Sales Plan: How to Create a 5-Step Strategy to Achieve Sales Targets?

Are your sales a constant rollercoaster? 

One month is a feast, the next a deprivation. 

This unpredictable pattern is tiring and makes planning ahead tough.

The problem isn’t your product or your drive. It’s that you don’t have a strategy. 

This blog will show you how to shift from random, stressful selling to a well-thought-out, consistent system that helps your MSME grow with a strategic sales plan.

Let’s begin.

What is a Sales Plan & Why You Absolutely Need One?

A sales plan is the formal, documented strategy that transforms your sales efforts from hopeful guesses into a disciplined, predictable process for generating revenue. 

It’s the detailed roadmap that tells your team exactly where you’re going and how to get there.

Essentially, a well-crafted sales plan provides focus and alignment. 

This highlights the importance of a sales plan for MSMEs looking for sustainable growth.

Key Benefits of Sales Plan

As a business coach, I’ve seen that many times, either sales totally depend on the business owner, or the business runs aggressively on sales only when sales numbers go down.

This “random” approach leads to missed opportunities and revenue that’s all over the map. 

Let’s learn about the key benefits of creating a sales plan.

1. Clear Direction 

A sales plan provides a roadmap, clarifying your target market and setting specific goals.

2. Better Forecasting & Budgeting 

When your plan is based on data, your ability to predict future sales improves dramatically.

3. A Motivated & Accountable Team 

The sales plan sets clear expectations and key performance indicators (KPIs), helping your team to know exactly what they need to do to succeed.

cA clear plan is the first step to scaling. This is the ‘what’.  Our MSME business coach program provides the ‘how’ to build this exact system and the accountability to make it stick.

5 Steps To Create a Sales Plan For Your Business

Step 1 – Set Your Foundation – Your Sales & Marketing Strategy

Before you can build a house, you need a solid foundation. 

The same goes for your sales plan.

Your foundation is a crystal-clear understanding of…

• who you’re selling to,
• what makes you the best choice,
• and how your sales and marketing teams will work together to win their business.

This foundational work defines your overall sales strategy.

Before you plan, know who you’re selling to and how.

• Identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). 
• Don’t settle for vague descriptions like “small businesses.” 
• Be specific about their industry, company size, goals, and pain points.
• Look at your top current customers, do your market research, and combine this information to create buyer personas. 
• Once you have a clear picture of your customer and your competition, you can decide on your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). 
• This will become the main reason a customer should pick you.

Making your sales and marketing work together.

For an MSME, sales and marketing teams pulling in different directions lead to a waste of money. 

The solution is “Smarketing.” 

Integrating them into a single revenue team is the proven and effective sales and marketing strategy for an MSME.

To do this – 

Shared Goals	Hold both teams responsible for revenue.
A Unified Source of Facts	Both need to use identical ICP and buyer personas.
A Clear Lead Transfer	Work together to define what makes a lead “ready for sales” and put it in writing in a basic Service Level Agreement (SLA).
Regular Talks	Plan routine joint meetings to exchange frontline insights and campaign updates.

The sales strategy plan that fits your company best.

A B2B sales strategy plan provides your team with an organized repeatable method to win deals. 

Here are a few popular b2b sales strategy framework options to consider.

Want to use the steps easily? Download our free, easy-to-use 5-Step Sales Plan Template to build your plan as you read at the end!

Step 2 –  Create Your Sales Action Plan – A Simple Process

Your sales action plan is where your big-picture vision gets real. 

Your guide to reaching sales goals.

Your sales action plan answers the crucial questions: Who is doing what, and by when? 

It must include specific sales tactics, clear responsibilities for each task, firm deadlines, and the resources (budget, tools) required.

Setting your goals (like a yearly sales plan).

Broad objectives such as “boost sales” don’t work, especially when creating a formal annual sales plan. 

Your goals need to be set SMART, not POOR.

POOR Goals	“Sell more this year.”
SMART Goals	“Boost yearly recurring revenue by 20% (Rs. 50 lakhs) by getting 50 new customers in the manufacturing industry by December 31, 2025.”

To make a huge yearly goal less daunting, split it into a 30-60-90 day plan.

Map out sales territories for your team.

When you’ve got more than one salesperson, you need to plan territories to avoid chaos and fights. 

This process is known as territory planning.

You can make smarter territories based on industry type, account size, customer type (new or existing), or how much they might buy. 

Effective territory planning ensures full market coverage.

Step 3 – Motivate Your Team to Succeed

Even the smartest plan falls flat without an energised team. 

Your sales compensation plan is a powerful tool to direct their energy and drive the exact behaviours your business needs to succeed.

How to reward your team for hitting their goals?

To help you decide, below are some common sales compensation plan examples and their best use cases.

Sales incentive plan examples you can use.

Cash isn’t the only motivator. Creative, low-cost non-monetary incentives can build a stronger, more loyal team culture. 

Try these elements for your sales incentive plan:

Recognition	Public praise is free and effective. Use a “Wall of Fame” or shout-outs in meetings.
Growth Opportunities	Put money into your team with top-notch training or by setting up mentoring
Experiences	Memorable team outings, travel vouchers, or extra paid time off.
Gamification	Turn selling into a game with score charts or sales face-offs.

The best sales training plans to level up skills.

A training program should cover essential skills, including…

• Product knowledge 
• Core selling techniques, 
• Soft skills like communication and active listening.

Investing in continuous sales training programs keeps your team’s skills sharp and motivated. 

Quality sales training programs are an investment, not an expense.

That’s a lot to build “STRATEGY, PROCESS, and TEAM.” The business coaching process is designed to break it into manageable actions. See how…

Step 4 –  Connect Your Plan to Your Business

A sales plan only works if it’s part of your daily operations.

Use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software with all the features you need to track the plan, and a Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process to help you deliver on your promises.

Use these two tools to plug your plan directly into your business.

Tool / Process	What is it?	Why It Matters for Your Sales Plan
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)	The software that holds all your customer info and tracks your sales deals.	It turns your plan from a static document into a live, daily dashboard. You connect plan data with your CRM to guide your team’s actions every day.
S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning)	A regular meeting where your sales team and your delivery (operations) team get in sync.	It stops your sales team from making promises your company can’t keep. It links your sales goals to reality.

Step 5 –  Track, Review, and Improve

Creating the plan is just the first step. 

The results will show when you create a relentless cycle of tracking, reviewing, and improving. 

Your plan must adapt to the changing market.

You can do this with a structured review schedule:

• Weekly – One-on-one pipeline checks with individual reps.
• Monthly – Team-wide performance evaluations against key metrics.
• Quarterly – Big-picture strategic assessments of the plan itself.

We track things to find and fix problems with a sales improvement plan. 

The steps are straightforward:

• Spot the KPI that’s not doing well,
• Figure out why,
• Make a specific plan to fix it, and
• Then keep an eye on things to see if your solution worked.

A continuous sales improvement plan is what separates good teams from great ones. 

For this, you need a simple dashboard.

Here are the key sales numbers every small business should watch – 

Ready to build your own sales plan? Click here to download the simple 5-Step Sales Plan Template and turn these actions into results today!

Conclusion

We’ve outlined the five-step blueprint to create a sales plan that boosts growth: establishing a solid foundation, developing an action plan, inspiring your team, linking the plan to your business, and dedicating yourself to Tracking and Improving.

Ideas hold potential, but actions yield results. 

Creating a sales plan takes time, but it’s the most valuable investment you can make in your company’s future. 

This plan does more than fill pages. It shows you the path to steady, money-making, growing success.

Now, go and make it happen.

Want more expert tips for MSME growth? Click here to read our latest articles!

FAQ