Sales Game Plan – What Is Your Sales Game Plan?

Did you know that buyers rate a whopping 65% of salespeople as average or poor?

This means that two-thirds of all salespeople are failing to impress their ideal clients and—in many cases—failing to close the deal.

What do exceptional salespeople have that the majority don’t?

A sales game plan.

It might sound obvious, but intentional planning is key to standing out from the crowd, earning the respect of your prospects, and closing more sales.

In fact, selling without a game plan is just a recipe for disaster.

If you haven’t established an organized strategy—a true sales game plan—for your approach to selling, then you’re missing out on huge profits.

But don’t worry—in this video and article, I’m going to provide you with sales advice to help you establish a sales game plan in just three easy steps.

Check it out to learn how you can stand out from that crowd of average and poor salespeople and climb to the top of your industry.

Why You Need a Sales Game Plan to Succeed

Let me tell you about James.

James has been selling for a manufacturer for years.

He has a solid book of business but knows that he should be selling at least 50% more.

For James, every day looks pretty much the same.

He gets to the office, makes a few customer calls, checks on some orders, and sits in on a few meetings.

By 11AM, customers are calling him with issues…and he spends the rest of the day solving problems.

Does this sound familiar to you?

This is what the average day looks like for most salespeople—you know, that 65% of salespeople that buyers view as average or poor.

This is how a salesperson’s day will go without a sales game plan to keep them focused on crushing their goals.

Without a crystal clear and specific sales game plan, it’s nearly impossible to have a productive selling day.

In fact, lack of a sales game plan is the very challenge that will keep most salespeople and their organizations from selling at a higher level.

It’s what keeps them from reaching their full potential.

If you still haven’t established a consistent sales day routine, it’s time for a change.

Fortunately, creating a strong sales game plan doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated.

You don’t need years of experience to start selling at a higher level.

You don’t need to read every sales book out there to learn how to be successful in sales.

You don’t even have to work harder than you do right now.

But you do have to decide on your sales game plan.

If you’re ready to break those bad habits and crush your sales goals, read on to learn how to create your sales game plan in just three easy steps.

# 1: Stop reacting in the moment.

Most salespeople fall into a rut of only reacting to their day.

It’s why James spends most of his day distracted by problem solving and time-wasters.

If you’re going to make a sales game plan work for you, you can’t let little issues pull you away from what matters most—prospecting, setting meetings, and closing sales.

Of course, we all know that things happen during the day that need to be solved.

But not every single problem has to be solved right away.

And not every single problem has to be solved by you.

The first step to creating a successful sales game plan is to schedule time in your day to handle emergencies.

Don’t handle emergencies outside of your scheduled time. Only put out little fires during that designated time.

This could be for an hour in the morning, right after lunch, or at the end of the day. Find what works for you.

While you’re at it, schedule another unmovable block of time for your prospecting activities—and don’t change it.

Prospecting is the most important thing you’ll do each day to affect what you’re earning in a few months, so make it a priority and protect that time.

#2: Know what you need to accomplish each day.

Do you know exactly what you’d like to earn this year? If so, then you probably know how much you have to sell in order to earn that.

But that’s just the start.

The next step in designing your strategic sales game plan is to calculate exactly what you need to accomplish each day in order to hit that goal.

First, figure out how many prospect meetings you need to book each week in order to hit that goal.

From there, you’ll want to figure out how many of each prospecting activity you need to perform every week in order to book that many meetings.

Break it all down into the exact number of cold calls, referral asks, client calls, networking events, and prospecting emails you need each day in order to hit your sales goal.

In the first step, you set aside an unmovable block of time every day for prospecting. This is where you figure out how to fill that time.

Once you decide on the day-to-day activities you must accomplish to meet your sales goal, make the performance of those activities the most important part of your sales day.

Knowing exactly what you have to do each day to crush your sales goals is critical to your sales game plan, so don’t skip this step.

#3: Let nothing get in the way of your sales game plan.

You’ve scheduled your day, planned for daily prospecting, and now it’s time for the hard part—sticking to your sales game plan.

Treat your newly scheduled prospecting time like an extremely important appointment.

Would you cancel an important sales meeting in order to put out fires and solve small office emergencies?

Of course not.

So why would you let those little things come before sales calls and other prospecting tasks which are the key to setting sales meetings?

Now that you have a strategy in place, let nothing get in the way of your sales game plan.

Conclusion: Crush Your Sales Goals with a Sales Game Plan

If you want to crush your sales goals, you have to start with a sales game plan.

Without a plan in place, your sales day will quickly slip away as meetings, phone calls, and small customer emergencies distract from what truly matters.

Establishing a sales game plan is the key to taking control of your day, setting more meetings, and closing more sales.

It’s what sets apart the truly great salespeople from those who are average or worse.

If you’ve never used a sales game plan in your own day-to-day work in sales, now is the time.

Start by blocking out time for solving customer emergencies and for prospecting.

No matter what happens, do not move these blocks of time. Sticking to your schedule is critical to your success as a salesperson.

Next, figure out what you have to accomplish in sales prospecting each day—including the number of cold calls, referral asks, and prospecting emails you need to make—in order to achieve your goal in today’s market.

Finally, stick to your sales game plan! This last step is easy to understand but can be hard to execute.

Remember—if you wouldn’t cancel a sales meeting for a small emergency, don’t cancel your prospecting work either.

Now you’re ready to create your sales game plan in just three easy steps. Which part of this strategy did you find most useful?

Join the conversation in the comments below, and I’ll respond to every comment I possibly can.