As the last few business days of the year approaches, many businesses (including Intelliverse) are planning budgets, goals, and strategies for 2021. Before you jump right into your 2021 Sales Planning, it’s important to look back at 2020 metrics so you can put together a realistic plan for the upcoming year.

Analyze current year sales & marketing results

  • Have you gathered the key data that quantify your 2020 results?
    • Sales by Month
    • Sales by Lead Source (online marketing, events, referrals, etc.)
    • # of Leads by Month and Source
    • # of active salespeople per month
    • Total Cost spent on each Lead Source
    • Budgeted / Expected Sales by Month
  • With this data, you can calculate the essential metrics that show which strategies worked and which didn’t:
    • Actual vs. Budget Sales by Month and Annually. Did you miss, meet, or exceed your plan?
    • Which Lead Sources brought in the most sales?
    • Which Lead Sources have the strongest ROI? (ROI = Total Rev brought in by the Source / Total Cost spend on the Source)
    • What are the average sales per salesperson?

Develop your 2021 sales plan

  • Now you are ready to start asking questions and preparing for next year:
    • Does my 2021 business plan need to be on-par with or more aggressive than the plan for 2020?
    • What sales strategies and tools have helped improve results for the current year?
    • What changes and new strategies will I implement to ensure success in the new year?
    • Does my sales quota for 2021 line up with the actual sales per salesperson in 2020?
  • What new tools can I deploy to help achieve my 2021 goals?
    • Are you using any Sales 2.0 techniques?
    • Have you deployed Marketing Automation to increase the # of leads in your team?
    • If so, have you deployed Sales Automation to increase the activity of your team?
    • Is your sales team using social media to connect with decision-makers?