| Working with many different sales organisations, | | | | something else. |
| teams and managers I have found that most of | | | | Tip Two - Get your team involved in the planning. |
| the problems that they face on a regular basis | | | | Your team should take part of some of your |
| are due to the lack of planning by the sales | | | | planning, as they may have to contribute to the |
| manager. As the old adage states, "Fail to Plan, | | | | goals you want to set. Get them involved as they |
| Plan to Fail". So why don't sales managers plan? | | | | will provide excellent ideas and they will take |
| Well over the years of training, my students have | | | | ownership of the plan ensuring its success. |
| given me many reasons why they don't plan and | | | | Tip Three - Change the way you think about |
| these are the most common: | | | | planning. Don't consider planning as a task you |
| - I don't know how to plan; | | | | must undertake as a sales manager. You should |
| - I don't have the time to plan, I am way too | | | | consider it as a chance to think about issues, |
| busy; | | | | opportunities, staff and other areas in a creative |
| - I prefer to be spontaneous and reactive and | | | | way. If you consider it to be a mandatory task |
| planning stops me from doing this; | | | | your chances of successful planning will be limited. |
| - I spend so much time addressing problems, I | | | | Tip Four - Set yourself and/or team some goals. |
| don't have time to plan; and | | | | A plan is only as good as the goals you set. Make |
| - It isn't part of my job description so why should | | | | the goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, |
| I do it. Planning should not be a burden, as it will | | | | Relevant and Timeframe), as it will give them |
| assist a sales manager become more effective | | | | more substance. |
| and efficient. My experience has shown that when | | | | Tip Five - Break down your goals into action plans. |
| a sales manager does plan they solve a lot of | | | | I have found that a 90-day action plan is a great |
| issues that normally took up most of their time. | | | | way to help people achieve their goals. It allows |
| So if you are failing to plan, here are a few tips | | | | the sales manager to write down the tasks |
| that may help you begin or improve your planning. | | | | required to complete the goal but also specify the |
| My students advocate these as the top 5 tips so | | | | due dates. The action plans that I teach are |
| I thought I should share them with you. | | | | broken down into 30, 60 and 90-day tasks. Each |
| Tip One - Allocate time in your schedule to plan. | | | | task also has its own due date and reason why |
| Commit yourself and block out time in your diary | | | | they should be completed. |
| or calendar to planning. This may be every day, | | | | Planning will help you solve the problems of the |
| week and/or month. Whichever the case you | | | | future so don't put it off. Give it try and let me |
| must write in down in the schedule you use for | | | | know what happens. I am interested to hear your |
| your appointments so you don't use the time for | | | | comments. Good luck. |