最新的销售计划实践

In his popular book Le Petit Prince, French WWII pilot, author, and poet, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, wrote, “a goal without a plan is just a wish.” Applicable to many aspects of business, this phrase is highly relevant in the context of driving sales performance.  

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The revenue goal for the business is set annually and achieving that number rests on the shoulders of sales leaders. A strategy is developed to achieve that goal – sales channels, account segmentation, territory structures, quotas and targets, sales incentive programs, sales capacity, and more.  

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The better the plan, the more likely the organization is to achieve its goals. But these planning efforts are highly complex, and in a dynamic environment, they often need to be adapted throughout the year to keep the organization on track.   

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We want to shine some light on these activities and better understand how sales and sales operations leaders are doing in their sales planning efforts. Anaplan recently partnered with the Sales Management Association (SMA) to evaluate the state of sales planning. We surveyed more than 90 professionals who are experts in sales operations, effectiveness, support, and encompass various management and leadership roles. 

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Sales planning is a top priority for nearly everyone 

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Among the professionals we surveyed, the majority agree that some elements of sales planning are important to achieving sales success. Some of the top disciplines respondents consider important are incentive compensation management (88%), goal setting and allocation (87%) and sales organization channel structure (82%).  

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Therrien wasn’t surprised by these responses, stating, “[Incentive compensation management] is so closely related to sales planning. You start with go-to-market strategy, and from there you derive your sales plan, then you drive that down to the individual sellers. That’s what connects salespeople to the corporate goals and strategies and what drives the performance of the organization.” 

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To that end, sales planning is a closely linked with commercial outcomes. Among the professionals surveyed, strong sales planning is closely correlated with positive outcomes. Just 13% of firms considering themselves ineffective at sales planning achieved sales objectives in the preceding 12 months. In contrast, 53% percent of firms that were effective achieved the same sales objectives in the preceding 12 months – a four-fold difference. It’s notable that only 40% of respondents report they are effective at sales planning at all. 

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Additionally, when sales planning is effective, salespeople are more effective, too. In organizations with effective sales planning, 69% of salespeople achieved their quota in the preceding 12 months, compared with just 41% of sellers in firms with ineffective sales planning.  

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Effective sales planning is linked with several other benefits as well. For instance, firms that plan effectively are at least three times more likely than firms that plan ineffectively to accurately estimate potential in customers and markets, and more than two times as likely to equitably distribute salesperson opportunity. These gaps are wide and meaningful, underscoring the importance of effective planning. 

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Therrien notes that companies with more distributed success across the sales organization enjoy a better environment for sales reps than those with a few high-performing reps.  

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“When you do a good job of planning, it means you’ve been thoughtful in really trying to understand the territories, the quotas that you’re setting, the load balancing that you’re doing between your sales reps to give everyone a fair and equitable shot to achieve their number. The company benefits from the overall performance of the salespeople in general, not just from a few people,” says Therrien. 

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Many firms still struggle with sales planning activities 

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Despite broad agreement that different sales planning disciplines are important, fewer respondents report their firms are effective at those disciplines. For example, incentive compensation planning is rated by 88% of respondents as important, yet only 40% indicate they are successful at it. This is a remarkable difference of 48 percentage points. Similarly, respondents report a wide gap between importance and efficacy in their territory and opportunity assignments, to the tune of 34 percentage points. 

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These are major gaps, especially when considering their importance to sales outcomes. Kelly notes the contrast, commenting, “What we’re seeing is that the advantages that accrue to these companies good at sales planning are simply too big to ignore. And leaders who ignore planning or who discount its value, do that at their own peril and to the detriment of their organizations.” 

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Keys to successful sales planning 

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Among respondents who were effective at sales planning, some characteristics emerge. A large percentage of effective sales planners also report they are skilled at the following: scenario planning (75%), functional collaboration (74%), and communication (69%). However, the factors that appear most predictive of overall sales planning effectiveness are capable management, participants that appropriately prioritize their involvement in planning, and an efficient planning process.  

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In addition to these characteristics, Therrien suggests that having agile sales plans that can anticipate and shift in response to real-time conditions is critical to performance. He says, “Bottom line, we just need to get better at this. We need to be much more efficient. We need to be speedy. We need to be agile. We need to be accurate.” 

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Conclusion 

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According to the SMA survey, sales planning is a critical skill for managing sales performance. Firms that can harness effective sales planning are far more likely to meet overall sales objectives, and they see far more of their sellers meeting or exceeding individual objectives.  

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Effective sales planning is far from easy. Many firms report not spending enough time on key planning activities or not conducting planning in a timely manner. 

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Still, some organizations are able to remain effective. These organizations show several characteristics, including scenario planning, functional collaboration, and enabling technology.  

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Anaplan is proud to partner with many leading sales organizations to power their sales planning efforts. These organizations achieve unmatched speed, agility, accuracy, and decision-making confidence using evolved strategy and planning methods. Learn more about how Anaplan can help your organization lead more effective sales planning. 

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For more results from the SMA report, as well as key insights and commentary from Bob Kelly and Dana Therrien, view the webinar discussion here. 

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在他的畅销书中小王子法国二战飞行员、作家、诗人安东尼·德Saint-Exupéry写道:“没有计划的目标只是一个愿望。”这个短语适用于业务的许多方面，在推动销售业绩的背景下高度相关。

业务的收入目标是每年设定的，实现这个数字取决于销售负责人的肩膀。一个ag新亚博 是为了实现这一目标而制定的——销售渠道、客户细分、区域结构、配额和目标、销售激励计划、销售能力等等。

计划越好，组织就越有可能实现其目标。但是这些规划工作是非常复杂的，并且在动态环境中，它们经常需要在全年中进行调整，以保持组织处于正常轨道上。

我们希望了解这些活动，并更好地了解销售和销售运营负责人在销售计划工作中是如何做的。ananplan最近与销售管理协会(SMA)合作评估销售计划的状态。我们调查了90多名专业人士，他们是销售运营、效率、支持以及各种管理和领导角色的专家。

销售计划几乎是每个人的头等大事

在我们调查的专业人士中，大多数人同意销售计划的某些要素对取得销售成功很重要。受访者认为最重要的一些纪律是激励性薪酬管理(88%)、目标设定和分配(87%)以及销售组织渠道结构(82%)。

Therrien对这些回答并不感到惊讶，她说:“[激励性薪酬管理]与销售计划密切相关。你从进入市场战略开始，从那里你制定了销售计划，然后你把它传达给每个卖家。这就是销售人员与公司目标和战略之间的联系，也是推动组织绩效的因素。”

为此，销售计划是与商业成果紧密相连的。在接受调查的专业人士中，强有力的销售计划与积极的结果密切相关。只有13%的公司考虑自己做无效的在销售计划中完成前12个月的销售目标。相比之下，53%的有效公司在过去12个月内实现了相同的销售目标——相差4倍。值得注意的是，只有40%的受访者表示他们在销售计划方面是有效的。

此外，当销售计划有效时，销售人员也会更有效率。在销售计划有效的组织中，69%的销售人员在前12个月内完成了任务，而在销售计划无效的公司中，只有41%的销售人员完成了任务。

有效的销售计划还与其他几个好处联系在一起。例如，有效计划的公司在准确估计客户和市场潜力方面的可能性至少是计划不有效的公司的三倍，在公平分配销售机会方面的可能性是计划不有效的公司的两倍多。这些差距很大，意义重大，突出了有效规划的重要性。

Therrien指出，那些在销售组织中分布更成功的公司，比那些只有少数几个表现出色的销售代表的公司，拥有更好的销售代表环境。

“当你做好规划时，这意味着你已经经过深思熟虑，真正试图了解你所设置的领域、配额，以及你在销售代表之间所做的负载平衡，以便给每个人一个公平公正的机会来实现他们的数字。公司受益于销售人员的整体表现，而不仅仅是少数人。”

许多公司仍然在销售计划活动中苦苦挣扎

尽管人们普遍认为不同的销售计划原则很重要，但很少有受访者表示他们的公司在这些原则上是有效的。例如，88%的受访者认为激励性薪酬计划很重要，但只有40%的受访者表示他们在这方面取得了成功。这一差距高达48个百分点。同样，受访者表示，在他们的领域和机会分配的重要性和有效性之间存在很大差距，高达34个百分点。

这些是主要的差距，尤其是考虑到它们对销售结果的重要性。凯利注意到了这种对比，评论道:“W我们所看到的是，这些擅长销售计划的公司所积累的优势实在是太大了，不容忽视。那些忽视规划或低估其价值的领导者，这样做的后果是他们自己的风险，也会损害他们的组织。”

成功销售计划的关键

在销售计划有效的受访者中，出现了一些特点。大部分高效销售策划者还表示，他们擅长以下方面:场景规划(75%)、职能协作(74%)和沟通(69%)。然而，最能预测整体销售计划有效性的因素是有能力的管理层、适当优先参与计划的参与者以及有效的计划过程。

除了这些特点外，Therrien还建议，拥有灵活的销售计划，能够预测并根据实时情况进行调整，对业绩至关重要。他说:“总之，我们只需要在这方面做得更好。我们需要提高效率。我们得快点。我们需要灵活。我们需要做到准确。”

结论

根据SMA的调查，销售计划是管理销售业绩的关键技能。能够利用有效销售计划的公司更有可能实现整体销售目标，他们看到更多的卖家达到或超过个人目标。

有效的销售计划绝非易事。许多公司报告说没有在关键的规划活动上花费足够的时间，或者没有及时地进行规划。

尽管如此，一些组织仍然能够保持有效。这些组织显示了几个特征，包括场景规划、功能协作和使能技术。

ananplan很荣幸与许多领先的销售组织合作，为他们的销售计划工作提供动力。这些组织实现了无与伦比的速度、敏捷性、准确性和决策信心，使用进化的战略和规划方法。学习铁道部关于Anaplan如何帮助您的组织领导更有效的销售计划。

有关SMA报告的更多结果，以及Bob Kelly和Dana Therrien的关键见解和评论，请查看网络研讨会讨论在这里．