Sales Plan Sales Organizational Plan

Sales Plan SALES ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN An organization's sales plan is an important part of its business operations and strategies. This plan works as the blueprint for the company and helps it reach its targets with the means and resources available. It must always be borne in mind that no matter how large a firm really is, its success will always be dependent on proper utilization and correct distribution of its limited resources.

And we must also remember that no matter how big the sales force is, resources will always be limited and thus their economical use is recommended. For example a firm that has a very large sales force may fail to make as impressive an impact because of its scattered resources, however a firm half its size may penetrate the market more successfully because of effective use of resources. For this reason, a simple but effective sales plan is important and that is what we recommend for Kudler Fine Foods.

According to Tony Parinello in Entrepreneur.com: "A sales plan should be short, simple, and to the point...It's basically a strategic and tactical plan for acquiring new business, increasing existing business, and making or exceeding sales quotas." He further adds: "Typically...a sales quota would include 75% new business and 25% add-on business from existing customers." (Electrical Apparatus) Thus sales plan need not be all about acquiring new business; it has to focus on the existing businesses as well.

But since Kudler Fine Foods is introducing a new product in the market, it will definitely need to concentrate as much on new business as maintaining old contacts. Before the sales plan is written down, it is important for Kudler's sales staff to identify their target market. This will save time since they will be spending more energy and time in acquiring business from this section of the market. A concerted effort in any area pays off. And this is exactly what the team has to understand.

Focus on the target market while spreading your wings to other potential markets. Identification of target market is based on many things including the image and pricing of the product. If the new product is relatively expensive, it is more likely to be consumed by higher income groups but that is not a hard and fast rule a lot depends on the type of product that is being introduced and also on the price of similar goods available in the market.

Thus Kudler sales staff needs to remember the following few points before the plan is made: Who forms the target market? Are there similar products available in the marker? What is the price and quality of rival products? Is the product appropriately priced considering the availability of rival products? If only higher income groups would be attracted is there a way we can penetrate other sections of consumers as well? Fix a Sales Quota: This is the most important part of the sales plan.

According to Parinello, this part "sets the tempo" of the plan and it is here that the sales force would set weekly, daily or quarterly even annual targets. Kudler is a large food chain and thus it already has a strong consumer base. However it is still jittery about its new product since it is the first fresh food item being introduced by the firm.

The firm needs to take into account the perishable nature of the product along with the fact that it is the kind of item that can be consumed on a daily basis. This means that unlike less perishable goods or goods with longer shelf life, this product has the potential to sell faster since salads are consumed daily by health conscious people. Kudler sales staff thus needs to set targets accordingly. Sales Territory: The next important part is the territory management.

What geographical areas would be targeted and what sales goals should be fixed for each area. For example, as we discussed earlier, Kudler will be more popular in higher income groups thus suburban areas in large towns is the ideal market for its new salad line. The firm needs to have higher sales targets in these areas compared to lower income groups where the product may sell but not as fast as it would in affluent areas.

Sales Strategies: These are simply the strategies that help the sales staff know how it would go about achieving its targets. There is usually more than one strategy at work at any given time. For example Kudler can use direct marketing, door to door selling, fairs and events to promote its products. In many affluent areas, there are large malls that people gather at for fun, shopping and eating out. This is a good place for promotion of Kudler's salad line.

The program must be kept alive and active by consisting sending out mails, letters, and promotional items to all those who matter.

This helps in increasing the consumer base as Parinello says: "Send no less than 50 letters of introduction to new prospects each week; make no less than 50 cold calls of introduction to new prospects each week; make no less than 20 face-to-face contacts with new prospects each week; create no less than 10 proposals each week; and make no less than five presentations each week." Ethical selling: With ethics becoming an important concern among people, it has been found that customers would normally opt for a firm that is more ethical than waste their money for some socially irresponsible company.

This is an important discovery and one that can shape all future sales and strategy plans in any company. Kudler needs to explain to its sales force that its selling strategies should be ethically sound. In other words, they must be based on good intentions and profit maximization should not appear to be the sole motive.

For example the sales force should heavily focus on the health benefits of its new salad line while maintaining that a small percentage of profits would be spent on raising health awareness in the country. This is an ideal plan and any similar program would only help in driving the sales team to its destination faster. When people feel that the money they spend will also benefit other people, they are more likely to spend generously. Secondly, the firm must then go ahead and follow this program.

In other words, it must not use this strategy only to extract money out of people because eventually they will see through any loopholes and this will rupture the trust severely. Trust is the cornerstone of any customer-firm relationship and if you want more buyers, you must deliver and keep your promises at all costs. "Trust is the basic building block of any business relationship. Experience has shown.