Your salespeople need to know where you are going and be excited and PASSIONATE about getting there. You probably have one, but if not, here is a simple strategic plan that we've used successfully with clients for 7 years. The key is that it become a LIVE WORKING DOCUMENT that is presented at least monthly.

Where am I going and how do I get there?

 Vision: Describe your future and your role. Be as specific as possible. For this exercise, you are allowed to dream. What does the future look, feel, and sound like? Use as much present tense wording as possible.

Goals: Measurements along the way to ensure I/we are going in the right direction and progressing at the necessary pace. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and trackable. Set both personal and professional/company goals for 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, and 90 days.

Strategy: If my life depended on hitting these goals and making this vision a reality (“big picture”), what will I/we have to do, i.e. be positioned to get more of this type of business, find this type of strategic alliance, change our structure to support this, expand to this geography, catch this trend, make more cold calls, improve skills, etc.?

Plan: Completed as a spreadsheet. Where is the revenue going to come from? We need this many of X, producing Y $’s, i.e. new product revenue, services revenue, new account revenue, growth from current account revenue, $’s per territory, etc.

Behavior: What do I/we have to do DAILY/WEEKLY to execute this strategy, hit these goals, and make this vision a reality? What are the high-impact behaviors, i.e. phone calls to key prospects or customers, encouraging employees, communicating my vision, networking events, review long-term goals, prospecting dials, sales appointments, etc.?

Critical one time actions?

REQUIREMENTS:

• PRESENT / EDIT / UPDATE MONTHLY
• NO EXCUSES ENVIRONMENT: Feed opportunity and starve problems
• DESIRE: It’s my mission, I deserve it, I’ll earn it
• COMMITMENT: I’ll do whatever it takes even if I don’t like it
• ACCOUNTABILITY: I’m willing to let someone hold me accountable.

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