Well thought-out sales planning is essential for companies of a certain size. However, smaller companies and start-ups also benefit from it. Modern digital forecasting and forecasting tools make it easier than ever to realistically estimate how sales and turnover will develop. Aligning your marketing and sales efforts with this not only makes your sales more efficient. It also helps to increase sales.
In the following article, we have compiled the most important information on the topic of sales planning for you. We also explain how Jedox can take at least some of the planning work off your hands.
Why is effective sales planning important for sales success?
Sales planning helps companies to adapt their own capacities to changing demand in good time. This is important both in growth phases and in times of stagnating or even declining sales. In particular, the planning of required personnel capacities, but also that of ongoing investments, can be made more precise in this way.
For companies in the manufacturing industry in particular, it is important to plan production volumes well in advance. Excessive production quantities result in expensive warehousing or even make disposal necessary. On the other hand, quantities that are too low are associated with lost sales potential and possibly dissatisfied customers. In both scenarios, you lose money compared to optimally planned sales.
These are the different types of sales plans
A basic distinction is made between
- operational sales planning
- strategic sales planning
Operational sales planning focuses primarily on short and medium-term sales opportunities and plans. The time horizon of operational planning is typically limited to the current or, in the transition phase, the coming financial year. Strategic sales planning, on the other hand, defines long-term sales targets for the company. It usually relates to a planning period of five to 30 years.
Operational planning helps to react to short-term changes in the market. In corporate planning, it provides a basis for short and medium-term financial planning. Marketing in particular is also geared towards this planning. The results of operational planning are comparatively easy to measure.
Strategic planning, on the other hand, offers more leeway and freedom. Above all, it serves as the basis for planning long-term investments and their financing. Whether purchasing machines, research and development or long-term personnel development: planning becomes easier and the risks lower with the help of realistically planned sales.
Operational planning in particular can focus on either
- the entire company,
- markets and submarkets
- specific customer groups
- specific products / product groups
concentrate.
Strategic planning, on the other hand, is typically universal. Naturally, planning and projections of developments in the sub-segments are taken into account.
Both operational and strategic sales plans are based on past sales and turnover trends. However, marketing decisions that have already been made and forecasts of customer and market behavior are also taken into account.
Building long-term customer relationships through effective sales planning
Marketing is a significant cost factor for many companies today. This makes it all the more important to retain customers once they have been acquired. Good sales planning helps to satisfy regular customers. Capacity planning derived from sales planning is particularly important for this.
On the one hand, this applies to manufacturing companies, which use it to prevent production bottlenecks that could otherwise lead to customer dissatisfaction. On the other hand, intermediaries who optimize their warehousing and service providers who can plan their service capacities also benefit from sales planning measures.
In addition, effective sales planning helps to develop optimized marketing strategies that also appeal to existing customers.
How to create sales forecasts in Jedox and react to market changes
How does Jedox help optimize sales planning? The enterprise performance management solution Jedox supports you in creating forecasts for different business areas. Sales planning in particular plays a major role here.
First and foremost, Jedox simplifies the merging of data from a wide variety of sources. This is particularly helpful for larger companies, where the digital infrastructure has often grown over decades. The platform also places a special focus on importing Excel data records, which presumably occur in almost every company.
The system cleanses and consolidates the imported data and uses it to create a standardized model. In many cases, this works fully automatically: e.g. on the basis of the previous year's sales volumes. In such cases, Jedox automatically calculates the planned quantity of each article. The quantities can be divided over 12 months based on the distribution of the actual values and allocated in detail with regard to the quantity of the various sub-variants.
In other cases, so-called connector modules must first be configured. We at Consilix are happy to support you and your team in optimizing Jedox to meet the individual requirements of your company.
Jedox can react quickly to short-term market changes. This was important, for example, in view of the many supply chain problems and the resulting changes in market conditions in recent years. However, the prerequisite for rapid forecast adjustments is also for Jedox to receive the necessary data promptly.
This can be a challenge, especially in larger companies where data silos often form in individual departments. We will be happy to support you indeveloping the necessary processes at to optimize your communication in this regard. To do this, we set up a classic top-down structure for data analysis. We enable data collection according to the bottom-up principle.
Are you interested in implementing your sales planning with the help of Jedox or do you have any questions about us and our services? Then get in touch with us. Our team can be reached quickly and easily by phone, email and via our contact form.