The Planning Trap

Some salespeople assume that they don’t need to do systematic planning for upcoming sales opportunities. Their belief is that all they need are their relationship skills and they can smooth over any issue that comes up. However, these sales professionals are probably part of the almost 40 percent who do not meet their annual sales projections¹.

The most successful salespeople, on the other hand, know that the majority of lost deals are caused by poor strategic planning². Unfortunately, they also know that this planning takes valuable time and resources to accomplish—which are sometimes not readily available with a busy pipeline. Sales Explorer gives you the time and resources to strategically plan every one of your upcoming sales opportunities.

Sales Planning

The key in creating a proper strategic plan is to keep it quick and accurate. You want to be closing business, not reading volumes of data. Sales Explorer uses information from past, similar sales evaluations to determine the keys to success in your upcoming opportunities—giving you the accurate and actionable direction you need in a minimal amount of time.

Use Sales Explorer to:

• Identify the business issues that are most likely to be crucial
• Predict which competitors will be present in the evaluation
• Analyze the competition’s strengths, weaknesses, and probable sales strategies
• Understand the top product strengths and main product weaknesses in the eyes of the prospect
• Determine the level of difficulty you face in completing the deal
• Access advice from others who have won in similar situations
• Develop a road map to overcoming obstacles
• Identify what is needed to win the opportunity

1. Sales Benchmark Index, 2007
2. ES Research Group, 2007