Sales management · Sales planning and goals
Write a one-page company plan before you write a sales plan.
A strategic plan is a short document that says what the business is for, where it wants to be in three to five years and how it will get there. A sales plan hangs off it. This page ends with a team SWOT turned into three to five measurable sales goals, signed by the owner.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A strategic plan is a short document that says what the business is for, where it wants to be in three to five years and how it will get there. A sales plan hangs off it. This page ends with a team SWOT turned into three to five measurable sales goals, signed by the owner.
A chartered accountancy firm in Pune asks its sales head for a plan for next year. The sales head asks which clients the firm wants more of, and the partners give three different answers. Any plan written will please one partner and annoy two.
The sales plan cannot choose the goal. It can only deliver one that someone else has chosen. If there is no written company plan, the first job is a red light on the check sheet and one page of writing: what the business is for, who it serves, where it wants to be, and what the sales function owes the rest.
Then a session with the sales team, two to three hours, turns that page into facts. Every item on the SWOT grid needs evidence. Strengths and weaknesses are internal and can be changed; opportunities and threats come from outside and can only be answered.
The owner signs the result. This page comes before the goal cascade and is different from the SWOT and goals pages in the sales process section: those teach the tools, and this one covers the facilitated team session and the sign-off.
Where this sits
Topic 2 of 14 in sales management: sales planning and goals. Turning the business plan into goals each person can act on.
- The topic before
- The sales manager's job
- The topic after
- Sales force design
If you want this done for you
Growth is being chased by working harder at the same approach.
The work
What this is actually like.
“No plan is a normal result”
The first answer in a small firm is a red light, and that is fine. Mark it, build the one-page version in the same sitting, and move on. The mistake is skipping the check and writing sales targets in a vacuum.
“Reps cannot name the top three goals”
Ask each rep to write the company's three goals without help. If answers differ, the plan exists only in the owner's head. Count how many match and put the number on the sheet; it is the plainest test of whether anyone is aiming at the same thing.
“A SWOT item without a fact is an opinion”
'Our service is better' goes in the strength box only with a delivery record, a repeat-order count or a customer quote beside it. The facilitator's job is to keep asking what we saw that shows this.
“Threats are things you answer, not fix”
A competitor's price cut, a GST change or a new mall is outside your control. The workshop fails when the team writes a plan to remove the threat. Write the response: what we will do when it arrives.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The one-page strategic plan
Six boxes on a single sheet: mission in one sentence, a vision for three to five years, a short SWOT, objectives, strategies and tactics, and the KPIs that show progress. The owner fills it in about two hours, with the senior salesperson present.
Result: Finished when each box is filled and the owner could read it aloud to a new hire.
The objective test
A list of the plan's objectives with three columns: has a number, has a deadline, has a named owner. Any objective failing all three is a wish and is rewritten.
Result: Finished when every objective has a tick in all three columns.
The agreed SWOT grid
A four-quadrant sheet filled with evidence by the team in the room, plus a note of who agreed. Internal factors on the left, external on the right.
Result: Finished when no entry lacks a fact and every rep has signed the grid.
Three to five sales goals
Each goal with a metric, a baseline, a target, a deadline and an owner, and a note of which part of the company plan it comes from. Expressed in rupees, orders or enquiries as the case requires.
Result: Finished when each goal can be checked against last quarter's real number.
The sign-off sheet
The goals written on one page, dated and signed by the owner, then pinned in the sales office and added to the monthly review.
Result: Finished when the goals appear on the agenda of the next review meeting.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Do I need a strategic plan to start selling?
Who should be in the SWOT session?
How is this different from a business plan for a bank?
What if the owners disagree on the goals?
How many goals is right?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of sales planning and goals
Or read all of sales management.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.