Sales management · Sales planning and goals
Choose the segment where you can prove an advantage, then change the plan to fit it.
A target market advantage is a segment or geography where your firm holds a provable edge, such as speed, price, service or test results. Customer interviews test it. This page ends with a list of what must change in your sales plan before you move into a new segment.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A target market advantage is a segment or geography where your firm holds a provable edge, such as speed, price, service or test results. Customer interviews test it. This page ends with a list of what must change in your sales plan before you move into a new segment.
A Coimbatore pump maker sells to farmers in Tamil Nadu and has an offer to supply a housing developer in Kochi. The same pump, but a different buyer, a different tax situation, a different language and a dealer network that does not reach Kerala. The owner asks whether to say yes.
The answer starts with a list of three to five candidate segments or states, each with one piece of hard evidence of advantage: a delivery record, a test certificate, a price comparison, a service log. If you cannot find evidence, the advantage is a belief.
Then talk to prospects, at least three per segment, with open questions and no pitch. Note how many of them agree the advantage is important for their business. Also talk to existing customers, including unhappy ones, and ask whether they would recommend you.
The owner decides. This page comes after the strategic-plan check and before the goal cascade, since the target market decides what the targets are.
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
Find out honestly how big an opportunity is before you commit a season's budget.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Geography changes more than the address”
Moving from Karnataka to Maharashtra changes taxes on invoices, freight costs, the language of the call and the dealer's expectations on credit. Write each of these on the sheet before the first quotation goes out.
“Interview in the customer's language”
A voice call in Marathi or Malayalam draws out frustrations that an English questionnaire never reaches. Use a third party to ask if you can, since customers soften their view with the owner on the line.
“A satisfied prospect is a poor target”
If a buyer is fully happy with a competitor, mark them wait or nurture, not chase. List them with a reason. Effort spent on these prospects is effort not spent on the ones who are looking.
“Frustrations are the first sales plan”
A customer who says the invoice arrives late or the dealer never calls has told you what to fix. Log every signal with an owner and act within two weeks, before it becomes a lost account.
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.
Candidate segment list
Three to five segments or geographies with, for each, the type of advantage and the evidence: a delivery record, a price comparison, a test result, a service log. The owner fills it in an hour.
Result: Finished when each candidate has evidence or is struck off.
Interview notes and counts
Notes from at least three prospect conversations per segment, with a count of how many confirmed the advantage mattered. Add 5 to 10 customer calls with a 0 to 10 recommend score and the reason for each low score.
Result: Finished when each note holds the customer's own words, not a summary.
Fit matrix
Customers down the side, with their main need, whether the product fits strongly, partly or not, and any frustration signal. Include lapsed customers.
Result: Finished when every row has a fit rating and every frustration has an owner.
Beachhead decision
One segment chosen, with the evidence, the size of the current business there, the competitors and whether the message will be common or adapted for it.
Result: Finished when the owner can explain the choice in four sentences.
Segment shift sheet
Each element of your sales plan with a before and an after: who buys, how long it takes, deal size, cost per sale, who sells. After that, test the plan on a small trial group drawn from the new segment.
Result: Done once your own numbers give a cost per sale for the new segment.
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.
How many prospects must I interview?
Should I enter a new state or deepen my own?
What if the evidence is weak everywhere?
Can I serve two segments at once?
Do I need an outsider for interviews?
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.