can you compare the sales concept development process with other business strategies?

The sales concept development process is a specific strategy focused on understanding the market potential of a product, analyzing competition, and defining market position. It involves segmenting target customers and formulating an action plan based on product mix, communication, and sales strategies. On the other hand, other business strategies may focus on different aspects such as operational efficiency, product innovation, customer service, or financial management. While the sales concept development process is primarily concerned with driving sales and market share, other strategies might prioritize different business objectives.

How do the key topics covered in the sales concept development process enhance business strategy?

The key topics covered in the sales concept development process enhance business strategy in several ways. Firstly, they help in creating an action plan for sales and marketing. This includes assessing the potential of your product, comparing it with the competition, and defining your market position and strategy. Secondly, these topics help in segmenting the target customers and organizing the sales team accordingly. Lastly, they aid in formulating an action plan by combining the mix of products, communications, and sales strategies. This comprehensive approach ensures a well-balanced and effective business strategy.

Let's say your company sells premium quality computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This product mix creates high potential as they form an ecosystem of products that complement one other.

For your sales concept development, conduct a competitive audit of your market landscape. There are other brands that are older and offer a wider range of personal electronic gadgets than you. But your differentiation lies in a covetable brand image that is accessible for the average consumer. In this case, the target groups may include anyone from college students to middle-aged customers. To reach them, you advertise everywhere from online to billboards. (Slide 4)

How can a sales strategy align with a company's overall business strategy?

A sales strategy can align with a company's overall business strategy by ensuring that it supports the company's goals and objectives. This can be achieved by understanding the company's mission, vision, and strategic objectives, and then developing a sales strategy that helps to achieve these. The sales strategy should also be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the business environment or company direction. It should include target customer segments, sales channels, pricing strategies, and sales team organization, among other things.

What is the importance of segmenting target customers in sales strategy?

Segmenting target customers in a sales strategy is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it allows businesses to identify and understand the needs and wants of specific groups within their target market. This understanding enables the creation of tailored marketing and sales strategies that resonate with each segment, leading to increased customer engagement and sales. Secondly, segmentation helps in resource allocation. Businesses can identify profitable segments and allocate resources accordingly, ensuring maximum return on investment. Lastly, segmentation can help in competitive positioning. By understanding who the competitors are in each segment, businesses can develop strategies to differentiate their offerings and gain a competitive edge.

How can a sales team be organized for maximum efficiency?

A sales team can be organized for maximum efficiency by implementing a few strategies. First, clearly define roles and responsibilities for each team member to avoid confusion and overlap. Second, segment your customers and assign sales reps based on their expertise and the customer's needs. Third, use a CRM system to track and manage customer interactions. Fourth, provide regular training and development opportunities for your team to keep their skills sharp. Lastly, set clear and achievable goals, and regularly review performance against these goals.

Marketing mix

Your Marketing Mix is made of components that need to be considered for a successful campaign. The Six P's of this mix are product, price, promotion, process, place, and people.

In our example, the product is your slate of high-tech devices, from computers to tablets to smartphones. Let's say the smartphone product is your main sales focus right now. Its main feature is the ability to install any third-party apps that can improve a user's lifestyle. You could even argue that even though it is a phone, its app-supported features are so dominant that the ability to make phone calls has been downgraded as side usage. Additionally, the smartphone is beautifully designed and adopts user-friendly interfaces. Plus the branding and packaging are sleek and desirable, which are all advantages to be capitalized on.

How can sales control tools be used to assess the performance and improve the progress of the smartphone sales?

Sales control tools can be used to assess the performance and improve the progress of smartphone sales in several ways. They can track sales data in real-time, allowing for immediate adjustments to sales strategies. They can also provide insights into customer behavior and preferences, which can inform product development and marketing strategies. Additionally, these tools can help identify trends and patterns in sales data, which can be used to forecast future sales and set realistic sales targets. Finally, sales control tools can help manage the sales team by tracking individual performance and identifying areas for improvement.

How does the sales strategy for the smartphone differ from that of other high-tech devices?

The sales strategy for smartphones differs from other high-tech devices in several ways. Firstly, the focus is on the smartphone's ability to install third-party apps that can improve a user's lifestyle, making it more than just a communication device. Secondly, the design and user-friendly interface of the smartphone are emphasized, making it appealing to the user. Lastly, the branding and packaging of the smartphone are sleek and desirable, which can be leveraged in the sales strategy.

What is the significance of the smartphone's app-supported features in its sales?

The smartphone's app-supported features are significant in its sales because they enhance the user's lifestyle. These features are so dominant that they have downgraded the phone's primary function, making calls, to a side usage. The ability to install any third-party apps allows users to customize their device to their needs and preferences, which is a strong selling point. Additionally, the smartphone's design, user-friendly interfaces, and sleek branding and packaging also contribute to its appeal and sales.

Your price point is on the high end and only offers discounts on older devices when a new model comes out.

Promotions are any advertisements, sponsorships or partnerships used to funnel in awareness and sales. These could be billboard ads, TV spots, social media posts, or sponsored placements. In our example, you could even launch a "mini-store" partnership with a top retailer to set up a premium shopping experience with the sales floor exclusively dedicated to your suite of products. However, since your brand name has become akin to a lifestyle, customer referrals are your bread and butter.

Can you name a company that could benefit from a mini-store partnership and explain how?

A company like Apple could greatly benefit from a mini-store partnership. By partnering with a retailer like Best Buy, Apple could set up a mini-store within the larger store, providing a premium shopping experience dedicated to Apple products. This would not only increase visibility and accessibility of Apple products but also allow potential customers to experience the products firsthand, potentially driving up sales.

How can companies implement promotions as part of their Sales Strategy?

Companies can implement promotions as part of their sales strategy in several ways. Firstly, they can use advertisements, sponsorships, or partnerships to increase awareness and sales. This could be in the form of billboard ads, TV spots, social media posts, or sponsored placements. For instance, a company could launch a mini-store partnership with a top retailer to set up a premium shopping experience with the sales floor exclusively dedicated to their suite of products. Secondly, since a brand name can become akin to a lifestyle, customer referrals can also be a powerful promotional tool.

How does the Sales Strategy framework align with digital marketing initiatives?

The Sales Strategy framework aligns with digital marketing initiatives in several ways. Firstly, both require a clear understanding of the target audience and their needs. This information is used to tailor the sales approach and marketing messages. Secondly, both involve segmentation of the target market for more personalized engagement. Thirdly, both require continuous analysis and adjustment based on performance metrics. Lastly, digital marketing initiatives often serve as a funnel to drive potential customers towards sales, making them an integral part of the overall sales strategy.

Process is the structure by which customers learn about, interact with, and ultimately purchase the product. It's essentially how you engineer your customer journey. Let's say there's enough popularity and hype built up around your company that you can hold public keynotes whenever a new model comes out. This becomes the launch point of the customer journey where they learn about the new offers, ask questions, begin to preorder, etc.

How can preorders be effectively managed in a sales strategy?

Preorders can be effectively managed in a sales strategy by implementing a few key steps. First, it's important to accurately forecast demand to ensure you have enough product to fulfill orders. Second, communicate clearly with customers about when they can expect their product to be delivered. Third, use a reliable system to track preorders and ensure they are fulfilled in a timely manner. Lastly, provide excellent customer service to handle any issues or inquiries related to preorders.

What are some examples of high-priority tasks in a sales lifecycle?

Some examples of high-priority tasks in a sales lifecycle include identifying and segmenting target customers, planning and implementing effective marketing strategies, managing customer relationships, and driving sales team performance. It also involves analyzing sales data to understand customer behavior and market trends, and adjusting strategies accordingly. Additionally, ensuring a smooth customer journey from product awareness to purchase is a crucial task.

How can a sales team be organized to maximize returns?

A sales team can be organized to maximize returns by implementing a few strategies. First, segment your sales team based on the target customers. This allows for a more personalized approach to selling. Second, establish a clear sales process. This provides structure and guides the team on how to interact with customers effectively. Third, provide continuous training and development opportunities to your sales team. This ensures they are equipped with the latest sales techniques and product knowledge. Lastly, set clear and achievable sales targets. This gives the team a clear goal to work towards.

Place is where the product can be purchased. This might be big retailers and distributors, your website, mobile shopping apps, or even your own brick-and-mortar.

People are the team that drives the sales process and customer lifecycle. For our example, you may have a great sales team at retail locations and your customer service is top-notch, which drives frequent customer referrals. (Slide 13)

You can use another tool in this deck to determine team roles across your organization's pre-sales vs post-sales strategy with an org chart visualization. (Slide 16)

Target group analysis

A target group analysis defines who the target audience is and how best to approach and sell to them. Segment this analysis by four target profiles: behavioral, psychographic, demographic, and geographic.

For our example, let's say you want to segment your target customer by their behavioral profile. You have your brand loyalists and your late-stage adopters. Your brand loyalists pre-order every latest version of every new device, attend your keynote events, and convince five of their friends to as well. Your late-stage adopters are still very loyal, but they are usually a few generations behind, often buy second-hand, and tend to find ways to protect and keep their devices longer. While you don't always win them over with the latest chips, tech, and features, you can sell them more accessories to improve their older devices, like power chords, newer headphones, and new cases that extend battery life.

How can a sales strategy help in driving the sales lifecycle of a company?

A sales strategy can help in driving the sales lifecycle of a company by providing a clear roadmap for the sales team to follow. It helps in identifying the target customers, understanding their needs and preferences, and tailoring the sales approach accordingly. This can lead to more effective marketing, improved customer engagement, and ultimately, increased sales. A well-planned sales strategy can also help in managing high-priority tasks efficiently across the sales lifecycle, thereby ensuring a smooth and successful sales process.

What are some effective ways to sell accessories to late-stage adopters?

To effectively sell accessories to late-stage adopters, it's important to understand their behavior and needs. They are usually a few generations behind in terms of devices, often buy second-hand, and tend to find ways to protect and keep their devices longer. Therefore, focus on selling accessories that improve their older devices. This could include power chords, newer headphones, and new cases that extend battery life. Additionally, consider offering discounts or bundle deals to make the purchase more attractive. Finally, ensure your marketing messages highlight the benefits of these accessories in enhancing the functionality and longevity of their existing devices.

How can a company cater to both brand loyalists and late-stage adopters in their sales strategy?

A company can cater to both brand loyalists and late-stage adopters in their sales strategy by segmenting their target customers based on their behavioral profile. For brand loyalists, who pre-order every latest version of every new device, attend keynote events, and convince their friends to do the same, the company can focus on promoting the latest products and features. For late-stage adopters, who are usually a few generations behind and often buy second-hand, the company can focus on selling accessories that improve their older devices, like power chords, newer headphones, and new cases that extend battery life.

You can also segment your target customer by demographic. You have both male and female customers, and they can range anywhere in age from 16 to 60. They typically come from North America, Europe, or the Asian Pacific. Their occupation is often in the tech industry, arts, or knowledge economy with a middle to upper-middle class income.

What are some effective ways to organize a sales team to maximize returns?

There are several effective ways to organize a sales team to maximize returns. First, segment your sales team based on the target customer demographics. This allows for a more personalized approach to selling. Second, implement a well-balanced sales strategy that includes planning, analyzing, and marketing. Third, provide regular training and development opportunities to your sales team to enhance their skills and knowledge. Lastly, use performance metrics to track and evaluate the effectiveness of your sales team and make necessary adjustments.

How can a well-balanced sales strategy help in managing multiple high-priority tasks?

A well-balanced sales strategy can help manage multiple high-priority tasks by providing a structured approach to sales. It allows for clear prioritization of tasks based on their impact on sales goals. It also ensures that resources are allocated effectively, preventing any single task from monopolizing resources or time. Furthermore, a balanced strategy includes regular review and adjustment processes, ensuring that the strategy remains relevant and effective even as priorities shift.

How can sales control tools be used to assess performance and improve progress?

Sales control tools can be used to assess performance and improve progress in several ways. They can track and measure sales activities, providing data on the effectiveness of sales strategies and tactics. This data can be analyzed to identify areas of strength and weakness, and to determine where improvements can be made. Sales control tools can also help in setting and monitoring sales targets, and in tracking progress towards these targets. They can provide insights into customer behavior and preferences, which can inform the development of more effective sales strategies. Furthermore, they can facilitate communication and collaboration within the sales team, promoting a more coordinated and effective approach to sales.

To segment by psychographic profile, break down your customers by lifestyle, personality, values and interest. For instance, let's say your target customers follow the lifestyle of an urban professional. Their personality is curious with a love for new innovations and the latest gadgets. They value stability, fluidity and ease of use, and they have an interest in everything from arts and entertainment to tech. However, their unifying interest is to accomplish daily tasks easier.

How does segmenting customers by psychographic profile improve sales performance?

Segmenting customers by psychographic profile can significantly improve sales performance. This approach allows businesses to understand their customers on a deeper level, including their lifestyle, personality, values, and interests. By understanding these aspects, businesses can tailor their products, services, and marketing strategies to meet the specific needs and preferences of different customer groups. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, sales.

Name a company that could benefit from the Sales Strategy and explain how.

Apple Inc. could greatly benefit from the Sales Strategy. By segmenting their customers based on psychographic profiles, they can better understand their target customers' lifestyle, personality, values, and interests. For instance, if their target customers are urban professionals who value stability, fluidity, and ease of use, and have an interest in the latest gadgets, Apple can tailor their marketing and sales strategies to cater to these specific needs and interests. This could potentially increase their sales and customer satisfaction.

How can companies implement the Sales Strategy in their sales operations?

Companies can implement the Sales Strategy in their sales operations by first understanding their target customers' lifestyle, personality, values, and interests. This can be achieved by segmenting the customers by their psychographic profile. Once the target customers are identified, the sales team can be organized and driven to meet the needs of these customers. The sales strategy should also include plans for marketing and driving the sales team. It's important to balance multiple high-priority tasks across the entire sales lifecycle.

You can also sort by geographic region, country, population and climate. This is helpful when you want to assess the interests and behavior of international customers segments. (Slide 15)

Customer life cycle

Now it's time to plot out the customer life cycle. This process goes through four stages: engage, transact, fulfill, and service. In the engage stage, identify new customers, evaluate their likelihood to buy, then begin the sales process. In the transaction stage, the sales team creates offers that the customer then accepts. In the fulfill stage, the product or service is provided or delivered. And in the service stage, customers receive follow-ups across various channels. (Slide 18)

How can a well-balanced sales strategy improve a company's performance?

A well-balanced sales strategy can improve a company's performance by ensuring that all stages of the sales lifecycle are effectively managed. It allows for the identification and targeting of potential customers, the creation of compelling offers, the delivery of products or services, and the provision of excellent customer service. This can lead to increased sales, customer satisfaction, and repeat business, all of which contribute to improved company performance.

What is the purpose of the service stage in the customer life cycle of a sales strategy?

The service stage in the customer life cycle of a sales strategy is designed to maintain customer relationships post-sale. It involves follow-ups across various channels to ensure customer satisfaction and to address any issues or concerns. This stage is crucial for customer retention, encouraging repeat business, and fostering customer loyalty.

Can you explain the fulfill stage in the customer life cycle of a sales strategy?

The fulfill stage in the customer life cycle of a sales strategy refers to the point where the product or service is provided or delivered to the customer. This stage comes after the transaction stage, where the sales team creates offers that the customer accepts. The fulfill stage is crucial as it directly impacts customer satisfaction and could influence future transactions.

Customer behavior types

To make the sales process easier, it's helpful to break your prospects down into the four main customer behavior types.

The programmed buyers buy as a routine purchase and receive below average service. These are the most low-maintenance customers.

Relationship buyers value the experience when they work with you, and expect you to understand the business your products or service supports like the back of your hand. The higher quality the relationship, the higher level of trust and loyalty they have.

Transaction buyers are competitive shoppers and heavily price-conscious. They want to find the best bargain and are well-versed in the product specs as they consider themselves experts due to all of their research.

Bargain hunters look for discounts and coupons just to receive a good deal even if they didn't need to buy anything to begin with. In your case, these buyers may often buy second-hand or could be swayed by discounts on a previous year's models. (Slide 20-24)

Customer classification matrix

You can use a customer classification matrix to determine the characteristics, value, and opportunities and threats from your various customer types.

For instance, Customer A is your most profitable customer. They bring in high revenue and high-profit margin. Even though their purchase quantity is low, they hold a lot of leverage power so you need to service them.

Customer B, on the other hand, has an average revenue and return, they are still profitable and even have the potential to become a Customer A type over time.

Customer C provides low sales and large purchase quantities, but they don't yield as much profit and require a high processing effort. They represent tiny transactions that are necessary to your business, but don't contribute much value. This is typically where most products or customers live, so your aim should be to automate their transactions as much as possible to reduce overhead and prevent a drain on your overall resources. (Slide 24)

What are some ways to prevent a drain on overall resources when dealing with customers like Customer C?

To prevent a drain on overall resources when dealing with customers like Customer C, the best strategy is to automate their transactions as much as possible. Since these customers represent tiny transactions that are necessary to your business but don't contribute much value, automation can help reduce overhead and prevent resource drain. This approach allows your team to focus on more profitable tasks and customers.

How can planning help in improving profits from customers like Customer C?

Planning can help in improving profits from customers like Customer C by identifying their purchasing patterns and behaviors. This can help in automating their transactions to reduce overhead and prevent a drain on overall resources. Additionally, planning can help in segmenting these customers and developing targeted marketing strategies to increase their value. It's also important to analyze their needs and preferences to offer them products or services that can increase their profitability.

What role does analysis play in dealing with customers like Customer C in a sales strategy?

Analysis plays a crucial role in dealing with customers like Customer C in a sales strategy. It helps in understanding the customer's buying patterns, their profitability, and the effort required to process their transactions. This information can be used to segment the customers and devise strategies to automate their transactions as much as possible. This reduces overhead and prevents a drain on overall resources.

The customer classification matrix can also be visualized as an ABC analysis. The y-axis represents the percentage of cumulative value that a customer type represents while the x-axis represents the proportion of customers in that segment. (Slide 27)

Portfolio analysis

A portfolio analysis helps compare your sales strategy to your competition. The dark blue checkmarks represent your company, while the lighter, grayed-out checkmarks represent your competition. You can rank each feature from very poor to very good to determine areas where your sales process can improve the most. (Slide 28)

What are the main components of a portfolio analysis in a sales strategy?

The main components of a portfolio analysis in a sales strategy include the identification of the products or services offered by the company, the assessment of the competition, and the ranking of each feature from very poor to very good. This allows the company to determine areas where the sales process can improve the most. It's also important to consider the market share and growth rate of each product or service, as well as the profitability and potential for future growth.

Can you name a company that could benefit from using portfolio analysis in their sales strategy and explain how?

Apple Inc. could benefit from using portfolio analysis in their sales strategy. Portfolio analysis would allow Apple to compare their sales strategy to their competition. For instance, they could rank each feature of their products from very poor to very good to determine areas where their sales process can improve the most. This could help them identify strengths and weaknesses in their product line and adjust their sales strategy accordingly. For example, if a particular product is not performing well compared to the competition, they could focus on improving that product or invest more in marketing it.

How can companies implement portfolio analysis in their sales strategy?

Companies can implement portfolio analysis in their sales strategy by comparing their sales strategy to their competition. They can use a portfolio analysis to rank each feature of their sales process from very poor to very good to determine areas where their sales process can improve the most. This analysis can help them identify their strengths and weaknesses, and develop strategies to improve their sales performance.

Sales performance

A sales performance summary can be used for cost calculation. Use this summary to calculate the costs (and time translated into cost) associated with key tasks and activities of a sales rep.

In the case of a multi-channel sales team, each channel could require its own sales performance summary. For instance, your sales floor staff wouldn't take into account online ad spend that results in an online purchase — only the activities they conduct on the sales floor, and vice-versa for the online ads team. However, a thorough sales performance summary of all activities conducted across departments can help management and execs see which tasks and activities have the highest ROI. (Slide 30)

How can a sales strategy align with the digital transformation initiatives of a company?

A sales strategy can align with a company's digital transformation initiatives in several ways. Firstly, by integrating digital tools and platforms into the sales process, such as CRM systems, data analytics, and digital marketing tools. These can help streamline sales operations, improve customer targeting, and enhance communication. Secondly, by training the sales team to adapt to digital changes and leverage these tools effectively. Lastly, by aligning sales goals with digital transformation objectives, such as improving online sales or enhancing customer engagement through digital channels.

What is the role of online ad spend in a multi-channel sales strategy?

Online ad spend plays a crucial role in a multi-channel sales strategy. It helps in reaching out to a wider audience, increasing brand visibility, and driving online sales. In a multi-channel sales strategy, each channel, including online, has its own unique role and contributes to the overall sales performance. Online ad spend specifically can help attract potential customers who prefer online shopping, thereby increasing the overall sales. However, it's important to track and analyze the ROI of online ad spend to ensure it's contributing effectively to the overall sales strategy.

How can a sales strategy help in maximizing returns?

A sales strategy can help in maximizing returns by providing a clear plan and direction for the sales team. It allows for the segmentation of target customers and the organization of the sales team to meet these targets effectively. A well-planned strategy also includes analysis of past performance, market trends, and customer behavior, which can help in making informed decisions and optimizing sales efforts. Furthermore, a sales strategy can help in coordinating activities across different sales channels, ensuring that all activities are aligned with the overall business goals and are contributing to the highest return on investment.

Sales control

Finally, the key figures in sales control bar chart compares revenue, number of offers, number of orders, and success rate. This is a tool managers can use to share with key stakeholders to measure the KPIs you determined at the top of your plan to assess if the sales strategy is a success. It's editable and will open into an excel sheet for you to enter the relative data when you right-click on it. (Slide 31)

What is the significance of Slide 31 in the Sales Strategy deck?

Slide 31 in the Sales Strategy deck presents a key figures in sales control bar chart. This chart compares revenue, number of offers, number of orders, and success rate. It serves as a tool for managers to share with key stakeholders to measure the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) determined at the beginning of the plan. This helps in assessing if the sales strategy is successful. The chart is editable and opens into an excel sheet for entering relative data when right-clicked.

What is the process to enter relative data into the sales control bar chart?

To enter relative data into the sales control bar chart, you need to right-click on the chart. This will open an Excel sheet where you can input the relevant data. The chart compares key figures such as revenue, number of offers, number of orders, and success rate. It's a tool that managers can use to measure the KPIs determined at the start of the sales strategy plan.

How can the sales control bar chart be used to communicate with key stakeholders?

The sales control bar chart can be used to communicate with key stakeholders by providing a visual representation of key performance indicators (KPIs) such as revenue, number of offers, number of orders, and success rate. This allows stakeholders to easily understand and assess the success of the sales strategy. The chart is editable and can be customized with relative data, making it a versatile tool for communication.

For more presentations to improve your sales strategy and process, take a look at our Sales Pitch Deck , Sales Funnel , and Sales Review deck.

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22 Best Sales Strategies, Plans, & Initiatives for Success [Templates]

Discover sales strategy examples, templates, and plans used by top sales teams worldwide.

FREE SALES PLAN TEMPLATE

Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

Updated: 03/07/24

Published: 03/07/24

A strong sales strategy plan creates the foundation for a cohesive and successful sales organization.

Sales strategies and initiatives also align salespeople on shared goals and empower them to do their best work — keeping them happy and successful, too.

In this guide, I’ll dig into some sales strategies and initiatives that I’ve found can help you generate more leads and close more deals. But first, let’s define what a sales strategy is.

Table of Contents

What is a sales strategy?

Why is a sales strategy important, the most effective sales strategies, sales strategy types, sales planning: how to build a sales strategy plan, sales initiatives, sales strategy examples from successful sales teams.

A sales strategy is a set of decisions, actions, and goals that inform how your sales team positions the organization and its products to close new customers. It acts as a guide for sales reps to follow, with clear goals for sales processes, product positioning, and competitive analysis.

A clear sales strategy serves as a map for the growth of your business. Your sales strategy is key to future planning, problem-solving, goal-setting, and management.

An effective sales strategy can help you:

• Give your team direction and focus. Strategic clarity can help your sales reps and managers understand which goals and activities to prioritize. This can lead to improved productivity and outcomes.
• Ensure consistent messaging. Your sales strategy can help your team deliver a consistent message to prospects, partners, and customers. This can increase both trust and effectiveness.
• Optimize opportunities. Strong sales strategies will help you target the right prospects and customize your approach. This can help your team make the most of every sales opportunity.
• Improve resource allocation. Your sales strategy outlines your priorities and resources. In turn, this can help your sales team use their time, effort, and other resources more efficiently, boosting your team’s ability to focus on high-potential deals.

Next, let’s cover some of the sales strategies that I’ve found can be most effective.

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2. Become a thought leader.

Sharing your advice, tried-and-true best practices, and niche expertise are some of the most long-lasting ways to build your personal brand and lend more credibility to your organization. After all, nobody wants to feel like they’re being sold to. Instead, it’s better to help people by offering solutions to their problems.

That’s what thought leaders do. Indeed, a recent report found that “Thought leadership is one of the most effective tools an organization can use to demonstrate its value to customers during a tough economy — even more so than traditional advertising or product marketing, according to B2B buyers.”

According to the study, 61% of decision-makers believed that thought leadership could be moderately or very effective in demonstrating the value of a company’s products. Moreover, more than half of C-suite executives in the study believed that thought leadership has a greater impact on purchases during an economic downturn, making this an even more important element of a sales strategy in today’s uncertain economic times.

So what’s the catch?

Not all thought leadership content is created equal.

When done right, thought leadership can have a huge positive impact, but poor thought leadership can be devastating to a company’s sales goals. So, before you plan a spree of LinkedIn posts to drive leads, consider who your audience is, what they need to know, and how your organization can help.

Also, it may not hurt to have a second set of eyes from your marketing, communication, and PR departments review your plan first to make sure everything is on-brand (and trackable!).

3. Prioritize inbound sales calls as hot leads.

There’s an age-old question in sales: “Should I discuss product pricing with a prospect on the first sales call?” The honest answer is: It depends.

You and your sales team know your process better than anyone. So take it from me — if you’ve seen success with pitching with pricing first, last, or somewhere in between, stick with what’s working for you.

But beyond that, your team should always prioritize the prospects who come to you. These hot leads are definitely interested in what you have to sell, and before they make a decision, they want to get the information they need about how it will benefit them.

By prioritizing talking to these prospects as soon as they call in or send an email, you’re putting your best foot forward and showing them that you’re helpful, solutions-oriented, and considerate of their time. And if that means closing a deal on the first call, there’s nothing wrong with that — as long as the customer has the information they need to make an informed decision.

4. Properly research and qualify prospects.

I’ve personally discovered that even the strongest sales strategy can’t compensate for targeting the wrong customers. To ensure your team is selling to the right type of customer, encourage reps to research and qualify prospects before attempting to discuss your product. Indeed, throughout my career, I’ve found that more work on the front end can lead to smoother closing conversations later on.

Outline the criteria a prospect needs to meet to be qualified as a high-probability potential customer. These criteria will depend on your unique business and target audience, but they should generally be based on a prospect’s engagement history and demographics.

Free Guide: 101 Sales Qualification Questions

101 Questions to Ask Contacts When Qualifying, Closing, Negotiating, and Upselling.

• Budget Questions
• Business Impact Questions
• Competitor Questions

5. Implement a free trial.

Offering a free trial or freemium version of your product can be a highly effective way to convert prospects. In fact, HubSpot’s sales strategy report found that 76% of sales professionals feel that free trials are effective in converting prospects into paying customers, while 69% of professionals believe that freemium offerings are effective.

Keeping a list of proven, go-to closing techniques will help salespeople routinely win deals. Some of my favorite techniques include the ‘now or never close’ — i.e., “If you commit now, I can get you a 20% discount” — or the ‘question close,’ i.e., “In your opinion, does what I am offering solve your problem?”

Free Sales Closing Guide

An easy-to-use sales closing guide with three tactics you can use right away.

• Using an ROI calculator for your prospects
• How to ask confirmation questions
• Sales question templates you can use today

To further improve your closing techniques and learn to close deals with confidence, check out this free, downloadable Sales Closing Guide .

11. Nurture existing accounts for future selling opportunities.

Once a deal is done, there’s no need for a sales strategy, right? Wrong.

Account management is an incredibly important part of the sales process, as this is how you foster loyal, happy customers and identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

So, after your sales team sees success with its sales strategy, it’s vital to form a partnership between the sales team and customer service/success teams.

Remember: Ensuring customers’ continued satisfaction with your product or service will make them more likely to do business with your company again. You may even inspire them to advocate for it proactively.

Free Sales Plan Template

Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent sales plan.

• Target Market
• Prospecting Strategy

Inbound Sales Strategy

In contrast, inbound sales strategies are the modern methodology for sales teams. Companies following an inbound approach base their sales processes on buyer actions.

These organizations automatically capture seller and buyer data to monitor their pipelines and coach their salespeople. Inbound sales strategies connect reps’ activities to the three stages of the buyer journey — awareness, consideration, and decision — encouraging sales teams to map their tactics to the right step in the customer journey.

The inbound methodology also aligns sales and marketing, creating a seamless experience for buyers. Check out this post to learn more about inbound sales and how to develop an inbound sales process.

In addition, many popular sales strategies take a customer-centric approach, including:

• Account-based selling .
• SPIN selling .
• Value-based selling .
• Consultative selling .

You can learn more about these approaches in this post about customer-centric selling systems .

Inbound vs. Outbound Sales Methodology

In the past, buyers were often forced to suffer through evaluating a product and deciding whether to buy it using only the information offered to them by the seller. But today, much of the information needed to evaluate a product is available online — meaning that buyers are no longer nearly as dependent on the seller.

That means that if sales teams don’t align with the modern buyer’s process. If they fail to add value beyond the information already available online, then buyers will have no reason to engage with a sales team.

As mentioned above, inbound sales benefits buyers at each stage of the buyer process, including:

• Consideration.

Inbound sales teams help buyers become aware of potential problems or opportunities and discover strategies to solve those problems.

Then, buyers evaluate whether the salesperson can help with their problem, and if the buyer thinks they can, they’ll purchase a solution to their problem. Inbound sales reps are helpful and trustworthy, creating partnerships rather than power struggles.

Not sure how to get started with inbound selling? Every sales team should have a sales strategy plan outlining its goals, best practices, and processes designed to align the team and create consistency.

Below, I’ll walk through how to create a sales strategy plan for your team.

Now that you have the template you need, let’s go over how you can build a sales strategy.

How to Build a Sales Strategy

• Develop organizational goals.
• Create a customer profile that is tailored to a specific product offering.
• Hire, onboard, and compensate sales team members adequately.
• Create a plan to generate demand.
• Measure individual and team performance.
• Track sales activities.

To build a comprehensive sales plan, I’d recommend starting with the following activities:

1. Develop organizational goals.

Setting goals is a no-brainer for most sales teams. Otherwise, how will you know whether you’re executing the right activities or achieving the best results? There are three strategies that I’ve found can be particularly helpful in developing clear organizational goals for a sales strategy.

Involve cross-departmental stakeholders.

Avoid developing sales goals in a silo. Instead, be sure to get input from stakeholders across the organization, since every department is held accountable to the company’s bottom line.

Create SMART goals.

SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Setting SMART goals can help your team simplify and track complex, long-term sales goals .

For example, a specific, measurable, and time-bound goal could be to sell 150% of the projected sales quota in Q2. Your internal team can propose this goal and then decide whether it is both relevant and attainable (attainability is particularly important because setting unrealistic goals can harm team motivation).

At the end of the day, SMART goals help reduce confusion when it’s time to review your strategy, helping to ensure you know what worked and what didn’t.

Connect individual goals to organizational goals.

Finally, if you’re creating a team-specific strategy, you may also want to set goals for individual team members. Building ownership and accountability into sales goals can help keep your team aligned, and it also makes your sales strategy more cohesive.

2. Create a customer profile that is tailored to a specific product offering.

A detailed profile of your target customer — a buyer persona — is an essential component of an effective sales strategy. Below, I’ve outlined the key steps to take when creating a buyer persona to ensure you come up with a useful profile:

Find target markets and segments.

First, look at your industry as a whole. Get a sense of your ideal customer’s company size, psychographics, and buying process. You may want to look at industry trends, too.

Conduct market research to understand customer needs and preferences.

Next, do some market research. This template can help you streamline the process and understand which types of research will be best for your business.

You may also want to do some competitor analysis at this stage. Once you know the strengths and weaknesses of competing brands, you can more easily find gaps that you can fill for specific customers.

Create a clear value proposition to attract your ideal customer to your product or service.

Finally, make sure your product offering outlines the benefits of your product for your target customer. It’s important to use insights from your customer profile to emphasize features that solve your target customer’s pain points.

Your business may already have a clear value proposition — but if not, you can use these free value proposition templates to draft one.

Quick tip : Be sure to schedule time to update and refine your buyer persona to make sure it stays aligned with current customer trends and expectations.

3. Hire, onboard, and compensate sales team members adequately.

To develop an effective sales strategy, you need to have a powerful sales team in place. That means investing in hiring, onboarding, and retaining top talent. Specifically, I have learned that there are three key components of building (and keeping) a supportive, successful sales team:

Create great processes for hiring new members of your sales team.

First and foremost, create a list of criteria for sales managers to screen for when interviewing candidates. A well-defined job description and competency framework are also useful. These tools can help your team recruit and retain top talent.

Develop sales onboarding, training, and development programs.

Your training and onboarding program should prepare your sales team to sell effectively and efficiently. It should also help sales reps build advanced skills and industry knowledge.

But what if you don’t have the resources to develop comprehensive training in-house? In these situations, it may be worth considering combining organization-specific training with online sales training programs .

Create a motivational compensation and rewards plan.

Finally, once you’ve built a strong team, it’s vital to ensure your compensation plan is set up to motivate and retain them.

Many organizations connect sales compensation to organizational sales goals, but regardless of the specific compensation plan you choose, make sure that it meets or exceeds industry expectations. It should also inspire your team to celebrate individual and team achievements.

4. Create a plan to generate demand.

Now, it’s time to put together a detailed plan for how to target potential customers and increase their awareness of your offering. This may include using paid social acquisition channels, creating e-books, hosting webinars, and the many other strategies laid out in this article.

Featured Resource: Sales Plan Template

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4. Listen to your prospects.

Just because prospects aren’t customers yet doesn’t mean they don’t have valuable feedback to offer.

As you move prospects through the sales funnel (and especially when they drop off), ask for candid feedback about their experience with your team and products. Even if they’ve lost interest, you may learn something that can help you convert your next prospect.

5. Invest in sales development and team-building.

The best sales teams align not only with their customers but also with their coworkers.

Sales is a difficult career, and without proper encouragement and camaraderie, people can easily become burned out. So, to keep your sales team feeling satisfied and supported, don’t forget to invest in sales development and team-building activities.

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