How to Make a Yearly Sales Target Plan

Set Objectives Setting objectives for your annual sales target plan requires looking at your current sales figures and going back for the past year to see how things progressed. Review the number of new customers who bought your product or service in the past year, and decide how much money each customer brought in on average. Then, determine your sales target, explaining where you want sales to be in 12 months. Break down your objectives into monthly or quarterly goals

Review Target Market Describe your target market so your sales team knows what to look for to find new business. For instance, if you sell to residential homeowners, explain their common characteristics, such as income level, where they live, familial status and the mediums they use to learn about products or services. If you sell to businesses, break your target market down into industries and specific companies you plan to approach

List Resources Review your company’s marketing plan to determine what types of resources you or your sales team can rely on to help them reach their sales goals. Include both digital and traditional marketing tools, such as brochures, sales fliers, a website, and using social media networking to find and convince people to buy. Describe any internal promotions, such as sales contests your company plans to offer to get your sales staff on board with your plan

Set Tracking Schedule Don’t wait until the whole year goes by to review how your sales are adding up. Instead, set up a tracking schedule to review your goals and success every month or quarter, depending on the objectives you set. Plus, look at your sales target plan at your weekly sales staff meeting to evaluate your progress, to celebrate any milestone your team reaches and to keep everyone focused on the overall goal

How to Draft a Sales Plan A sales plan is closely related to a business plan and marketing plan, as it is frequently developed as a part of each. It is a road map designed to give a company's sales team direction through specific sales goals and objectives

Step 1 Set specific sales goals as a definitive statement. For an organization, this is typically a financial goal, such as to increase sales for a particular product 15 percent within a specific reporting period, say, quarterly or annually. By identifying a specific and attainable financial sales goal for a given period, the sales team is able to then break the goal down into quantifiable objectives

Step 2 Develop and write sales objectives based on the sales goals. These are the specific achievements that, if realized, will assist a company in meeting its sales goal. For example, a sales objective might include to increase sales by a certain number of units through cross-selling widget B with widget A during a given time period. Sales objectives frequently include an increase in marketing expenditures on promotions and advertising outputs.

Step 3 Create a section in the sales plan about the target sales market. Here, you will include your market research, such as industry sales data related to your product An awareness of industry developments will assist you to create realistic sales projections based on industry sales figures. This section should also identify competitors, which are those companies that provide similar products or services. Compare information on the customer-base, market shares and competitive or services

Step 4 Include timescales for the sales plan. In addition to developing a target date to meet the ultimate sales goal, this includes calendaring all milestones, tasks and activities required to achieve the sales objectives. Identify specific time management techniques to help with areas such as scheduling, prioritization and delegation

Step 5 Create a budget section based on the financial resources needed to meet your sales objectives. The sales plan budget is part of the larger marketing budget for a company. Develop a budget for a sales plan to monitor and track expenditures specific to sales objectives and ensure that the sales team does not exceed its budget. Line items for a sales plan budget will include allocations for areas such as labor, increased production, advertising, travel, equipment and supplies

Step 6 Outline the strategy and tactics needed to implement the sales plan. For example, develop a top-down strategy to communicate goals and objectives to salespersons and other human resource personnel necessary to implement the sales plan. Additional sales force training may also be a required component to implement the sales plan