sales action plan template free download

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How to Tailor a Project Action Plan Template to Fit Your Specific Needs

Creating a project action plan is an essential step in ensuring the success of any project. It helps outline the tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities involved in achieving project goals. However, using a generic project action plan template may not always meet your specific needs. In this article, we will explore how you can tailor a project action plan template to fit your requirements and enhance your project management process.

Understanding Your Project Requirements

Before you start customizing your project action plan template, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your specific project requirements. This involves identifying the scope of your project, its objectives, deliverables, and timeline. Additionally, consider any unique constraints or challenges that may affect the execution of the project.

By having a comprehensive understanding of your project’s specific needs, you can ensure that the tailored action plan accurately reflects the necessary steps and resources required for success.

Customizing Task Categories and Phases

One way to tailor a project action plan template is by customizing task categories and phases according to your unique requirements. Most templates come with pre-defined categories such as planning, execution, monitoring, and closure. However, these categories may not align perfectly with every type of project.

Evaluate the tasks involved in your specific project and modify or add new task categories as needed. For example, if you are managing an event planning project, you may want to include categories like venue selection, vendor management, and marketing activities.

Similarly, consider customizing the phases or stages within your action plan template based on how your projects progress from initiation to completion. By tailoring these elements to fit your specific needs, you can ensure that all essential tasks are identified and properly organized within the action plan.

Defining Clear Deadlines and Milestones

Deadlines and milestones are vital components of any effective action plan. When tailoring a project action plan template, it’s important to define clear and realistic deadlines for each task. This ensures that team members have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and when they need to complete them.

Consider the specific timeline of your project and adjust the deadlines accordingly. Take into account any dependencies between tasks and allocate sufficient time for each activity. By customizing the deadlines, you can create a more accurate and actionable plan that reflects your project’s unique requirements.

In addition to deadlines, milestones play a crucial role in tracking progress and ensuring timely completion of key deliverables. Customize your action plan template by adding relevant milestones at strategic points throughout the project timeline. This allows you to monitor progress effectively and make necessary adjustments if any deviations occur.

Incorporating Relevant Reporting and Communication Channels

Effective communication is essential for successful project management. When tailoring your project action plan template, consider incorporating relevant reporting and communication channels that align with your organization’s processes.

Identify the key stakeholders involved in your project and determine how information will be shared with them. This may include regular status updates, meetings, or progress reports. Customize your action plan template by adding sections or fields that capture these communication activities.

Additionally, consider integrating technology tools that support efficient communication and collaboration within your team. This could include project management software, online document sharing platforms, or task management applications. By including these tools in your tailored action plan template, you can streamline communication processes and improve overall project efficiency.

In conclusion, tailoring a project action plan template to fit your specific needs is crucial for effective project management. By understanding your requirements, customizing task categories and phases, defining clear deadlines and milestones, as well as incorporating relevant reporting channels, you can create an actionable plan that aligns with the unique aspects of your project. Remember that flexibility is key – regularly review and adjust the tailored action plan as needed throughout the course of the project to ensure its continued effectiveness.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

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Free Sales Plan Template

Free Template

Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent plan by HubSpot and Aircall .

This template includes sections for:.

• Company History & Mission
• Team Structure
• Target Market
• Tools and Software
• Positioning
• Marketing Strategy
• Prospecting Strategy
• Action Plan
• Sales Cadence

Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

Sales departments are doubling down their efforts. Only  18% of buyers  trust salespeople,  meaning that sales teams need to work smarter, not just harder. How can sales leaders ensure this happens?

A sales plan is an actionable way to simplify and document your sales goals and your strategies to accomplish them. Budgets, marketing strategy, positioning, and other topics are explained in detail as well. 

Download this template from HubSpot and Aircall , and build your sales plan . Make it simple for your team, direct reports, and execs to understand what your goals are, how you'll accomplish them, and any support you'll need. 

How do I write a sales plan?

Set your targets and goals, create your sales strategies, choose sales tactics and train your sales staff, set your budget and implement your plan.

Why do I need to fill out the information requested?

We will always keep your personal information safe. We ask for your information in exchange for a valuable resource in order to (a) improve your browsing experience by personalizing the HubSpot site to your needs; (b) send information to you that we think may be of interest to you by email or other means; (c) send you marketing communications that we think may be of value to you. You can read more about our privacy policy  here .

How do you create an individual sales plan?

Creating an effective sales plan: define your objectives, assign roles and responsibilities to the sales team, create your strategy, find your sales tools, define your metrics for success, set your budget, outline our action plan.

Is this really free?

Absolutely . Just sharing some free knowledge that we hope you’ll find useful. Keep us in mind next time you have marketing questions!

What are the 7 steps to creating a sales plan?

Step-by-step guide to creating your sales plan: set your target, assess the situation, identify barriers to success, list your strengths and resources, develop your sales strategy, figure out what you will need for your strategy, make an action plan.

What are the 4 selling strategies?

Four basic sales strategies for B2B are solution selling, account-based selling, strategic selling, and social selling.

Over 32,000 sales leaders and entrepreneurs are already using this sales plan template.

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All about Sales Plans: Definitions, Tips, and Free Templates

By Kate Eby | July 27, 2018

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In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about sales plans: how they relate to sales forecasting and sales pipelines, as well as benefits, challenges, and tips for getting the most out of your sales plans.

Included on this page, you’ll find over 8 free sales plan templates , learn the difference between sales forecasting and sales planning , and find best practices for writing a sales plan .

Free Sales Plan Templates

In this section, you’ll find over 15 free sales planning templates in Microsoft Excel and Word formats.

Sales Plan Template

‌   Download Excel Template

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This template allows you to plan your sales goals with the flexibility and functionality of an Excel spreadsheet. This sales plan template is divided into 12 months and separate product lines. The template includes columns for the previous year’s performance, current sales goals, and outcome. Create a yearly sales plan, and compare data over time and across products.

Keep deals moving forward with sales pipeline management in Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a cloud-based platform that allows sales teams to effectively manage pipelines by creating one location to track and manage efforts, surface open and at-risk opportunities, and provide real-time visibility to improve forecasting. See Smartsheet in action.  

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Sales Leads Template

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If you want to keep track of sales leads, but don’t need the full functionality of customer relationship management (CRM) software, this spreadsheet may be adequate for your business. The template has columns for detailed information about each sales lead, including contact dates and status — this allows you to keep track of communications with each customer, plan future contacts and follow-ups, and evaluate potential sales. You can also indicate lead sources on the spreadsheet to monitor your marketing efforts and track how customers are referred to your business.

Sales Tracker Template

This sales tracker template makes it easy to keep track of items sold, along with profit per item and total earned income. You can also track costs, including shipping charges and returns. This template is especially useful for a new business, online retail sales, or any small business that wants to track sales and profits.

Sales Pipeline Template

Try Smartsheet Template   ‌

This sales pipeline template is an alternative to CRM software and is designed with small businesses in mind, use it to keep track of contacts and estimated sales. It also provides a quarterly sales forecast, along with space to record deal status, projected closing date, and further actions. This simple template is easy to edit and serves as a management tool for your sales pipeline.

Sales and Marketing Plan Template

‌  Download Template in Word

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Creating an effective sales and marketing plan may involve market research and analysis, evaluating your competition, looking at your sales history, examining future sales projections, and more. Once you have adequate information to develop a sales plan, a template can help you organize the plan into steps that will drive sales. This sales and marketing plan template provides space for identifying your sales goal, target customers, strategies for attracting those customers, marketing tactics and messages, scheduled action steps, and results.

Sales Funnel Template

‌ ‌ Download Sales Funnel Template - Excel

This sales funnel template provides a visual representation of the sales process, along with whatever sales data you choose to include. The template can be used as a scorecard to evaluate sales progress, and the funnel makes it easy to visualize the steps in your sales process. This free template is a simple but effective tool for reaching sales and business goals.

Sales Report Template

‌ ‌ Download Sales Report Template

Track monthly, quarterly, and yearly sales activity with this free sales report template. Customize the template or use the existing columns to keep track of sales and pertinent data. This sales report template also includes a monthly forecast showing sales history and projections. Use this template to track progress, plan future goals, and create a sales report with pleasing visual design.

Sales Action Plan Template

Download Sales Action Plan Template

Create a sales plan with actionable steps and a scheduled timeline. This template features sections for listing clearly defined goals, methods for measuring success, action steps, ownership for each step, and deadlines. These are all important components of a sales action plan for reducing risk and increasing the probability that you will reach your sales goals.

Using a Sales Plan Template

Finding the right sales template provides easy organization and efficiency, which frees up resources and time that can go toward reaching business goals. A template can also be a powerful communication tool for sales and marketing teams to develop and track their progress against sales targets. Depending on the nature and scope of your company, some templates can be a component of an effective business plan.

The Basics of a Sales Plan

A sales plan outlines sale goals for a cycle, as well as the steps you will take to hit those targets. The sales plan document also defines tools, high-level tactics, target customers, competitors, obstacles, among other details. A strong plan will communicate company goals to the sales team, keep everyone focused on strategy, and delineate priorities.

What Is the Difference Between Sales Forecasting and Sales Planning?

While many people confuse the two terms, sales forecasting and sales planning are distinct concepts. A sales forecast is a future projection of sales based on business and environmental conditions, while a sales plan defines the concrete steps needed to achieve the sales forecast. You can create a sales forecast for your entire business or for a particular initiative over any period of time (examples include an economic forecast; an industry forecast; a company forecast; and a short-, medium-, or long-term forecast).

Sales plans are helpful tools when budgeting for advertising or travel costs, identifying new sales markets, planning for staffing needs, and creating a timeline to reach milestones. But a sales plan is just one piece of the business planning and management — and it relies on accurate sales forecasting. You can get free sales forecasting templates here .

Large organizations, small businesses, and startups can all equally benefit from sales planning. Sales forecasts and plans are most often used by the sales team, although marketers, executives, and even customers may interact with the documents as well.

What Is a Sales Pipeline?

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospective buyers are in the sales process. A sales pipeline can quickly identify a prospect’s position in the buying journey; use that information to support them and respond to their needs appropriately.

While a specific buyer’s journey will vary based on the industry and type of products or services sold, there are three general phases of any sales pipeline:

A prospect initiates contact with a company and explains its needs.

A salesperson provides the prospect with a quote (including the product or service and price).

The prospect purchases a product or service (and thereby becomes a customer).

Use the targeted sales pipeline templates above to track potential customers’ journeys through the process.

What Is the Sales Funnel? 

The sales funnel is a visual representation of the average conversion rate of potential customers and qualified leads move through the sales process. Sales teams can use the sales funnel to help understand the volume of sales, as well as the percentage of each sale that has passed through each sales process stage.

The sales pipeline represents what the seller is doing during the sales process; the sales funnel shows the sales process conversion rates. The sales funnel feeds the sales pipeline; once a lead is converted into a prospect, they move into the sales pipeline.

Benefits of Using a Sales Plan

A high-quality sales plan is one of the key parts of the sales forecasting process as well as the operational plan and the marketing strategy. When done right, a sales plan can provide the following benefits:

• Guide and contribute to business growth.
• Communicate company sales goals, objectives, and strategic direction for the sales team and leadership.
• Expose new angles based on the research performed to fill out the items on the template. 
• Define needed actions during the sales cycle.
• Provide easy monitoring of sales team progress as linked to goals.
• Provide a high-level view of expenses, finances, and risks, as well as the competition and target customers. 
• Improve and track performance by keeping the team focused on the strategy, priorities and achieving shared milestones.
• Inspire and motivate stakeholders.
• Help keep customers and potential customers as the focus.
• Clarify team capabilities.
• Aid in comparison of targets and results.

Best Practices for Writing a Sales Plan

While creating the sales plan, take the following steps in order to create a quality and realistic plan:

• Perform a SWOT analysis.
• Review prior periods’ performance to gather data.
• Base the targets and goals on market research and historical data.
• Verify facts and data being used.
• Break down data by different sales groups (inside sales, outside sales, etc.).
• Make sure the sales team buys in to the plan.
• Identify patterns that can help reach target customers.
• Pick a time period that makes sense for your industry.
• Ensure that the budget is supported by the research.
• Ensure that sales objectives are linked to sales goals, and that sales goals are linked to business goals.
• Break down estimated expenses to meet sales goals into groups (commissions, sales training, sales tools and resources, contest prizes, team building, travel costs, food, etc.). 
• Use the SMART goals model (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). 
• Measure what you want to manage.
• Keep the plan updated throughout the sales cycle — it’s a living document.
• Keep the plan as simple as possible.
• Look for untapped market segments to target.
• Define the value proposition for potential customers.
• Map out the ideal customer journey.

Sales Plans Challenges

While a sales plan is a valuable tool, creating one does pose some challenges: 

• Creating a sales plan can be very time consuming.
• Inaccurate data will skew forecasts — verify your numbers before you finalize the plan. 
• It’s difficult to predict changing tastes, so forecasts may not be met.
• Rapid growth may increase the workload of the sales team, and throw off forecasts.
• Be careful not to move goalposts mid-cycle.
• Wishful thinking is easy to do, so be realistic and don’t ignore your own assumptions.
• Neglecting to consult with the sales team may prevent them from buying into the plan.
• Neglecting to get feedback from other groups can have a negative impact on the plan.

What Is Included in a Sales Plan?

The sales plan contains numerous sections that provide information to readers, and help guide decisions that will contribute to meeting sales goals.

• Mission and Executive Summary: Include a short history of the business for background.
• Team Structure: Provide a breakdown of the team by sales team, including each person’s role and capabilities. Also include plans for any future hiring.
• Target Customers: Break down the customer list into segments by products or product lines. Build a prospect list that includes referrals, renewals, upsells, and any new segments, and make sure to leverage existing customer relationships.
• Tools, Software, and Other Resources: Include a list of CRM packages or other sales tools (including training tools), and provide any relevant documentation.
• Positioning: Include competitor data, including a comparison of your products with theirs. Anticipate how market trends may impact your business.
• Marketing Strategy: Include pricing information, promotions, and any actions you have planned to increase brand awareness.
• Prospecting Strategy: List criteria for qualifying leads generated by marketing strategy. 
• Action Plan: Include a list of steps needed to hit revenue and sales goals.
• Revenue and Sales Goals: Include measurable, realistic goals that support the overall business. Additionally, supply information on how performance will be measured and monitored, and be sure to base projections off historical data.
• Budget: Include estimated costs (including training, sales tools and resources, team building activities, travel, food, contest prizes, etc.). Make a case for the budget you present.
• Schedule: Provide a timeline that addresses the length of the sales cycle covered by the plan (annual, quarterly, month, etc.).
• Other Items: Consider including a performance review of the prior sales cycle, as well as market and industry conditions that may impact sales.

Improve Sales Planning with Smartsheet for Sales

Sales planning is an activitiy to gain and retain customers, meet changing market demands, and ultimately, ensure business success. While premade templates can help you get started developing your plan, you need a tool to manage all of your sales processes and operations that is accessible to your team in real time and allows you to collaborate and track sales activity across multiple reps.

Smartsheet is a work execution platform that enables enterprises and teams to get from idea to impact - fast. Top performing sales organizations rely on Smartsheet to stay on top of leads, accelerate productivity, and exceed every quota.

Use Smartsheet to build a strong opportunity pipeline, reduce risks and identify blockers, and refine your sales forecast. Improve transparency to process and procedure, optimize operations with cross-department collaboration, and accelerate team output.

Discover how Smartsheet can help maximize your sales efforts, today. 

Try Smartsheet for Sales

Additional Resources

Operations management

Sales Operations 101: Roles, Duties, Headaches, and Pro Tips

Learn the basics of sales operations and how roles are evolving. Hear from the pros and find tips to remedy sales ops headaches.

Nov 18, 2021

Get the most out of your sales planning efforts with Smartsheet for Sales.

• Business Templates

FREE 22+ Sales Plan Templates in PDF | RTF | PPT | MS Word | Excel

Sales plan template is a document that describes the objective and keeps track of activities planned to execute in a business. Sales plan template is very important for an entrepreneur because it contains marketing plans with clarity on customer groups, revenues, sales mix and other necessary information.

Sales Plan Template

9+ sample sales plan, 6+ sample sales plan, 5+ sample sales budget.

• 31+ Sales Plan Formats
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• Google Docs

Size: A4, US

Editable Software Sales Plan Template

Sample Real Estate Sales Plan

Simple Retail Sales Plan Template

Sample Software Sales Plan Template

This  sales plan templates enlists types of products or services the business would provide as well as the deals that are set in order to develop the goals. It helps in implementing apt deals that leads to the desired goals. This template can guide the entrepreneur in business deals and further step ahead.

Sample Sales Plan Template in MS Word Format

Printable Sales Action Plan Template

Strategic Sales Plan

Free Monthly Sales Plan Template

• Apple Pages

Free Download

Free Daily Sales Action Plan Template

Free Weekly Sales Activity Plan Template

Free Sales Development Plan Template

Uses of Sales Plan Template

The most important use of a sales plan template is to set a target which the entrepreneur can frequently refer to as well as rework on. It gives a clear understanding on how to prioritize various strategies and to move from one goal to another.You may also see daily lesson plans .

Target Audience

Sales professionals are the biggest audience of sales plan template. They are the ones who use a preformatted document for constant check on the progress of their work.  You may also see territory plan templates

Business Sales Plan Template

Size: 113 KB

This is a very simple template with information regarding the product/service provided by the firm. One can make a progress graph from such a template because it provides only basic but crucial information regarding the development of the firm. This template in PDF provides information on the kind of strategic plans firm takes up and the number of workers involved.

Preparing Sales Plan Template

Size: 115 KB

Sales plan template is a pdf document that gives important information on how to get started with a sales plan. It may contain helpful ideas that could be adopted by the entrepreneur to develop business. Less relevant points could be replaced by others.You may also see business action plans .

Marketing and Sales Plan Template

Size: 38 KB

This is a document that lists the points that are needed for a systematic development of the market plan . This template should have accurate information regarding the price and product. It also would have information on how to promote the market.

Strategic Sales Plan Template

Size: 85 KB

This includes marketing strategies that would propel the firm by reflecting the interest of the market in the products and services they make.

Sales and Action Plan Template

Size: 122 KB

Product Sales Plan Template

Size: 436 KB

Marketing Sales Plan Analysis Template

Size: 546 KB

Sales Plan Example Template

Size: 361 KB

Product Sales and Goals Plan Template

Size: 21 KB

Basic Sales Plan Template

Size: 305 KB

Territory Sales Planning Template

Size: 341 KB

How to Write a Sales Plan

Size: 580 KB

Sales Plan Outline Template

Size: 52 KB

Sample Sales and Marketing Plan Template

Size: 355 KB

Basic Business Sales Planning Template

Size: 55 KB

Simple Sales Plan Template

Organisation Sales Plan Templates

Size: 75 KB

Company Sales Plan Template

Size: 84 KB

Benefits of Sales Plan Template

Sales Business Plan Templates contain creative strategies that enable marketing businesses. Keeping a written document could be of great use in various levels of the business, up or down.

It is absolutely customizable for including personal experiences and how hurdles are overcome during difficult times. The template could act as road map to success to individuals in the business.You may also see work plans .

Sales plan template plays a major role in laying down strategies in an efficient way. This simple written document can guide a firm or a whole company to success in a limited time.

Keeping a sales plan template is the best way to keep track of various sales activities. It is also the best checking mechanism on how each unit produced in a firm is not gone in vain.You may also see implementation plans .

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28+ Sales Action Plan Templates – Docs, PDF

Once a business managed to attract the right customers after using all the right marketing techniques, the sales are to be properly managed so that the transactions are hassle-free and everything is under control. A carefully sketched out action plan that deals with all the sales of the company are made for the purpose. Nearly every company makes a sales action plan that keeps a record and has a plan of the sales strategy, finance involved and personnel that are to be handled by the company.

Sales Action Plan Template

• Google Docs

90 Day Sales Action Plan Template

Sample Sales Action Plan Template

Business Action Plan Template

Simple Action Plan Template

Sample Sales Plan Template

Strategic Sales Plan Template

Financial Plan Template

How to Write a Sales Action Plan:

Step 1: goals and objectives, step 2: target audience, step 3: gather data, step 4: problems and their solutions, step 5: modify and evaluate, sales action plan template for day/weekly/monthly.

• Apple Pages

Sales Action Plan Template for the Day

Sales Action Plan Template for the Year

Sales Action Plan Method Template

Points to Remember:

• A sales action plan will have all the details of the sales handled by the company listed out.
• The strategy, the personnel, finance and the action plan that handles the sales is made.
• Sales goals are fixed and a plan to reach those goals is made.
• The plan is then worked upon by the company to reach the goals.

Sales Action Plan Report Template

Strategies of Sales Action Plan Template

Weekly Sales Activity Action Plan Template

Sales Action Plan Worksheet Download

Yearly Sales Action Plan Template

Sales and Marketing Plan Template

One page sales action plan template.

Developing Your Sales Action Plan Template Printable

Free Sales Action Plan Template PDF Format Download

Weekly Sales Action Plan Format Template Excel Download

Free Sales Action Plan Template in Word

Sales Action Plan Template Example

Business Sales Action Plan Format

Sales Action Plan Template Sample Pdf

Action Plan to Increase Sales PDF

Strategic Marketing Sales Action Plan Template

Types of Sales Action Plan Templates:

Tips to follow:, purpose of sales action plan templates:, do’s and don’ts.

• Get an organized template free download that is effective and low maintenance.
• Do not overwhelm your sales plan template with irrelevant details that lead to trashing up.

More in Plan Templates

Sample Printable Sales Action Plan Template

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Sales Plan Presentation Template

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Sales Promotion Plan Template

Salesforce Deployment Plan Template

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30 60 90 Day Sales Action Plan Template

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Top 10 guides of sales plan templates free download 2022

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Sales plan template Excel plays a vital role in this modern era because it completes the company schedule and routine of work with less consumption of time, it provides and offers thousand numerous forms of functional formulas by which one can easily take benefit from it and work smarter with a lot of skills and interesting features available in it.

Excel provides very interesting and different forms of sales planning templates in which employee or individuals record their sales or plan their sales on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.

1) Sales Plan Template.

This is a template of Sales planning in which the company easily plan their goals and description of sales with the appointed staff, this template also helps to overview on sales department and measures their productivity on a weekly and monthly basis.

2) Sales Plan Timeline.

This is a sales plan timeline in which the company can maintain the time frame of their sales for the selling department. This template helps them to organize their sales of inventory in a very systematic manner and also with this method company earns a handsome amount of profit as well.

3) Sales Volume Report.

This is a sales volume template in which sales volumes are recorded and analyzed. With this template companies can customize their actions and plans with a comparison of last year’s or last month’s sales. By which company earns more profit with new plans and dedication.

4) Sales Performance Report Template.

This is a template for a sales performance report in which a company can measure the performance and productivity of their sales staff. This helps a businessman to monitor the company’s sales and productivity.

5) Daily Sales Report Planning.

This is a daily sales report planning template in which we can easily we plan our daily sales of products and inventories. This template is mainly used for those sales and marketing companies who try to achieve daily tasks, and this helps them to increase productivity.

6) Monthly Sales Planning.

This is a template of monthly sales planning which helps the company to divide tasks of sales in month-wise. This template includes monthly inventory, specifications, machines, period, and production of a month.

7) Analysis Of Sales Plan Differences Template.

This is a template of sales plan analysis differentiation, which means the company can investigate differences between the target sales and actual sales, in which section our sales lacked and with which reasons. This is very helpful for the company to change strategies and plans of sales.

8) Premium Monthly sale Report.

This is a premium template of monthly sales reports in which a businessman can gather their monthly sales inventory and record the day-wise sales. This template includes sales planned, sales completed, division, product list, and their period to complete.

9) Sales and Marketing Plan Template.

This is a template of sales and marketing in which we can fill the planning of sales strategies, goals, targets, tactics, messages, team lists, tactics, calendars, and measurements to perform sales.

10) Business Sales Plan Form.

This is a template of a business sales plan from which businessman demonstrate their plans accordingly and review their list of past years. This template also includes net sales and the profit breakdown of each product.

These all are the best 10 templates of sales plans in which anyone can produce their plans according to their terms and conditions. These templates help companies to maintain sales criteria and their strategies to perform.

You can download any of these templates from the WPS template store and start using them today. And if you are looking for more templates and tools, check out our other templates. Download WPS Office is a smart move for people.

• 1. Top 10 sales tracking Excel template download 2022
• 2. Top 10 sales projection template Excel download 2022
• 3. Top 10 performance dashboard Excel template for sales free download 2022
• 4. Top 10 Free Sales Order Form Template Excel Download
• 5. Top 10 sales forecast template excel free download 2022
• 6. Top 10 sales call sheet template excel download 2022

Sales | How To

How to Create a Sales Plan in 10 Steps (+ Free Template)

Published March 9, 2023

Published Mar 9, 2023

REVIEWED BY: Jess Pingrey

WRITTEN BY: Jillian Ilao

This article is part of a larger series on Sales Management .

• 1 Establish Your Mission Statement
• 2 Set Sales Goals & Objectives
• 3 Determine Your Ideal Customer
• 4 Set Your Sales Budget
• 5 Develop Sales Strategies & Tactics
• 6 Implement Sales Tools
• 7 Develop Your Sales Funnel
• 8 Create Your Sales Pipeline
• 9 Assign Roles & Responsibilities
• 10 Monitor Progress & Adjust Accordingly
• 11 Examples of Other Free Small Business Sales Plan Templates
• 12 Sales Planning Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• 13 Bottom Line

Sales plans enable businesses to set measurable goals, identify resources, budget for sales activities, forecast sales, and monitor business progress. These all contribute to guiding the sales team toward the company’s overall strategy and goals. In this article, we explore how to create a sales plan, including details on creating an action plan for sales, understanding the purpose of your business, and identifying your ideal customers.

What Is a Sales Plan? A sales plan outlines the strategies, objectives, tools, processes, and metrics to hit your business’ sales goals. It entails establishing your mission statement, setting goals and objectives, determining your ideal customer, and developing your sales strategy and sales funnel. To effectively execute your sales plan, assign roles and responsibilities within your sales team and have metrics to measure your outcomes versus your goals and objectives.

Ten steps to creating an effective sales plan

Download and customize our free sales planning template and follow our steps to learn how to create a sales plan to reach your company’s revenue goals.

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Free Sales Plan Template

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💡 Quick Tip:

Once you’ve created a sales plan, give your sales team the tools to execute it effectively with robust customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Use a CRM like HubSpot CRM to help your sales team collaborate on deals, develop sales reports, track deals, and create custom sales dashboards

1. Establish Your Mission Statement

A mission statement summarizing why you’re in business should be part of your action plan for sales. It should include a broad overview of your business’ products or services and your brand’s unique selling proposition. For example, you wouldn’t say, “We provide customers with insurance policies.” Instead, you might frame it as “We provide customers with cost-effective financial risk management solutions.”

It’s essential to fully understand your unique selling proposition before creating a mission statement. This allows you to learn why you’re different from competitors in your industry. It also helps you determine how your unique proposition suits a niche market better.

Steps on how to create a unique selling proposition

For instance, using the same insurance example above, you may realize specific markets are easier to sell based on that selling proposition. Therefore, it’s a good idea to narrow in on your mission statement by saying, “We provide startup businesses with cost-effective risk management solutions.”

2. Set Sales Goals & Objectives

Once you have summarized why you’re in business in a mission statement, begin setting sales goals . Typically, business goals will include one year, but may also include three- or five-year projections.

Steps on how to set sales goals

Here are a few options for how to set sales revenue goals for your business:

• Set sales amount: You may have a specific amount in mind for a sales goal. For instance, you may determine that $200,000 is a reasonable sales goal based on prior sales and your company’s ability to generate new business.
• Desired profitability: First, calculate the total anticipated expenses for the set time period to find the break-even point. From there, you can calculate how much revenue your team needs to bring in to make a certain profit margin. For example, if annual operating costs are expected to be $100,000, and you want to make a 30% profit, your sales goal is $130,000.
• Projected sales forecast: Based on an industry-standard or estimates you attained by running a sales forecast, you may find it’s better to use a projected sales forecast as your sales goal.

Pro tip: Projecting sales can be challenging without a suitable sales forecasting model. Our free sales forecast templates help you create simple, long-term, budget-based, multi-product, subscription-based, and month-to-month business sales forecasts. Some customer relationship managers (CRMs) like Freshsales have sales goal-tracking functionalities that allow you to set and assign sales goals for your team.

Five-year sales forecast template example (Source: Fit Small Business )

Sales goal tracking in Freshsales (Source: Freshsales )

Sales goals must reflect new business revenue and sales from existing or recurring customers. Then, you must add specific sales objectives that identify and prioritize the sales activities your team needs to complete to meet sales goals. This creates an objective way to measure success in hitting goals at all levels: organizational, sales department, team, and individual sales rep, which is an essential part of sales management .

For example, imagine your total revenue goal is $200,000 in year two and $300,000 in year three. You then add an objective, such as stating you want your business’ revenue from existing customers to grow 15% in year three. This can be measured by evaluating your percentage of revenue from existing customers in year three compared to year two.

3. Determine Your Ideal Customer

Determining the ideal customer or target market is the next step of your business plan for sales reps. It may have been accomplished when you developed your mission statement, but also when you set your sales goals and discovered how broad your market needs to be to reach them. Describing your ideal customer helps dictate who you’re selling to and your selling approach.

One way to establish your ideal customer is by creating a series of unique customer profiles . Each profile specifies key demographics, behaviors, interests, job positions, and geographic information about one of your ideal buyer types. Based on your customer profiles, you can then develop more targeted marketing strategies for lead generation and nurturing to move leads through the sales process more efficiently and close more deals.

Pro tip: Making a customer persona can be challenging, especially if it is based on the wrong data or if you just focus on the demographics. Check out our article on creating a customer persona to help you define your company’s ideal buyer types and guide your lead generation and marketing activities.

4. Set Your Sales Budget

After establishing your objectives and identifying your ideal customer personas—and before developing your actual strategies and tactics—you must identify a sales budget to work with. It should include estimated expenses for salaries, travel expenses, and the cost of any software tools or service providers used to help with sales and marketing. While these are meant to be estimates, research and due diligence should be done to avoid financial errors.

One way to set your sales budget, particularly for software tools and services you may be interested in, is to create and issue a request for proposal (RFP). Issuing an RFP allows you to post a summary of your needs to solicit proposals on potential solutions. In addition to providing accurate budget estimates from various qualified vendors and contractors, it may also help you discover cost-effective or high-performing options you were previously unaware of.

5. Develop Sales Strategies & Tactics

A sales strategy explains how you plan to outsell your competitors and accomplish your sales goals. It defines specific, detailed tactics your team will use to pursue your sales goals. These may involve using Google Ads, cold calling, and drip email marketing campaigns as part of a lead generation strategy. Available strategies differ depending on your company’s resources, skill sets, sales operation, and product or service offerings.

Strategies and tactics should be personalized for your ideal customers based on their unique interests, behaviors, and the best ways to connect with them. For example, some customer profiles show your ideal buyer generally only makes purchases based on trusted referrals. In this case, you could implement a referral strategy that provides incentives to generate more customer referrals .

Plus, different sales strategies will be needed to acquire new business vs keeping existing customers. When selling to existing customers, for example, your strategy could include cross-selling tactics where additional products are recommended based on prior purchases. The short-term cross-selling tactics could require customer service reps to send 30 emails per week recommending a complementary product to existing customers.

For a new business strategy, sales reps might rely on emotional selling methods when using cold calling as a tactic. Instead of product features, cold calling scripts would be geared to evoke feelings that lead to buying decisions. Tactics could reflect the objective of having reps make 15 cold calls each week. They could use a script that opens with a story about how a purchase made a customer feel or how someone felt because they didn’t purchase the product.

Pro tip: Ensuring your strategies are properly executed requires excellent sales leadership and a healthy environment for sales reps to operate in. Our how-to guide for building a positive sales culture shows you how to create an environment that promotes high job satisfaction, low employee turnover, and profitability.

6. Implement Sales Tools

Your sales strategy template should reference the software, hardware, and materials you use to manage the sales operation and make each team member more efficient. One of the most notable tools to include is the customer relationship management (CRM) system . It allows your team to organize contact information, streamline sales tasks, and facilitate communication with customers and leads.

HubSpot CRM , for instance, makes it easy to organize information about leads, contacts, and deal opportunities. Additionally, from a HubSpot CRM lead profile, you can initiate a conversation with that contact by calling, emailing, or scheduling an appointment.

HubSpot CRM contact profile (Source: HubSpot )

CRMs are also used to monitor and report sales progress. For example, many have dashboards and functionality, such as alerts, which make it easy to identify where your team may be underperforming. These could also tell you which leads are most likely to convert and should be focused on. Sales information such as deals closed, revenue generated, and leads created can be presented in a detailed report .

These types of insights can also be shown on the CRM’s system dashboard . Pipedrive is an example of a CRM that has a customizable dashboard that displays both activity information and performance-based data. Activity data include emails sent, received, and outstanding tasks to be completed. Performance-based data, on the other hand, have deals lost or the average value of won deals.

Pipedrive’s customizable dashboard (Source: Pipedrive )

Other sales enablement tools can make your sales team more effective. These include voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone systems , lead generation platforms, email campaign tools, content creation platforms, and task automation software. These tools can be found within CRM software or through CRM integrations and standalone applications.

In addition to technology tools, sales and marketing templates should be used to streamline outreach initiatives. Scenario-based, premade sales email templates , for instance, allow salespeople to have an email already crafted for their specific situation.

Creating and storing business proposal templates in your CRM also streamlines the contact procurement and business proposal generation process . This way, whenever a prospect says they’d like to receive a quote or you’re responding to a request for a proposal, you already have a customizable template ready to go.

Pro tip: Effective cold calling scripts sales reps can use as a guide when placing calls to new leads is a tremendous sales tool to include in your action plan for sales. Get started using our guide for writing a cold calling script , which includes examples and free templates.

7. Develop Your Sales Funnel

Setting up a sales funnel within your sales strategy template lets you visualize the stages of the customer journey, from becoming aware of your business to buying from it. By creating and understanding the different statuses of your leads, you can track progress and determine how effective you are at converting leads to the next stages in the funnel.

Using a sales funnel with conversion rates also makes it easier for you to adjust your sales strategies and tactics based on how effectively you’re getting leads through the funnel. For instance, let’s say you have 100 leads in the awareness stage of the funnel. You decide to cold call 50 of them and write a sales email to the other 50 to qualify leads by setting up a product demonstration.

After each campaign, you find you were able to qualify seven of the leads that were cold-called and only two of the leads you had emailed. Based on these funnel conversion rates of 14% (7/50) from cold calling and 4% (2/50) from emailing, you would likely adjust your tactics to focus more on calling instead of emailing.

Do you need help creating a sales funnel for your business? Our guide to creating a sales funnel explains the step-by-step sales funnel creation process and provides free templates and specific examples.

8. Create Your Sales Pipeline

Once your sales process’ sales funnel stages are identified, develop the sales pipeline stages . These stages include your team’s sales activities to move leads through the funnel. For example, you need to get a lead from the sales funnel stage of brand awareness to show interest in learning more about one of your services. To do this, you could add a sales pipeline activity like setting up a demo or presentation appointment through a cold call.

Adding your sales pipeline to your sales strategy is essential because it describes all the activities your sales reps need to do to close a sales deal. CRM systems like Freshsales allow you to create and track the pipeline stages for each lead or deal within the lead record.

Funnel view of Freshsales’ deal pipeline (Source: Freshsales )

Listing each pipeline stage also helps you identify tools and resources needed to perform the activities for each stage. For example, if you use phone calls to initiate contact with or introduce a product to a lead, you could develop outbound sales call scripts for your team.

After the initial contact by phone, you may use email to follow up after a call and then nurture leads throughout the sales process. As part of your follow-up, create and automate a sales follow-up email template to get them to the next pipeline stage.

The sales funnel shows where a lead is in the sales process. The sales pipeline, on the other hand, lists activities needed to drive leads to the next stage in the sales funnel. Both should be used in your sales strategy when defining the repeatable steps required to generate leads and close deals. Check out our article to learn how to create a winning sales process with insights on both creating a sales process and measuring its success.

9. Assign Roles & Responsibilities

Regardless of the size of your business or sales operation, your business plan for sales reps should include the role and responsibility of each person in the sales team. Each role should have a name, such as someone being a sales development representative (SDR). There should also be a summary of their responsibilities, such as “the SDR is responsible for setting up sales appointments using the activities listed in the sales pipeline.”

Measuring the performance of any sales position is simple through key performance indicators (KPIs). Specific KPIs should be used to measure performance for each role and should be included in your plan. Below are some examples of KPIs that can be used by the members of the sales team and their respective responsibility:

• Sales development representative: Responsible for introducing products and services, qualifying leads, and setting up appointments for the account executive. Performance is measured by calls placed, emails sent, and appointments generated.
• Account executive: Responsible for nurturing qualified leads, delivering the sales pitch , sending quotes, and closing deals. Performance is measured by business proposals sent, the average time in the proposal consideration stage, deals closed, and deal closing rate.
• Customer service representative: Responsible for managing customer needs, handling billing, and managing service tickets by assisting customers. Performance is measured by customer satisfaction, retention rates, and total tickets resolved.
• Sales manager: Responsible for the entire sales operation or team for a specific region or product/service line. Performance is measured by job satisfaction rates of sales reps, pipeline and funnel conversion rates, team sales deals closed, and team revenue growth.

While assigning roles in your plan, a sales rep’s territory could be based on geography, industry, potential deal size, or product/service line, creating more specialization for better results. Our six-step process on proper sales territory management is an excellent resource for segmenting, creating, and assigning sales territories.

This section of the business plan is also a prime spot for individually setting sales quotas for each rep or team needed to hit your organizational sales goals. Sales quotas should be a specific KPI for that sales role and be set based on the experience, skill level, and resources of that individual or team. These quotas should also be based on your organizational, department, and team goals and objectives.

10. Monitor Progress & Adjust Accordingly

Once the strategic business plan is in motion, monitor its progress to make any required adjustments. For instance, while your sales operation is running, you may find certain sales tactics are working better than expected, and vice versa. Your sales goal template should account for using that tactic more, as well as any new sales tools, budgetary changes, new roles, and possibly even a new sales goal.

As in the earlier example, if you found that cold calling was significantly more effective than emailing, reduce or abandon the email method in favor of cold calling. You could also invest in sales tools especially useful for cold calling, such as power dialing using a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone system, or hire additional staff to place calls. All of these will be part of your updated business plan.

Pro tip: Focusing on the big picture by creating, executing, and adjusting a strategic business plan is one of the most critical traits of an effective sales leader. For more insights on what it means to be a sales leader and how to become one, check out our ultimate guide to sales leadership .

Examples of Other Free Small Business Sales Plan Templates

Apart from our free downloadable sales strategy template, other providers have shared their version of a free strategic sales plan examples. Click on our picks below to see if these templates fit your business process better:

HubSpot’s free sales planning template helps users outline their company’s sales strategy. It contains sections found in most sales plans, as well as prompts for you to fill out your company’s tactics and information. These include company history and mission, team structure, target market, tools and software used, positioning, market strategy, action plan, goals, and budget.

HubSpot sales strategy template (Source: HubSpot )

HubSpot’s sales goals template with the mission, vision, and story of the company (Source: HubSpot )

Visit HubSpot

Asana’s free sales plan template helps organizations analyze their current sales process, establish their sales objectives, identify success metrics, and plan actionable steps. The sales business plan template is embedded within Asana’s platform, automatically integrating aspects such as goals and measuring them against results or sales performance.

Asana sales plan example (Source: Asana )

Visit Asana

Sales Planning Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is sales planning.

Sales planning is creating a document that outlines your sales strategy, objectives, target audience, potential obstacles, and tools to achieve goals within a specified period. This may include your daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly, and long-term revenue objectives.

What is included in a sales plan?

A sales strategy plan template typically includes the following key elements:

• Target customers, accounts, or verticals
• Stock-keeping units (SKUs)
• Revenue targets or forecasts
• Strategies and tactics
• Pricing and promotions
• Deadlines and directly responsible individuals (DRIs)
• Team structure and coordination
• Market conditions

What are the different types of strategic sales planning?

The type of strategic planning for sales that you choose for your team ultimately depends on different factors. These include your revenue goals, available resources, the ability and bandwidth of your sales team, and your personal commitment to your plans. Once you have determined the details of these factors, you can choose from these types of strategic sales planning:

• Revenue-based sales action plan template: This is ideal for teams aiming for a specific revenue goal. It focuses on in-depth sales forecasting, improvement of conversion rates, and closing more deals.
• Sales business plan based on the target market: This plan is best for businesses that cater to several markets that are different from each other. In this situation, you must create separate sales goal templates for enterprise companies and small businesses.
• Sales goals plan: This focuses on other goals such as hiring, onboarding, sales training plans, or sales activity implementation.
• New product sales business plan: This plan is developed for the launch and continued promotion of a new product.

Bottom Line

While any business can set bold sales goals, creating a sales plan outlines how your team will achieve them. By following the best practices and 10-step process laid out above, your sales goal template defines what your sales process will look like. It will help establish baselines for accountability and identify optimal strategies, tactics, and the tools needed to make your team as efficient as possible.

About the Author

Jillian Ilao

Jill is a sales and customer service expert at Fit Small Business. Prior to joining the company, she has worked and produced marketing content for various small businesses and entrepreneurs from different markets, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Singapore. She has extensive writing experience and has covered topics on business, lifestyle, finance, education, and technology.

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Create a Strategic Sales Plan with editable example templates

Customize a free sales plan with edit.org's pre-designed templates. all the examples can be edited online for free..

Use these EDIT.org's free editable designs to create a professional customized sales plan for your business.

Create an online business sales plan template.

How much money would you like to make this quarter,  and how can you make it?  You need to establish a sales action plan that will help you focus your company's resources and expand the  strategies  necessary to reach the goal you've set for yourself. We have created  free editable templates with sales plan examples.  Edit them easily and 100% online. All you need to do is enter our editor, which is as easy to use as typing in a Word document, and fill in the elegant designs we have created with your business needs in mind.

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• Select a sample plan from this article, or go to the sample template at the end of this article.
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• Save your changes online on the editor. This way you can make changes later.
• Download the result in high quality JPG, PDF or PNG format.
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Example of a company's strategic sales plan

Are you facing a sales slump? Don't worry, and don't let this situation reduce your energy. You can pick yourself up and bounce back. Millions of successful people do it every day. And you're one of them if you're busy, you're working hard, and you've made it this far. That's why we've designed for you  the best editable templates.  You can fill in the boxes with the ideas that will make your business shine like never before and guide you on the road to success.

In these templates, you will find key points from the most awarded sales roadmap templates:

• Goal: How much money would you be satisfied with?
• Target: What company or customers are you targeting? What age?
• Strategy: All the resources the world puts at your disposal, from conferences, banners, paid news in newspapers, influencers, flyers, organizing a model show or a VIP golf event, spying and studying the competition...
• Tactics: Create your own manufacturing factory and a blog that illustrates the process, improve link buildings, attend courses, hire new sales people, improve raw materials, conquer the hearts of your clients...
• Calendar: What date do you set to achieve results? A month? The next quarter?
• Measurement: Mark the objective in percentages: What increase in the percentage of physical and online store sales should you have from the date you have determined?
• Sales plan summary: a single sheet with the most important part of the plan, your objectives, metrics, etc.

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Action Plan Template

Get your Action Plan Template for Excel or open it in ProjectManager, the best way to manage your projects online.

When you’re planning a project, you need a strategy to execute your plan. The action plan is that document. It outlines the action steps you need to do in order to accomplish your goals. Download your free action plan template for Excel and get on the road to success.

If you open the action plan template in ProjectManager instead, you’ll be able to manage your action plan with more than a spreadsheet. You can work in five different project views: Gantt, kanban board, task list, calendar and sheet.

Plus, you can collaborate with your team in real time and track progress in the software with live dashboards and instant status reports. Get started for free with ProjectManager and build a better action plan.

What Is an Action Plan Template?

An action plan template is a tool that helps project managers visualize the steps to take for the successful completion of a project. Those action steps are further broken down into subtasks known as action items. ProjectManager’s action plan template for Excel helps you organize these elements on a spreadsheet.

A project action plan template is an important project planning tool because it also describes the team, time and resources needed to complete the project successfully. It includes a timeline that organizes tasks, their priority and the team members responsible for them.

Even though they have the same basic elements like goals, action steps, tasks and a timeline, there are several types of action plan templates such as business, strategic and corrective action plan templates. Our action plan Excel template can serve any of those purposes, and its spreadsheet can be easily adjusted to fit your needs.

Why Use an Action Plan Template?

The action plan template is a useful planning document because it provides a framework for thinking pragmatically about getting work done in an efficient and effective manner. Using an action plan helps one order the project action steps in a logical way and ensures that you don’t neglect critical tasks along the way. Action plan templates facilitate the project planning process because they include all the essential fields for an action plan.

It’d be nearly impossible to plan a project, large or small if you don’t write an action plan format that allows you to chart the time and resources needed to get the job done. An action plan tells you who is doing what, by when and with which resources.

The action plan template is a useful planning document because it provides a framework for thinking pragmatically about getting work done in an efficient and effective manner. Using an action plan helps one order the project action steps in a logical way and makes sure that you don’t neglect a critical task along the way. Action plan templates facilitate the project planning process because they include all the essential fields for an action plan.

When you finish filling in your action plan template, all the goals, action steps and tasks are laid out in one place. This helps the project leader to assign or contract tasks as well as note priority levels.

It would be nearly impossible to plan a project, large or small if you don’t write an action plan format that allows you to chart the time and resources needed to get the job done. The name of the action plan is also helpful. It avoids jargon so your team members can clearly understand its purpose.

Project management software can turn an action plan into a viable project schedule. ProjectManager takes your tasks and puts them in a Gantt chart , where progress is updated automatically as your team completes their tasks. If a scheduling conflict arises, drag and drop your project timeline and every deadline adjusts accordingly. Plus, managers can monitor team workload allocation to balance tasks and keep their teams productive.

Who Should Use an Action Plan Template?

Project managers are usually in charge of creating the action plan, keeping track of its progress and making sure the entire project team is updated. However, the action plan itself has individual team members assigned to each step and action item, which they are responsible for completing.

Usually, the project manager defines the goals, action steps, tasks, due dates and priority levels of the action plan. But larger projects have bigger staffs and there a project coordinator or other personnel might be responsible for the action plan. Whoever completes the action plan template, the project manager is going to have the final say and will have the authority to update it as plans change.

When Should You Use an Action Plan Template?

You should use an action plan format whenever you need to plan simple projects, manage your personal or team’s work, implement initiatives in your organization and other similar purposes. Action plan templates are meant to facilitate the execution of work by helping leaders and team members better understand the different tasks to be completed.

For larger projects, it’s advised to use project management software like ProjectManager , so you can plan with Gantt charts, kanban boards, task lists, project calendars and more.

How to Use This Free Action Plan Template for Excel

Our action plan template for Excel is broken down into three sections. One for listing action steps, one for building a timeline , and one to identify resource requirements.

1. List Your Action Steps and Action Items

As mentioned above, action steps are made up of tasks, or action items. The first part of this action plan template lets you list the action items for each action step, as well as task status, assignee and the phase it which it belongs.

• Priority: Each task will have a priority attached to it. That is, it’ll be determined if the task is a high, medium or low priority, which helps you make a more realistic plan.
• Tasks: This is where you list every task that must be taken to complete the action steps and achieve the project’s goal. Be thorough and brainstorm with the team. The more detailed, the better.
• Phase: Here, you’ll note where the action step takes place over the course of the project life cycle, such as in the planning stage, execution, closing, etc.
• Assigned: Determine ownership of each individual task by assigning it to a specific team member. They’ll then be responsible for seeing the task through to completion.
• Status: Here’s where you chart the progress of the work done on each task. Enter a completion percentage or any status that you wish to assign to track progress.

2. Estimate Time for Each Task

Once you’ve mapped out your action steps and action items, you can start assigning a start date and end date to each task and estimate their durations. This information will be needed to create a timeline.

• Start date: This section is your schedule. Each task is tagged with a time in which it must begin to keep the project on track.
• Due date: It is here that the due date is determined, so everyone working on that task is clear about when they must have it completed.
• Planned hours: When planning, you have figured out how much time can be allotted to each task. Here is where you put that information.

3. Identify Resource Requirements

Here you can list the resource requirements for each task. Simply estimate what resources will be needed and estimate a cost for them. There’s also a field to indicate which department is in charge of each action item.

• Department: Which department is responsible for the task, marketing, dev team, etc.?
• Materials required: What materials are needed for completion of that task, software, equipment, materials, site, etc.
• Cost: What amount of funding has the budget allotted to this task?
• Notes: Finally, this is a catchall for any information needed to capture which doesn’t fit in any of the other categories.

How to Create an Action Plan with ProjectManager

Although action plan templates are a good place to start your project management journey, they’re static documents. If you want to take your planning to the next level, you need to use project planning software like ProjectManager.

Because ProjectManager is online software, you can invite your team to the tool. No matter where they are or when they’re working, as they update their progress it will be instantly reflected on the software’s real-time dashboard, which can filter the information to show only what you want.

Then you can create graphs and charts to make that data easy to read and share with stakeholders or team members, formatting the graphics generally or specifically, depending on the person’s need.

As noted, alerts can be created to let team members know when the action plan tasks are near due. Alerts can also be set up so the team leader is aware of those impending due dates or if a task is overdue, which can help them reallocate resources or do other things to get the project back on track.

What Other Project Management Templates Can Help with Your Action Plan?

The action plan lays out the course you’ll take to achieve your project goals. Our free project management templates help you start to organize the sequence of steps to get you there. Our site features dozens of free Excel and Word templates you can download, many of which can help you create a better action plan. Here are some of our free templates:

Action Items Template

This free action items template is ideal to zoom into the tasks that make up your action plan. It’s a simple document that lets teams track their work.

Project Plan Template

Action plans are a great way to manage work. However, if you need to manage projects, our free project plan template is a great starting point to document all the different aspects of a project.

Gantt Chart Template

Gantt charts are the most popular project management tool because they turn plans into dynamic project schedules. Use our free Gantt chart template to create a visual timeline for your action plan.

Action Plans Tutorial Video

For more information on how to create and manage an action plan, watch the video below. Jennifer Bridges, PMP, gives you a number of crucial tips that can help you get the most out of your action plan template.

Related Content

• How to Write an Action Plan (Example Included)
• Project Planning Guide
• What Is an Implementation Plan & How Do I Create One? (Example Included)
• How to Plan an Event: Event Planning Steps, Tips & Checklist
• What Is Aggregate Planning? Strategies & Tips
• Operational Planning: How to Make an Operations Plan
• How to Create a Project Execution Plan (PEP) – Free Template Included
• The Best Way to Make a Work Plan

If you’re looking to take your action plan template to the next level, look no further than ProjectManager, a cloud-based project management software that has all the planning features you need to create and execute your action plans. From a real-time dashboard to online Gantt charts and dynamic kanban boards, our software supersizes your project management. Try it free with this free 30-day trial.

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Top 10 Sales Action Plan Templates with Samples and Examples

Deepika Dhaka

Black Friday is around the corner, the busiest shopping festival that gets its name from the fact that it turns retailer’s accounts from being “in the red” to being back “in the black.” Marking the start of the Christmas shopping season, most consumers have started planning and creating their list of purchases for Thanksgiving 2022.

As a business owner, however, are you prepared to capture their attention and fulfill demand? If not, begin now, or you might lose business to your competitors. Planning for Black Friday Sales is the key to standing out in a large crowd of retail businesses. Think about it! Every store, whether brick-and-mortar or e-commerce, is already coming up with promotional activities. Customers are busy searching for these. How do you catch their attention?

You can turn this Black Friday sale into significant profits for your business with the creation of a Sales Action Plan to help you prepare and roll out some effective sales tactics. And yes! Don’t let creating your Black Friday Sales plan frustrate you. It’s easier than you think to brand yourself as a class apart. All you need is a definitive Sales Action Plan that helps your business draw in the crowds and have cash registers ringing.

Sales Action Plan Templates

Before, we tour the PPT Templates, are you looking for a comprehensive module to train your sales team and improve their performance? Access our Sales Training Curriculum with content-ready, well-researched slides that will make your training program a terrific success!

Click Here to Download our Comprehensive Curriculum for Sales Training

SlideTeam presents the most popular Sales Action Plan Templates that global marketing leaders have found indispensable. The Black Friday Sale is just one instance of the application of these PowerPoint Templates, you can use these content-ready samples for all sales campaigns of the year.

Let’s explore these customizable templates!

Template 1: Sales Action Plan PowerPoint Presentation

Boost your top-line revenue growth and increase profitability with this Sales Action Plan Template, which is packed with content related to components, steps, and types of sales strategies. It will educate you on the benefits of sales strategies and the costs involved in the implementation. This PowerPoint Presentation also includes a strategic action timeline and guides on digital tools for enhancing the effectiveness of your sales strategies. Here you will also find slides to display statistics related to sales and a dashboard for your busy CEO. Grab it today if you are looking for a consolidated PPT Presentation on Sales Action Plan!

Download this template

Template 2: Yearly Sales Action Plan Template

This one-pager PowerPoint Template will help you hone in on tactics that will define how you can reach your set objectives. With this consolidated layout, you can talk about key sales channels, including online, wholesale, and in-store channels. Present your revenue targets, target customers, and budget allocation with this content-ready PowerPoint Template. At the top of the slide, you can mention your sales goals and the plan year, along with its budget. Display the products and services you offer to your customers along with the budgeted sales and the devised distribution strategy. You can download this pre-developed sales planning one-pager PPT Template instead of wasting time writing any presentation from scratch.

Template 3 : One-Pager Sales Action Plan Sheet

Are you struggling to develop a sales plan that can enrich and empower your business? This sales action plan template is the easiest and most graceful way to lay out your objectives, strategies, and tactics to optimize your sales channels. The strength of this one-page sales plan is that all your team members can understand it. It can help you identify potential obstacles and roadblocks so that you can come up with ways to overcome challenges. It includes six key parameters that will help you understand and study your sales channels. These are products and services, budgeted cost categories, projected sales, distribution strategies, proposed deadlines, and KPIs.  Download it today!

Template 4 : Yearly Strategic Sales Action Plan Template

Peppered with eye-catching graphics, this Bi-Fold Yearly Strategic Sales Action Plan Template is a remarkable visual communication and promotion tool to bring attention to your business offerings. Use it to devise a successful sales campaign that speaks volumes about your products and grabs consumer interest. With plenty of industry-specific customizable shapes, visuals, graphics, and many more, this A4-size bi-fold design will help you create strategies and improve your customer engagement. Grab it today!

Template 5: 30-60-90 Day Sales Action Plan Template

Sales managers and new sales representatives will benefit from this stunning 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan because it documents the progress, challenges, and victories you record as you do business, day in and day out. You can use this PPT Template to ensure members of the sales team are growing in their roles and to identify any need for additional training or guidance. With this PPT Template documenting goals and accomplishments, it becomes easier to carry out the sales performance review process. Managers and their team members can see details of their work that they might have otherwise forgotten over time. Get it now!

Template 6: Sales Action Plan Steps Template

Presenting a six-step Sales Action Plan Template for an easy understanding of the concept and providing directions to the entire team. The first step is defining the sales objective, evaluating the current situation, listing barriers to success, assessing strengths and assets, creating a sales call strategy, and outlining an action plan. This complete and comprehensive process is presented here in a foolproof manner. Download it today to get started!

Template 7: Sales Action Plan with Brand Development and Advertisement

Use this Sales Action Plan Template to create a strong brand presence and reach the maximum target audience. This PPT Slide highlights vital elements of developing a brand. These elements focus on identifying top customers, advertising, increasing networks, and updating and developing a plan. It also offers suggestions on how to identify prospects and create a personalized approach plan. This presentation template also includes appealing icons to help you recall all these stages when needed. Download it now!

Template 8: 10-steps to Develop an Effective Sales Action Plan

Deploy this 10-step sales action plan template to give your employees direction and purpose. It will ensure that your staff have everything they need to achieve their goals when it comes to sales quotas and prospecting. The more detailed your action plan is, the less likely it is that your team will end up confused and struggling to make decisions for themselves. Using this foolproof plan, then, becomes a necessity. This PPT Slide entails activities that are a must-have for any sales plan. Grab it now!

Template 9: Sales and Marketing Action Plan Sample

Are you looking for a well-structured and easy-to-use sample to display your sales and marketing action plan? This PPT layout is an ideal pick to chart your online advertising and market research action plan. Use this template to track performance and make informed decisions for future sales planning, as it offers you the option of adding sub-categories. This table will help everyone stay on the same page and suggest necessary changes to bridge the gap between potential and performance. Download it now to speed up the process!

Template 10: Sales Action Plan T emplate for Online and Offline Channels

Increase your sales with the help of this strategic sales action plan for online and offline channels. It includes a comprehensive layout to tabulate the products and services to offer and the budgeted costs of in-store, online and wholesale channels. It will help you make informed calls regarding who you want to sell to, what your revenue goals are, and how you’re going to structure and prime your teams for success. Download it today to futureproof your business!

SALES SPELL SUCCESS

A sales action plan is the easiest way to draft your objectives, strategies, and tactics in a way that your team can understand and work effectively to achieve success. It helps you identify likely obstacles and roadblocks so that you can come up with ways to bridge the gaps and overcome challenges.

Now you are aware of how to create a compelling and practical sales action plan, it’s time to put your knowledge into action by downloading these powerful PPT Templates.

FAQs on Sales Action Plan

What is a sales action plan.

A sales action plan highlights your tactics to achieve your sales goals, focusing on transactions and relationships that you can develop with customers. It gives information about who you want to sell to, what your revenue goals are, and how you’re going to prepare an effective team to achieve success. An effective sales plan should communicate your sales objectives and goals and outline the roles and responsibilities of the team. It should also be able to deliver strategic direction to your sales team.

What are the steps of preparing a sales action plan?

The ten crucial steps of preparing an effective sales plan are:

• Identify yourself to customers; what do you stand for, and what do you offer
• Identify prospects; who will or should buy from you and why? Be clear on this
• Identify team members
• Create an approach plan
• Use the power of advertisements well
• Invest in brand Development
• Increase Network
• Take Feedback
• Update and develop Plan
• Track Performance

Why having a Sales Action Plan is important?

A Sales Action Plan helps you give your sales team the guidance that they need to make smart business decisions. With a Sales Action Plan, you support your sales team members by addressing issues that are within your direct control, such as a lack of guidance and direction. Once you are in the game, improved results are a given.

A sales plan includes a strategy that works for your representatives and ensures that they have everything they need to follow to achieve the targets that are handed out. With a robust sales plan in hand, you’ll find that the meetings, demos, and closed deals will be natural results that will help enter the success cycle; most importantly, you will be able to stay there as well.

Related posts:

• How To Draft A Yearly Sale Plan With Sample Templates To Boost Your Annual Sales! [Free PDF Attached]
• Top 10 Sales Strategy Plan Templates with Samples and Examples
• Top 10 Sales Growth Plan Templates with Samples and Examples 
• How to Design the Perfect Service Launch Presentation [Custom Launch Deck Included]

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