A Simple Sales Plan Outline
Dollars and Units
The first factors to look at are the dollars and units that you expect to sell. Each product that you carry must be included in these predictions. The simplest plans do not include a look at profits. So, at least you won’t have to worry about that, just yet.
If this is an established company, you can make your predictions based on last year’s sales. In order to estimate the amount of increase you expect, you can compare last year’s figures to those of the previous year. Hopefully, the figures increased. If so, you can use the percentage of increase to calculate what this year’s figures will be.
In large companies, the expected increase or growth is sometimes given. In order to fill in the blanks, all that you need to do is add the percentage of planned increase to last year’s sales to get your numbers.
If this is a new company, you will have to do some product and market research. You will need to find out if there is a market for the products that you carry. Hopefully, there is.
Once you have established that there is a market for your products, you will then need to come up with a sales action plan. That’s different from your basic plans.
The action plan will include information about how you will promote your products. What advertising mediums will you use? Who are your potential customers? Where can you find them?
Market Share
Let’s get back to the basic plans for a moment. The market share factor is something that companies consider when they sell multiple products.
An entrepreneur just starting out with a single e-book or a new invention will have no need to consider this factor. The purpose of considering market share is to compare how one product is selling in comparison to another and to the total. It is calculated as a percentage of the total quarterly and annual sales.
Total Dollars
A sales action plan will include this figure, as will the basic quarterly, monthly or annual plans. This is an estimate of how much money you expect your company to make. Again, this is not how much profit you expect.
You can find a basic sales plan outline online. They will work well for established businesses. New businesses may need a little more help.
Back to the Sales Action Plan Page from this Sales Plan Outline Page