Sales Plan Fundamentals for Construction Materials Manufacturing Companies
If your construction materials manufacturing business strategy is to rely on reputation and price to win work, you’re leaving business on the table and certain to face headwinds in a downturn. Consistent, quality interactions with prospects are the best way to accelerate growth and hedge against slowdowns, but many in the building materials industry, especially smaller firms, lack a systematic sales strategy. The companies that I have seen thrive proactively seek opportunities by frequently networking and always preparing for an opportunity. They’ve got a sales plan, and they’re executing it to win.
Here’s why a sales plan works and what’s needed to make it successful.
A Score-keeping Motivator
A strategic sales plan motivates salespeople by setting expectations and giving them the direction needed to identify, cultivate, and win new customers. It also establishes a culture of accountability that reliably sparks action – by keeping score.
With agreed-upon standards, such as a required number of calls per day, prospect meetings per week, networking event attendance, and proposals per month, salespeople have committed to specific actions. Tracking them shows the score (who’s performing and who isn’t!). Nothing like friendly competition to encourage completing the sales plan’s required efforts.
Core Sales Plan Elements
Prospect Identity
At the core of any sales plan is the ideal prospect. Flesh out the identity of your ideal prospects by considering the following:
- Target markets
- Customer type
- Client locations
- Client size and spend ratings
- Minimum order acceptable
Standards Setting
Next, explore and build consensus on sales operations standards:
- Leads generated
- Meetings or engagements per week
- Sales calls per day
- Quotes or bids per week
- Wins per week in units and $
Success Metrics
Finally, ensure you can measure success by tracking the following:
- Proposals from leads
- Current stage of existing proposals
- Bids or Quotes won
- Win size and $
- Profit margin
- Customer referrals
Your Sales Plan’s Success Plan
A sales plan is only as good as the effort put into executing it. Ensure the plan’s work is getting done.
For example, once a week, hold a regular sales meeting to review progress from the previous week. This ensures that sales efforts stay top of mind and that accountability stays front and center. Cover the types of opportunities sales are generating, who they’re with, and what the next steps are. This allows everyone to chime in and participate. You never know who has the connection or the insight that can close a deal.
It’s imperative, too, to understand how much business you need to win to cover your overhead and achieve profit goals. These data points feed calculations that deliver exactly the sales performance required from your team, down to the number of sales calls needed each month.
Market forces, sales talent, technology, and many other factors influence sales strategies, but they’re all anchored with the same fundamentals. Put them in place, and your building materials business can mount a proactive, focused, and successful sales effort that accelerates the growth of your company.
Ready to energize sales in your construction materials manufacturing company? Connect with Fahrenheit Advisors Sales Advisory team today.
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About the Author
Will Hall is a results-driven executive with 20+ years of progressive leadership experience in Business Development, Sales/Marketing, and Consulting. Throughout his tenure, he has focused on growth initiatives followed by tactical execution in early to mid-stage manufacturing companies. Will’s background includes managing categories with Big Box retailers, building international markets, launching new products and new brands as well as building sales processes and commercial teams. As a Managing Director at Fahrenheit, Will leads sales transformation and market strategy growth initiatives for leading clients. He comes to Fahrenheit with a broad range of expertise in B2B and B2C Strategy, Business Development, Go-to-market Strategy & Execution, and more. Connect with him on LinkedIn.