What AI Sales Consultants Are Really Selling – Will AI Tools Replace Human Sales Reps?

AI SALES CONSULTANt - Top Question FRom Google

What Is The Job of an AI Sales Consultant?

An AI sales consultant is a professional who helps businesses implement artificial intelligence technologies to improve their sales processes and outcomes. They analyze your company’s existing sales processes to identify areas where AI can add value and recommend specific AI tools you can work with. In some cases, AI sales consultants also train sales teams on how to work effectively with AI tools.

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Introduction: What AI Sales Consultants are Really Selling

Over the past few years, AI technology has been one of the hottest topics worldwide. You must be familiar with the common, understandable worry that AI tools will replace humans at their jobs. For many salespeople, it is becoming clearer that AI tools have come to stay in sales, with many companies hiring AI sales consultants to improve their sales strategies. The real question is whether human reps are still relevant. Let’s start by examining how AI is currently being used in sales.

The Current Role of AI in Sales

Generating Leads and Prospecting

Sales teams now use AI tools to find and connect with potential customers. These tools scan through data like patterns in customer behavior, company information, and market trends to identify prospects who are most likely to buy your product or service.

Many AI sales consultant services now focus on helping businesses set up these lead generation systems. The AI can automatically research companies, find contact information, and even predict which leads are ready to make a purchase. Tools like HubSpot’s Breeze Prospecting Agent and Seamless.AI use machine learning to validate contact information in real-time. This means sales teams always have accurate data to work with.

AI prospecting and lead generation tools work around the clock searching for new leads, updating contact information, and more based on their likelihood to convert. This means sales teams clock in with fresh, qualified leads ready for outreach. AI also helps sales teams personalize their strategy for each prospect. An AI sales strategy can analyze a prospect’s social media activity, company news, and industry trends to suggest conversation starters and relevant talking points. This level of research would take human reps hours to complete manually, but AI does it in seconds.

Sales Forecasting & Analytics

AI tools have made sales forecasting more accurate and reliable. AI systems can analyze previous sales data, seasonal patterns, market conditions, and various other factors to predict future sales performance with remarkable precision.

These forecasting tools help sales managers make better decisions about resource allocation, hiring, and goal setting. Sales teams can now use AI to understand which deals are most likely to close and when they’ll close, rather than relying on gut feelings.

AI analytics sales tools can also give insight into sales performance. Sales managers can quickly identify which reps are struggling, which products are selling well, and which markets offer the best opportunities.

Conversational AI and Customer Interaction

Chatbots and virtual assistants are now advanced enough to interact with many customers without human involvement. These AI systems can answer common questions, qualify leads, schedule meetings, and even guide prospects through the early stages of the sales process.

These AI tools understand context and can maintain natural conversations with prospects to a reasonable degree. They can remember previous interactions and escalate issues to human reps when necessary.

Voice AI is also becoming more common in sales. Some AI systems can make and receive phone calls, hold initial qualifying conversations, and even set appointments. These tools sound remarkably human and can handle multiple conversations simultaneously.

Account Management & Relationship Building

AI is also being used to help sales reps manage their existing customer relationships more effectively. AI account management tools can analyze customer usage patterns to identify opportunities for upselling or cross-selling. They can suggest the best times to approach customers about additional products or services, and even recommend talking points based on the customer’s current situation. The systems also predict which accounts might be at risk of churning. This allows sales reps to proactively address issues before they become serious problems.

For large enterprise accounts, AI can help sales reps stay on top of long buyer journeys involving multiple stakeholders to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Automating Administrative Tasks

One of the most immediate benefits of AI in sales is its ability to handle time-consuming administrative work. AI can automatically update customer records, log call notes, send follow-up emails, and generate reports. This frees up sales reps to spend more time actually selling.

AI systems can also listen to sales calls and automatically extract key information, action items, and next steps. They can update CRM systems in real-time and even suggest follow-up activities based on what happened during the conversation. AI can draft personalized emails based on the prospect’s profile, previous interactions, and current stage in the sales process.

Scheduling is another area where AI excels. Instead of the back-and-forth emails trying to find a meeting time, AI assistants can access calendars, suggest times, and automatically book meetings. Some systems can even reschedule meetings automatically when conflicts arise.

Human Sales Reps’ Strengths

Even as AI tools help improve efficiency and reduce manual labor in sales, human reps still have several irreplaceable strengths.

Emotional Intelligence and Relationship Building

The human touch will always be important in sales. People often buy from people they trust and connect with, and that requires the human element. Human sales reps excel at reading emotions and building genuine relationships with customers. They can pick up on subtle cues during conversations that AI might miss. They can sense when a prospect is hesitant, excited, or confused, and adjust their approach accordingly.

Customers want to feel confident that they have a real person they can rely on when issues arise or when they need support. Human reps can share experiences, relate to challenges, and build trust. These relationships often lead to repeat business, referrals, and long-term customer loyalty.

Problem-Solving and Consultative Selling

Human sales reps can think outside the box and adapt their approach based on specific customer needs. Consultative selling involves identifying the customer’s pain points and offering solutions. This requires deep industry knowledge, critical thinking skills, and the ability to see connections that might not be obvious to AI systems.

Human reps can also handle unexpected situations and objections that fall outside the scope of programmed responses. They can think on their feet, ask probing questions, and guide conversations in new directions based on what they learn during the interaction.

Negotiation and Persuasion

Negotiation requires human judgment, intuition, and the ability to read between the lines. While AI can provide data and suggest strategies, the actual negotiation process often takes human finesse.

Experienced sales reps understand when to be firm and when to be flexible. They can recognize win-win opportunities and can propose creative deal structures that satisfy both parties. Human reps can tell stories, create emotional connections, and present information in ways that resonate with individual prospects.

The ability to read the room during negotiations and adjust tactics in real-time is uniquely human. Sales reps can sense when to push harder, when to back off, and when to try a completely different approach.

Objection Handling and Difficult Conversations

Difficult conversations and objections during sales require empathy and being able to remain calm under pressure, all of which only humans can provide. Human sales reps can validate customers’ concerns and address objections in ways that feel natural and genuine.

When conversations become emotional or heated, human reps can de-escalate situations, show empathy, and work toward resolution. They can apologize when appropriate, take responsibility for mistakes, and rebuild trust when relationships are strained. These are situations AI might not fully grasp.

Future Outlook: AI vs Human

The future of sales isn’t about AI replacing humans, but rather about AI and humans working together more effectively. The most successful sales organizations are likely to be those that combine the efficiency and data processing power of AI with the emotional intelligence and skills of human reps.

The benefits of an AI sales consultant become clear when you see how AI tools improve sales outcomes by handling the routine, repetitive tasks. A report found that companies that use AI tools record up to 50% revenue growth compared to their peers. AI sales consulting will continue to grow as businesses seek to optimize this human-AI collaboration.

ACTIONABLE TIP

Actionable Tip: Use AI to Enhance Call Preparation

Rather than relying on AI for direct outreach or conversation, apply it to the pre-call research phase. Tools like Clay or Humantic AI can compile relevant prospect data—including company updates, recent activity, and communication preferences—within seconds.

This allows sales reps to approach each call with deeper context and more tailored messaging, improving engagement without increasing manual effort. It’s a practical example of how AI can streamline preparation while keeping the human element front and center.

Best B2B Sales Blog | International Recognition for Klozers

by Iain Swanston

Best B2B Sales Blog

Edinburgh based, Business 2 Business Sales Training specialists Klozers have been recognized as one of only 12 companies worldwide for their Sales Blog in the Top Sales Awards.

Klozers blog was a Finalist in the Top Company Sales & Marketing Company Blog, and the only UK company represented in this category of the prestigious sales industry awards.

Created in January 2020 Klozers wanted to use the blog to demonstrate best practice in Inbound & Outbound selling.

Founder Iain Swanston explained:

“When the lockdowns started in March 2020 we lost all of our order book, as we were like every other traditional training company in that our training was all delivered face to face. We regrouped and introduced online learning, but we also doubled down on our blog, as we knew it could help with lead generation.”

With an average Google page rank of 16.4 the blog has over 120 articles listed on page 1 of Google.

These articles have helped the company grow through the lockdown period, with new inquiries generated from the blog accounting for over 30% of revenue in 2021.

The blog has helped raise brand awareness for Klozers abroad, helping them secure new clients in the US, Eastern Europe and the Far East.

Klozers founder, Iain Swanston was delighted with the award and commented:

“As a company we have put a lot of effort into both the strategy, and the blog content itself, so it’s great to see the results in terms of real sales orders and the recognition from the Top Sales Awards body. As the only UK company in the Finals for this category we had stiff competition from some of the US and worlds best sales and marketing experts, so I’m really proud of what our team has achieved.”

As a company Klozers works with small to mid-market organisations to help them compete with the giants and large brands in their industry and win.

Klozers has a full compliment of B2B sales training and coaching courses available online and specialises in helping organisations maximise their Inbound and Outbound sales capabilities.

Fractional Sales Management – what is it & why you should care

by Iain Swanston

Why Sales Training Fails

by Iain Swanston

Sales training

Why Sales Training Fails

Not because the content is wrong. Because of what happens in the room, what happens in the ninety days after it, and the fact that nothing ever expires.

By Iain Swanston, Founder, Klozers

Updated 18 August 2026

7 minute read

In short

Sales training fails for three reasons, and none of them is the content. The day is built to be watched rather than worked, so nothing is produced. Nothing reinforces it afterwards, so it is forgotten within weeks. And nothing ever expires, so nobody has to maintain it. Fix all three and training holds. Fix one and it does not.

Key takeaways

Forgetting is not a motivation problem. It is how memory works, and it has been measured since 1885.
A day spent watching slides leaves nothing behind. A day spent building a plan leaves a plan.
People defend what they wrote themselves. Ownership comes from authorship, not from agreement.
Reinforcement is a manager’s job, and managers need their own plan to do it.
A certificate that never expires only records attendance. If nothing lapses, nothing has to be maintained.

Why does sales training fail?

Ask most sales leaders and you get an answer about the provider. The trainer was too generic, the content was theory, the team did not engage.

Sometimes that is true. Usually it is not, and you can tell because the same result occurs with a different provider two years later. When the result is the same across different suppliers, the supplier is not the cause.

Training does not fail on the day. It fails in the ninety days after it.

What fails is the design around the day. Three things go wrong, in sequence, and each one makes the next inevitable.

What does the research actually say about forgetting?

You will see a figure quoted everywhere that 84% of sales training is forgotten within 90 days. That number comes from vendor research rather than an independent study, and it is repeated far more often than it is checked.

The underlying science is much older and much better established. Hermann Ebbinghaus measured memory decay in 1885, and later research has confirmed the pattern he found. A 2015 replication published in PLOS ONE by Murre and Dros at the University of Amsterdam reproduced his curve: recall fell to 33.7% after one day, 27.8% after two days, and 21.1% after 31 days.

Roughly a fifth left after a month, without reinforcement. That is not a comment on your team. It is a property of human memory, and any training design that ignores it is designed to fail.

Which means the question is not how to teach better. It is what happens on days two through ninety.

The first failure: the day is built to be watched, not worked

Most sales training is a presentation. A trainer works through a deck, the room listens, there is a role play after lunch, and everyone leaves with a folder of materials.

Nothing has been produced. The participants have received something rather than made something, and something you are given is easier to set aside than something you made.

The alternative is not a better presentation. It is not using one at all.

At Klozers there are no slides. The learning is in a detailed workbook, so the time in the room can be spent working, and the day is built around a 90 Day Action Plan that each participant completes during the day. After each topic, they write what they are going to do about it on their own live accounts. At the end of the day they do not have notes on what a trainer said. They have a plan they wrote themselves, about deals they own.

That distinction matters more than anything else in the day, and it is not really about training at all. It is about authorship. People argue with a plan they were given and defend a plan they wrote. When people are busy and something has to be dropped, the plan that survives is the one with their own name on it.

How most training days run	How a Klozers day runs
A deck presented to the room	No slides. A workbook carries the learning
A generic case study	The team’s own live opportunities
Participants receive material	Participants produce a plan
Actions written by the trainer	Actions written by the seller
Ends when the room empties	Ends with something the manager can inspect

One and two day sales workshops

Bespoke, measured, and built to last.

Every workshop is built from a blank page around your team’s own live deals. No slides. Every topic carries a KPI you agree up front, then track and prove afterwards.

Pre and post assessment, so you see the change

Worked on your real deals, in the room

Manager Embed Plan and calls at 30, 60 and 90 days

Delivered in person by a practitioner, not a presenter

Trusted by teams at Microsoft, Panasonic, TikTok, Bizerba, Marangoni and Lathams.

The second failure: nothing embeds it afterwards

A plan written on the day is still only a plan. What decides whether it survives is whether anybody asks about it.

In most organisations nobody does. The manager was not in the room, does not know what was agreed, and has a forecast to worry about. Three weeks later the plan is filed away and the training is remembered as a pleasant day.

So the manager needs their own plan. Klozers issues a Manager Embed Plan alongside the training, setting out exactly how to reinforce what was agreed, with follow-up calls at 30, 60 and 90 days.

The mechanism that matters is small and specific. The manager holds the salesperson to the plan the salesperson wrote. Not to a course, not to the trainer’s framework, not to the manager’s own preference. To their own words, in their own handwriting, about their own accounts.

That changes the conversation entirely. There is nothing to disagree about. Nobody argues that the standard is unfair, because they set it. The only question left is whether it happened, which is a far easier conversation and a far more useful one.

The third failure: nothing expires

Almost every sales training certificate is issued on the last day of the course. It records that a person attended. It never expires, so it never has to be maintained, and it tells you nothing about how that person will run a deal in March.

Klozers issues two, and the first one is designed to lapse.

Candidate is awarded on day two. It confirms the participant completed the programme and built their plan to full depth. It expires at day 90. If nothing changes in those ninety days it simply lapses, and there is nothing to show for the investment.

Certified is awarded at day 90, on evidence. Ten execution requirements, evidenced on live accounts as the work happened, assessed at 30, 60 and 90 days and signed off by the participant’s own manager. It is valid twelve months and renewed on evidence, not by attending something else.

Two things about that are unusual enough to be worth stating plainly.

Your manager assesses. We issue. Klozers designs the standard and awards the certification, but never marks a requirement as evidenced. The person with the visibility is the person who signs, which means we cannot mark our own work.

It expires on purpose. Behaviour deteriorates under pressure. That is the entire reason the programme exists, so a certification that never expired would contradict its own argument.

"Not a theoretical course. I left with a clear plan for my own accounts."

Workshop delegate

When is training not the answer at all?

Sometimes the honest answer is that no training design will fix it.

If every seller interprets “qualified” differently, if every manager coaches to personal preference, if the forecast is a collection of opinions, then you do not have a skills gap. You have no agreed definition of how a deal should be run, and training a team to be better at an undefined job will not help.

That is a governance problem, and the fix is a written standard your managers can inspect against. We cover how operating standards replace training cycles separately, because it is a different decision with a different owner: it needs your CRO or VP of Sales, not your L&D team.

The order matters. Diagnose first, then embed, then govern. Imposing a standard on a team that has never been shown what good looks like produces box-ticking rather than change.

How do you tell whether a provider has solved this?

Four questions, and you can ask them on a first call.

What will my team physically hold at the end of the day? If the answer is a workbook and a set of slides, nothing was produced.
Who wrote the actions? If the trainer wrote them, ownership never transferred.
What does my manager get? If the answer is a summary email, reinforcement is not part of the design.
What happens at day 90 if nothing changed? If the answer is nothing, then there is no consequence, and no consequence means no change.

The last question is the one that shows the difference between providers. A design where nothing lapses is a design where nobody has to do anything.

If you want to see what a diagnostic looks like before any of this, read how sales simulation solves the retention problem, or browse all sales training courses to see how each part connects.

Do this on Monday

Audit your last training day in ten minutes.

You do not need a provider to find out whether your last investment held. You need four questions and the person who attended.

Ask someone who went on the last training day to show you what they left with. Not describe it. Show you.
Ask what they committed to doing differently, and whether it is written down anywhere.
Ask their manager when they last discussed it. If the answer is the week after, the reinforcement stopped there.
Ask what would have happened if nothing had changed. If the answer is nothing, you now know why it did not.

Common questions about why sales training fails

Is sales training worth it at all?

Yes, when it is designed to hold up once people are busy again. Training improves capability, and capability is necessary. What it does not do on its own is control execution, which is why the design around the day matters more than the day itself.

How long does sales training last before it is forgotten?

Without reinforcement, most of it is gone within a month. The 2015 PLOS ONE replication of Ebbinghaus put recall at around a fifth after 31 days. That is the default, not a worst case.

Whose job is reinforcement?

The line manager’s. They are the only person with enough contact to notice a change in behaviour within weeks rather than at the end of a quarter. But they need their own plan and their own checkpoints, or reinforcement becomes something they intend to do.

Why should a sales certification expire?

Because behaviour deteriorates under pressure, which is the reason the training happened. A certification that never expires records attendance. One that lapses at 90 days unless it is evidenced records behaviour, and has to be maintained to stay true.

We have tried training twice and it did not stick. What do we do differently?

Start by finding out what is actually breaking rather than buying more content. A simulation or a structured deal review will tell you whether the gap is skill, process or standards, and those have very different answers.

10 Essential Benefits of Teamwork that Drive Growth

by Iain Swanston

How to Build an Internal Sales Academy

by Iain Swanston

Internal sales academy

How to Build an Internal Sales Academy

Start with useful resources and the practices that already work. Build a way to develop your own salespeople, then improve it through application and review.

By Iain Swanston, Founder, Klozers

Updated 15 October 2026

6 minute read

What is an internal sales academy?

An internal sales academy is an organisation’s own arrangement for developing selling capability through resources, training, coaching and workplace application. It can begin with a small collection of useful material. The essential work is identifying what people need, capturing effective internal practice, helping participants apply it and reviewing progress.

Key takeaways

A building or platform is not required to begin.
Start with a real development need and existing effective practice.
Developing people can reduce dependence on recruitment; compare actual costs.
Managers support application, not just completion.

What is an internal sales academy?

An internal sales academy is an organisation’s own arrangement for developing selling capability. It connects relevant resources, effective internal practice, training, coaching and workplace application. It can support new starters, experienced salespeople and future managers without requiring every person to follow the same learning path.

A dedicated training building is one possible setting. An online academy is another. Neither defines whether the academy is useful. A small team can begin with six books and a bookshelf, provided someone selects relevant material, helps people apply it and reviews what changes. The academy can become more structured as the organisation learns what its people need.

Start somewhere useful. The first version can improve through review.

“You can start an academy with six books and a bookshelf. You need to start somewhere and it might not be perfect.”

Iain Swanston, Klozers

Where should you start when building a sales academy?

Start with a commercial requirement and the practices that already work inside your organisation. Ask where salespeople need help, which behaviours matter and what your strongest performers do successfully. Do not begin by buying a platform and then looking for content to fill it.

Klozers uses best-practice-first programme design. We speak to effective performers and sales leaders before designing the development. Their real conversations, customer situations and successful practices provide the foundation. Additional skills and frameworks address genuine gaps rather than replacing an approach that already works.

Begin with one development priority. For example, if discovery conversations are weak, collect examples of effective discovery, agree what participants should be able to do, practise the behaviour and review its use on live opportunities. Expand when that first area is useful. This is practitioner guidance, not a measured claim that one starting sequence suits every organisation.

Does an academy need an online learning platform?

An academy needs accessible resources and a way to support development. A platform can help organise those resources, but it is not a prerequisite for beginning. Existing shared folders, a physical bookshelf and regular team sessions may provide a sufficient starting arrangement.

Physical training settings and online academies are different ways to provide access. The important design questions remain the same: what should people learn, where will they apply it, who supports them and how will progress be reviewed? Moving content online does not answer those questions automatically.

Choose technology when a clear requirement justifies it. A larger organisation may need access controls, learning records or resources across several locations. A small team may need a reliable place to find a guide and a manager who reviews its application. Avoid introducing a platform that creates administration without improving access or development.

Why develop your own salespeople rather than rely on recruitment?

Developing existing people can reduce dependence on external recruitment and preserve knowledge of your customers, products and ways of working. It gives the organisation a repeatable way to improve capability instead of treating every skills gap as a vacancy.

The cost argument needs a real comparison. Recruitment can involve fees, management time, vacancy costs, induction and time before a new salesperson becomes effective. Internal development has costs too: participant time, manager support, resources and training. Compare these costs over the same period and against the same capability requirement.

The sustainability argument is organisational. Effective practices can be captured and taught, rather than remaining with a few individuals. Internal development can also support succession and progression. These are potential benefits, not guarantees of retention or lower costs. Hiring remains appropriate where the organisation lacks a capability it cannot develop in the required time. The academy makes development a deliberate option alongside recruitment.

Start Small and Build Capability

Build development around how your team sells

Start with your organisation’s effective practices and the capability gaps that matter. We can help you identify the development requirement.

What should an internal sales academy contain?

Include resources and activities that help people perform their roles. That may mean a small set of books, internal guides, worked examples, training sessions and coaching. The purpose is not to offer the largest possible catalogue. It is to make useful knowledge accessible and help participants use it.

Capture company-specific practice: how effective sellers prepare, conduct discovery, explain value, handle objections and agree next steps. Use genuine examples with appropriate permission and confidentiality controls. Explain the circumstances in which a practice works so that participants can judge when it applies.

Learning paths should reflect role requirements. A new salesperson may need fundamentals in a clear order. An experienced account manager may need development in account growth or complex conversations. A future manager needs support in coaching and performance management. Review resources regularly so that outdated material does not become the organisation’s default instruction.

How should managers support academy learning?

Managers connect learning to the situations salespeople face after a session. They should know what behaviour is being developed, where it should be applied and what evidence would show application. General encouragement is less useful than a review of a specific conversation or opportunity.

The Klozers Manager Embed Plan gives managers a structure for reinforcing development. The principle for an academy is to make support explicit: agree the application, review progress and help the salesperson correct problems. Do not assume a manager has understood the development simply because they received a course outline.

HR and L&D organise the development, while sales leadership establishes commercial priorities and managers support application. Participants also have responsibilities. They practise, apply the learning and bring examples to review. The academy becomes more useful when those roles are clear and the work is included in existing routines rather than left to spare time.

How do you measure whether the academy is useful?

Measure whether people apply the intended behaviour, alongside the commercial measure relevant to that behaviour. Course completion tells you that an activity was completed. It does not establish that a salesperson can use the skill with a customer.

CIPD’s Learning at Work 2023 survey found that 57% of learning professionals proactively understood a performance issue before recommending a solution. The survey included 1,108 professionals with responsibility for supporting workplace learning. This is adjacent workplace-learning research: it did not study sales academies or prove that a particular academy design improves sales.

Define the performance issue before choosing resources. For discovery, managers might review whether sellers establish the customer’s problem and required outcome. Commercial measures may take longer to change and can be affected by factors beyond the academy. Record the starting position, inspect application and report those limits. Avoid presenting an improvement in revenue as proof that training alone caused it.

What practical uses can an academy support?

An academy can support onboarding, development for experienced salespeople and preparation for leadership roles. It can also help a team learn the selling requirements of a new product, service or market. Each use needs a defined capability requirement rather than an automatic expansion of the curriculum.

For onboarding, capture the company knowledge and selling practices new starters need first. For a new offer, connect product knowledge to customer discovery, value and relevant conversations. For succession, identify the responsibilities of the future role and provide opportunities to practise them.

Recording useful company knowledge allows mentoring to focus on judgement and application.

When should you add training or sales simulation?

Add support when a specific requirement is clear. bespoke sales training programmes fit where the team needs to develop selected capabilities around its own selling environment. add simulation to your internal academy when leaders need to inspect execution. Simulation can be a secondary option where leaders need to inspect how people execute under realistic pressure.

Neither requires replacing the academy. Training can supply focused development, while managers help participants apply it. Simulation can expose a difference between being able to describe a behaviour and being able to execute it in a demanding situation.

Keep the academy connected to the original development requirement. A larger library, more sessions and new technology are inputs, not evidence of progress. Invest where a gap has been established, retain practices that work and improve the academy through review.

Your first actions

Choose one selling behaviour your team needs to improve.
Ask an effective performer for a real example.
Select a resource and agree where participants will apply it.
Assign a manager review and decide what evidence to inspect.

Internal sales academy FAQs

Can we start without a platform?

Yes. Accessible resources, clear ownership and practical application can provide a starting arrangement. Add technology when the requirement justifies it.

Is developing our people always cheaper than hiring?

No. Compare development costs and time to competence with recruitment, vacancy, induction and management costs. The answer depends on the capability needed and the time available.

Should everyone follow the same learning path?

No. Role requirements and existing capability should inform the development. New starters, experienced sellers and future managers can need different support.

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Why sales training fails

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Iain Swanston

Founder & Lead Trainer Klozers · London, Dortmund, Austin, Melbourne

Connect with Iain on LinkedIn

internal sales academy

Start with the development your team needs

Tell us what you want your salespeople to do differently. We can help you connect that requirement to practical training and workplace application.

How to Write a Sales Plan in 8 Easy Steps (with FREE Template)

by Iain Swanston

Pipeline and route to market

How to Write a Sales Plan That Your Team Can Actually Execute

A sales plan turns your revenue target and sales strategy into specific actions, owners, dates and measures. Start with the revenue you need, decide where it will come from, work backwards through your own conversion data and check that the team has capacity to execute the plan.

By Iain Swanston, Founder, Klozers

Updated 8 October 2026

6 minute read

How do you write a sales plan?

Start with the revenue outcome, not a list of sales activities. Decide where the revenue will come from, work backwards to the number of wins and qualified opportunities required, choose the customers and routes you will prioritise, define the actions needed, check capacity, assign an owner and date to every important action, and agree how progress will be measured and reviewed.

Key takeaways

A sales plan is not a list of activities. It converts revenue and strategy decisions into execution.
Separate the revenue target into the sources that are expected to produce it before deciding what the team should do.
Work backwards using your own average deal values and conversion rates rather than generic benchmarks.
If new actions are added without removing or changing existing work, check whether the team has the capacity to execute the plan.
Give every important action an owner, date and measure, then review the plan often enough to make corrections before the revenue period is over.

What is the difference between a sales strategy and a sales plan?

A sales strategy decides where the business intends to compete and how it expects to win. A sales plan turns those choices into work.

The strategy should answer questions such as which markets and customers deserve attention, why customers should choose you, which routes will reach them and what the business will deliberately not pursue. The plan then answers what happens first, who owns it, when it will happen, what resources are required and how progress will be measured.

If you cannot agree where the revenue should come from or which customers and routes deserve priority, the problem is not the sales plan. The strategy decisions have not been made yet.

If those choices are unresolved, the Sales Strategy Workshop is designed to work through markets, customers, routes, value, inbound, outbound and capacity before producing a dated 90-day execution plan.

Where will the revenue come from?

A sales target is normally expressed as one number. The work required to achieve it depends on the source of that revenue.

Existing customersRevenue might come from renewals, retention, cross-sell, upsell, additional sites or new departments. These opportunities usually require different actions from new customer acquisition.
New customersNew-logo growth requires enough demand and qualified opportunities from the customers the business has chosen to pursue.
New markets or territoriesGeographic or vertical expansion may require different messaging, routes, proof, partners or sales capacity.
Partners and channels Distributors, resellers, referral partners and other routes may contribute to the target, but the plan should state what commercial job each route is expected to perform.

Do not simply divide the annual target equally between salespeople unless that reflects the commercial reality. Start by identifying the expected revenue sources and the assumptions behind them.

How do you work backwards from a sales target?

Once you know the revenue required, calculate what has to be true for the team to produce it.

For example, imagine a business needs £1 million of new revenue. If its own average won deal is £50,000, it needs 20 wins. If its own historical opportunity-to-win conversion rate is 25%, it would need approximately 80 qualified opportunities to produce those 20 wins.

Those figures are illustrative. They are not Klozers benchmarks. Your calculation should use your own deal values, conversion rates, sales-cycle timing and definitions of a qualified opportunity.

Continue the calculation as far upstream as your data can support. If you know how many target-account conversations normally produce a qualified opportunity, you can estimate the demand required. If you do not know, do not invent a conversion rate. Record the gap and start measuring it.

Which customers, markets and routes will you prioritise?

A plan becomes difficult to execute when everything is a priority. Decide which customer groups, accounts, markets, territories, products or services are expected to contribute to the revenue target and rank them.

Then decide how those customers will be reached. Some opportunities may be created directly, some through inbound demand, some through outbound activity and others through distributors, resellers or partners.

The route that takes the order is not always the route that created the demand, so the plan should be clear about what each route is expected to do. Our guide to channel planning in sales management explains this distinction in more detail.

The wider market, customer and route decisions sit within your go-to-market strategy. The sales plan should execute those decisions rather than reopen them every week.

What actions will create the required sales opportunities?

Only after the revenue sources, priorities and required opportunities are clear should the plan move into activity.

The required actions will depend on the strategy. They might include target-account research, outbound campaigns, referral activity, partner recruitment, customer expansion conversations, events, account planning or improving inbound conversion. There is no universal activity mix.

A useful action is specific enough to manage. “Do more prospecting” is not. “Sales Director to approve the first 50 target accounts by 18 September” is.

For each material action, record the owner, due date, expected output and the measure that will tell you whether it happened.

Build your own sales plan

Download the editable Klozers Sales Plan Template. It takes you from revenue target and revenue sources through the planning maths, priorities, routes, capacity and a 90-day execution plan with owners and measures.

PowerPoint format so you can edit the plan for your own business.

Does the sales team have capacity to execute the plan?

This is where many plans become unrealistic. New work is added to the existing job without deciding what will stop, change or receive less attention.

For every significant new activity, ask what the team will start, continue and stop. If the plan requires more target-account research, partner development and structured account planning, where will that time come from?

Capacity can also expose a strategy problem. If the plan requires activity that the current headcount cannot sustain, management has to change the priorities, improve the process, add resources or accept a different timetable. Hiding the problem inside an unrealistic activity target does not solve it.

A plan that the team does not have time to execute is not an execution plan.

What should a 90-day sales plan contain?

An annual plan provides direction, but the immediate execution should be specific enough to manage. Klozers uses a 90-day execution horizon in the Sales Strategy Workshop, with named owners, dates and measures and reviews at days 30, 60 and 90.

We do not claim that 90 days is the only valid planning period. The practical value is that it creates a defined execution window between the annual target and the team’s weekly work.

Priority What matters most during this period?
Action What exactly needs to happen?
Owner Who is accountable for completing it?
Due date When must it be completed?
Measure What evidence will show that it happened or is progressing?
Status and review What has changed, what is blocked and what needs to be adjusted?

How should you measure and review a sales plan?

Revenue is the final result, but waiting for the revenue number alone leaves little time to correct execution. The plan should therefore include measures that show whether the work and opportunity creation required by the strategy are happening.

Depending on the plan, leading measures might include target accounts engaged, qualified opportunities created, decision-makers reached, partner enquiries, pipeline created or meaningful opportunity progression. Lagging measures include revenue, margin and other final commercial outcomes.

Choose measures because they help manage the chosen strategy, not because they are easy to extract from the CRM.

Reviews should ask more than whether a number is red or green. Ask what happened, what changed in the market or pipeline, which assumptions were wrong, what is blocked and what needs to change during the next period.

Once opportunities are created, the sales pipeline becomes the working view of whether those opportunities remain qualified and are progressing.

Sales plan FAQs

What should be included in a sales plan?

Include the revenue target and sources, priority customers and markets, routes to market, required opportunities, key sales actions, capacity assumptions, owners, dates, measures and a review cadence.

How long should a sales plan be?

There is no useful universal page count. It should contain enough information for the team to understand the priorities, actions, ownership and measures without becoming a document nobody uses.

Is a sales plan the same as a sales strategy?

No. Strategy makes the choices about where to compete and how to win. The sales plan turns those choices into actions, owners, dates and measures.

Should a sales plan include prospecting targets?

It can, when prospecting is part of the chosen route to market. Work backwards from the required opportunities using your own conversion evidence rather than applying a generic activity benchmark.

How often should a sales plan be reviewed?

The appropriate cadence depends on the sales cycle and planning period. The review needs to happen early enough that management can change actions before the period is effectively over.

Start with the revenue. Make the choices. Build a plan the team has capacity to execute.

Need help turning your sales strategy into an executable plan?

We will start with what already works, define the gaps and build the workshop around your live opportunities.

Why B2B Marketing is Broken & How to Fix it

by Iain Swanston

Top 9 Hacks Using OneNote for Sales Management

by Iain Swanston

Sales Teams with Sales Playbooks are 33% MORE likely to be high performers with win rates exceeding 50%

Designed & Built in OneNote for Sales Managers

Followers of our blog here will know we are big fans of the suite of work tools contained in Microsoft Office. As the marketing says they truly do bring Enterprise-Class tools to Mid Market and SME’s. We wanted to share some practical tips on how we and our clients use OneNote for Sales Management to save time and drive productivity.

In amongst Office 365 is Microsofts digital notebook OneNote which is undoubtedly one of our favourites. It did take some time to understand and learn how to use it and we’re pretty sure that we are still nowhere near using the product to it’s maximum.

Since becoming converts we’ve added the Onetastic Addin which gives us additional functionality and a huge range of Macros that simply supercharge OneNote for Sales Management.

With that said, if you can add any tips that will help us and other OneNote Users then please do so in the comments section at the bottom of this post. So here are the top 9 hacks

1. Note-taking for Sales Meetings

Everyone knows the importance of taking accurate notes during a Sales Meeting with prospects and customers, however, we always found it difficult to remember the questions and steps that we needed to follow in our Sales Process.

In addition to capturing the usual meeting details like attendee names and telephone numbers, we wanted to capture details like the Buyers Primary Sensory Dominance and their Personal DiSC style. All together it was just too much information for us to remember so we created a simple template in OneNote based on a Word Document we’d been using.

In addition to capturing those details we included a visual prompt to help us remember the most important questions and finally, the very last question captures any Next Steps that are agreed. We record these “next steps” using the Outlook Tasks integration inside OneNote which automatically adds this to Task in Outlook.

Most Salespeople may prefer to keep these types of notes inside their CRM and there’s a great article here on how to integrate OneNote with Microsoft Dynamics 365. For Salesforce users you can set up an integration with OneNote via Zapier Integrations here.

You can design your own page for Meeting or Project Notes and save it as a template for easy access every time you need it.

Lastly, it’s possible to use the audio recording function in OneNote to record meetings however we would not recommend this in a Sales Meeting.

PROS OF ONENOTE FOR SALES MEETINGS

We prefer using OneNote because it allows us to take notes freehand and despite our poor attempts at handwriting we can always use the convert to text feature if needed to tidy things up.

In addition to being able to write freehand with the Microsoft pen we also try to use visual note-taking techniques that we know from our sales training is proven to aid memory retention and focus. Everyone is different but we prefer writing notes rather than typing them in a meeting.

The notes not only help us remember what was said and what next steps need to be taken they are great for referring back to when we send a “Thank you for meeting me email” with a summary of the notes and if we need to create a proposal or presentation later in the sales process.

CONS OF ONE NOTE FOR SALES MEETINGS

We suspect the biggest negative will be that unless you are using Dynamics CRM or Salesforce then OneNote may not integrate with your own CRM. That said, I am sure you would be able to cut and paste the notes over into another CRM.

Back to Table of Contents

2. Sales Coaching Notes

Coaching Salespeople is arguably more powerful than sales training when it’s done well. One of the key foundations of Sales Coaching is keeping accurate notes for both the coach and the coachee to refer back to. As you would expect this should be cloud-based and is one of the easiest things you can set up.

Create a Section in OneNote for each Sales Rep that you are coaching. You may be rightly concerned about privacy here as it’s not normal to have sales coaching notes which should be private available for other team members to view. This is easily solved by setting password protection on each section.
Create a new page inside OneNote and then use a Template for your coaching process. We use the GROW sales coaching model however you can use any model you choose. In our situation where we mostly provide online Sales Coaching we part complete the notes during the coaching session and then finish them immediately at the end of the calls.

Immediately after each sales coaching session, we email a summary of any action points to the coachee so they know what commitments they have made before the next session.
As with the Sales Meeting Notes template, you can design your own page around your sales coaching process and save it as a template for easy access when the next coaching session is due.

3. Sales Performance Reviews

If you’re using OneNote for Sales Management it can easily help you review the individual performance of your Sales Team. Again OneNote Make this easy by using the sections function with password protection.

This can easily be included as an extra page inside the Sales Reps section next to their Sales Coaching notes or if the Coaching is being provided by someone other than the manager then you can either set up a different notebook or a different section within the same notebook.

We typically use Sales Scorecards as a way to measure individual sales performance and this can be recorded inside OneNote or in a separate application with only the actual meeting notes being recorded in OneNote.

Again the main benefits are the ease of use and access for both employees and managers in addition to the security and privacy that OneNote provides.

4. Sales Training with OneNote

Historically Sales Training was conducted via 1 or 2-day events with participants receiving a training manual. With the advent of more Online Sales Training OneNote is a great repository to Store your sales training content. It’s easy to set Sections as Learning Modules and Pages as the Individual lessons. Inside the Lessons or pages, you can add Video, Audio or text-based content with quizzes and questions for each student.

Unlike traditional Sales Training which forces all students to learn at the same pace, OneNote allows us to create Self-paced learning modules which delivers much better learning results. In order to check students are meeting or exceeding learning goals, we integrate surveys and questions using the Microsoft Forms application for each student.

It’s also possible to create individual sales training sessions where you can assign learning content for individual Sales Reps allowing you to provide a more targeted learning approach. OneNote allows you to track and measure learning, and provide feedback on an individual basis to students.

Once you have created your Sales Training Lessons as a page in OneNote simply save the page as a Template and you can then insert this into any Sales Reps personal training when required.

A secondary training application if you’re using OneNote for Sales Management is the ability to use the full functionality to create onboarding programmes for new Sales Team members. The main benefit of using OneNote in this case would be the ability to record and document so many different types of styles of content in one location for easy access.

Once you’ve created your Notebook you can easily share Notebooks with colleagues online.

5. Using OneNote as CRM

Whilst we wouldn’t recommend using OneNote as a CRM application it can be. You can download a Sales Template from Auscomp which is based on the Kanban or card-based system, and whilst it doesn’t have the full functionality of a regular CRM, it works well for those who want to keep everything inside OneNote.

What’s much more useful in our opinion is to use OneNote for what we would describe as “sales projects”. For us, these are typically large engagements that require some form of customisation and project management. These projects usually require multiple meetings with multiple decision-makers and additional support from contacts on our side.

In our case, we use OneNote inside a SharePoint site within the MS Teams environment that we create for client projects. Teams serves as a great comms platform and we use OneNote for the Note taking and sharing.

For Sales Opportunities that are not yet Customers but still require lots of notes and a degree of project planning, we use OneNote with sections added for Emails – Linked to Outlook Inbox. This allows us to forward emails relating to the opportunity from inside Outlook.

Contacts Linked to the Contacts in Outlook. This allows us to add contact details from Outlook that we need to share with our internal team working on the project.

Meetings linked to the Calendar function in Outlook. This allows us to insert future meetings from Outlook that may require some internal planning.

6. OneNote To-Do List Template

There are numerous free To Do templates inside OneNote which you can use or you can create your own which we have. We created a To-Do section with pages inside that are linked to the Tasks section in Outlook.

From Outlook we can send all Tasks to this page where we add them to a Prioritised To-Do Dashboard before assigning an owner, deadline and categorisation. This allows our whole team to have a single view of the current Workflow whilst still allowing users to work on the original Tasks that were sent from Outlook.

The four sections in the main dashboard with examples of Tasks we use are:

CRISIS: URGENT / IMPORTANT

PRODUCTIVITY: NOT URGENT / IMPORTANT

DISTRACTION: URGENT / NOT IMPORTANT

WASTE: NOT URGENT / NOT IMPORTANT

7. Journaling with OneNote.

Daily Journaling is a powerful tool that helps Salespeople become more productive, set goals, learn through reflection and serves as a great all round personal development tool.

Most importantly journaling helps with Cognitive Processing and improves overall mental well being. In fact many people say that journaling changes their life.

Although not always popular every personal development guru recommends keeping a daily journal. Journals come in many forms and what’s most important is choosing the format that works for you.

The best journal we’ve come across is by the Sales Journal company however we have developed our own shorter journal which takes between 5 and 10 minutes to complete every morning which seems to work better for Salespeople.

Back to Table of Contents

8. Sales Team Meeting Agenda

Lastly the easiest and most common task for using OneNote for Sales Management is for note taking during a Weekly or Monthly Sales Team Meeting. As with every other task using OneNote for Sales Management we create a simple Agenda template which we can recreate every meeting with One click.

In addition to Note Taking we recommend recording every meeting in order that you obviously have a record of the meeting, but additionally, when members of the Sales Team are absent on holiday or sick there is a recording they can easily access to get ensure they don’t miss anything.

9. Sales Playbooks

We’ve definitely saved the best to last here because OneNote is just an amazing tool for creating, delivering and building Sales Playbooks. Whilst many playbooks are still static documents OneNote provides a live document that can be consistently accessed and updated by as many or as few people as you want.

All of the Tools and templates we’ve highlighted in this post can reside inside your OneNote Sales Playbook which makes the user experience even better.

Our OneNote Sales Playbooks are hosted inside MS Teams where we have dedicated Teams for each of our clients and each Team as their own customised playbook.

In fact when you combine MS Teams, OneNote, MS Forms, you have everything you need to create your own Learning Management System and given the cost of some of the LMS platforms this is a great way for smaller and mid market companies to enter the LMS & Sales Enablement world at a much lower price point.

10. Recommended Reading

To learn more on Sales Management check out this in depth article or you can take a Training course on Sales Management here.

Get the Best Sales Playbook in the World

Designed & Built in OneNote for Sales Managers

A New Sales World Awaits After Lockdown

by Iain Swanston

How to Scale a Business Super FAST

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Sales Consulting Services | Get Expert Support Now

by Iain Swanston

Sales execution standards

Sales Consulting Services: Diagnose Before You Prescribe

Sales problems are rarely solved well by starting with a preferred solution. Establish what is preventing the sales function from performing, then decide what needs to change.

Klozers

Sales execution

Seven areas provide a structured view of the sales function before an improvement plan is agreed.

The short answer

Good sales consulting reduces the risk of investing in the wrong solution. Diagnose the sales function first, establish the gap between current and required performance, then decide what intervention is justified.

Key takeaways

Diagnosis should come before sales training, coaching, technology or methodology decisions.
A sales problem can originate in strategy, process, people, channels, technology, customers or leadership.
Benchmarking creates a more objective basis for an improvement plan.
The intervention should follow the cause rather than the consultant’s preferred service.
Agreed sales execution standards make implementation and inspection more objective.

Sales consulting services should help a leadership team establish what is preventing the sales function from performing as required before recommending what to change. The useful output is not a consultant’s preferred methodology. It is an evidence-based view of the current position, the priority gaps and the actions that will improve sales execution.

What are sales consulting services?

Sales consulting services provide external expertise to diagnose and improve the way a sales function operates. That can include sales strategy, process, people, channels, technology, customer management and sales leadership. The important point is sequence: diagnosis should come before prescription.

A business may approach a consultant because pipeline is weak, forecasts are unreliable, conversion has fallen or salespeople are inconsistent. Those symptoms do not automatically identify the cause. A pipeline problem may begin with qualification. A performance problem may reflect unclear standards. A CRM problem may actually be a sales process problem expressed through technology.

The first responsibility of a sales consultant is to establish what is actually wrong.

Why should diagnosis come before the solution?

Starting with a solution creates a simple risk: the business can invest time and money fixing the wrong problem. Sales training, coaching, a new methodology, CRM changes and lead generation can all be appropriate interventions. None should be assumed to be the answer before the sales function has been examined.

Klozers takes a methodology-first approach. We benchmark the current position, identify the gaps that matter, agree priorities with the relevant stakeholders and then determine the intervention. This changes the conversation from opinion to evidence.

It also separates symptoms from causes. If salespeople are failing to progress opportunities, more prospecting activity may create a larger pipeline without improving results. If managers do not have an agreed standard for qualification, coaching may remain subjective. If the sales process does not reflect how customers buy, technology can automate inconsistency rather than remove it.

What should a sales consultant examine?

Klozers examines the sales function across seven areas. Together they provide a structured way to establish where execution is strong, where it is inconsistent and where improvement is required.

Sales Strategy. The choices that define where the business will compete, who it will sell to and how it intends to win.
Sales Process. The way opportunities move from first engagement to a customer decision, including the standards used to govern progression.
Sales People. Recruitment, development, capability and objective performance management.
Sales Channels. The routes used to reach customers and whether those routes are properly supported and managed
Sales Technology. Whether technology and data improve the customer experience while producing useful management information and accountability.
Sales Customers. How customer relationships are segmented, managed and measured.
Sales Leaders. Whether leaders create a positive, supportive environment that rewards and encourages success, and whether the team receives the leadership and management it requires.

This is broader than asking whether individual salespeople need more skills. It examines the system around the salesperson as well as the salesperson.

What does benchmark first, then plan mean?

A sales improvement plan is more useful when it starts with an agreed benchmark. Without that baseline, priorities can be driven by the loudest opinion in the room or by the solution a supplier happens to sell.

The Klozers principle is simple: benchmark first, then plan. Assess the sales unit, identify the gaps, decide which gaps have the greatest commercial consequence and build the improvement plan from that evidence.

The benchmark is not the end of the work. It provides a common starting point for the Economic Buyer, Economic Owner and other stakeholders. It also makes later measurement more meaningful because the business knows what it was trying to change.

What should a sales consulting engagement produce?

A useful engagement should create more than recommendations. The leadership team should leave with a clear view of the current state, the required state, the priority gaps, who owns each action and how progress will be inspected.

Benchmark.

Establish the current position across the relevant parts of the sales function.

Diagnose.

Separate visible symptoms from the underlying causes.

Prioritise.

Decide which gaps have the greatest effect on sales execution and commercial performance.

Plan.

Convert the diagnosis into a practical improvement plan with ownership and measures.

Implement.

Apply the required changes, which may include standards, process changes, leadership support, training, coaching or technology.

Measure.

Inspect whether the agreed behaviours and outcomes are changing.

The intervention follows the diagnosis. That is important because different causes require different responses.

How is sales consulting different from sales training and sales coaching?

Sales consulting diagnoses and improves the sales function. Bespoke sales training develops the knowledge, skills and behaviours required by a team. Sales coaching reinforces application and helps people improve through practice, feedback and manager support.

They can work together, but they are not interchangeable. Training should not be used to compensate for an unclear sales process. Coaching cannot create an agreed organisational standard if leadership has never defined one. Consulting should not continue indefinitely when the required change is capability development.

For this reason, Klozers does not begin with an assumption that every sales problem requires a training programme. The correct intervention depends on the diagnosis.

How do sales execution standards change the consulting conversation?

Consulting becomes more objective when the business has an agreed definition of good sales execution. Without that definition, managers and salespeople can hold different views of what a qualified opportunity looks like, when a deal should progress or what evidence is required before a forecast changes.

Gold Selling Standards provide a route from diagnosis to consistent execution. They allow a business to make important sales behaviours explicit, inspect whether they are being applied and coach against a shared standard rather than personal preference.

This matters because the aim of sales consulting is not simply to produce a report. The aim is to help the organisation improve how sales work is executed after the consultant has left.

How should you choose a sales consultant?

Start by asking how the consultant diagnoses the problem. A credible answer should explain how evidence is gathered, how different parts of the sales function are assessed and how the consultant avoids recommending a solution before the cause is clear.

Then examine implementation. Recommendations that cannot be translated into standards, behaviours, ownership and inspection are difficult to sustain. Ask who needs to be involved, what will be measured and how the organisation will know whether the intervention has worked.

Finally, establish whether the consultant is prepared to say that their usual service is not the answer. A diagnosis has limited value if every route leads to the same product.

What are the warning signs that diagnosis is too narrow?

A narrow diagnosis often appears when the problem has been defined in the same terms as the proposed solution. If the starting assumption is that the team needs training, every performance issue can begin to look like a skills gap. If the starting assumption is that CRM adoption is poor, every inconsistency can appear to be a technology problem.

Senior leaders should expect the diagnosis to test alternative explanations. Are salespeople clear about the strategy? Does the sales process describe how customers actually make decisions? Are managers inspecting the same behaviours? Does the technology support the process, or has the process been shaped around the technology? Are customer relationships being managed consistently? These questions help establish whether the visible problem belongs to one area or is the result of several connected gaps.

This is also why stakeholder involvement matters. The Economic Buyer may see the commercial consequence, while the Economic Owner is closer to implementation. Sales leaders, managers and salespeople can each hold different evidence about the same problem. The consultant’s role is to bring that evidence together without confusing opinion with an agreed benchmark.

What should happen after the consulting work?

The value of the diagnosis depends on what happens next. Priorities need owners, standards need to be clear enough to inspect, and managers need a practical way to reinforce the required behaviours. Where training is justified, it should be built around the gaps the diagnosis identified rather than delivered as a separate event.

For Klozers, this is where consulting connects to execution. The organisation should be able to state what good looks like, observe whether it is happening and decide what support is required when it is not. That may involve a change to process, leadership behaviour, coaching, capability or technology. The important point is that the action is traceable to the diagnosed gap.

When should you consider sales consulting services?

Sales consulting is most useful when the problem is important but the cause is uncertain, when different stakeholders have different explanations for performance, or when a business needs an external benchmark before committing to a wider change programme.

It can also be useful when growth has exposed inconsistencies that were manageable in a smaller team. The objective is not to add process for its own sake. It is to identify the standards, management disciplines and support required for consistent execution.

Before deciding what to buy, establish what needs to change.

Consulting should move from evidence to diagnosis, priorities, implementation and measurement.

Sales consulting services FAQs

What does a sales consultant do?

A sales consultant diagnoses problems in the sales function, identifies priority gaps and helps the leadership team decide what changes are justified. The work can involve strategy, process, people, channels, technology, customers and leadership.

Is sales consulting the same as sales training?

No. Consulting diagnoses and improves the sales function. Training develops knowledge, skills and behaviours. A consulting diagnosis may identify training as part of the solution, but it should not assume training is required.

What should a sales consulting engagement deliver?

It should deliver an evidence-based view of the current position, agreed priorities, an improvement plan, ownership and measures that allow the business to inspect progress.

When should we use a sales consultant?

Consider sales consulting when the commercial problem matters but its cause is uncertain, when stakeholders disagree about what is wrong, or when an external benchmark is needed before a larger change programme.

Sales execution standards

Establish what needs to change before deciding what to buy.

We can help you benchmark the sales function, identify the priority gaps and determine the right route to improvement.

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How to Make the Perfect Sales Prospect Profile

by Iain Swanston

OUTBOUND AND PROSPECTING

Sales Prospect Profile: Know Which Companies to Target and Who to Engage

A sales prospect profile should do more than describe a company. It should help your team identify suitable accounts, understand the people involved and decide what evidence is needed before making contact.

What is a sales prospect profile?

A sales prospect profile is a practical description of the organisations and people a sales team intends to engage. It has two levels. The Ideal Client Profile (ICP) defines the organisational characteristics that make an account worth pursuing. The Perfect Prospect Profile explores the responsibilities, business pressures, priorities and concerns of a particular type of stakeholder.

These levels answer different questions. The ICP helps your team decide where to concentrate effort. The stakeholder profile helps your team decide what to investigate and how to make an approach relevant. Neither replaces research into the actual company and person.

For sales leaders, the purpose is not to produce another document. It is to improve targeting decisions, the quality of initial conversations and the consistency of outbound execution.

Start with your Ideal Client Profile

The supplied Klozers Ideal Client Profile describes potential customers using geography, industry, organisational maturity, size, sales challenges, people challenges, buying teams and business triggers. These categories are useful because they combine firmographic fit with a reason that an organisation might need to change.

For example, an organisation may operate in your preferred sector and employ a sales team of the right size. That establishes possible fit, not buying intent. Further research might reveal inconsistent conversion rates, a new market launch, difficulty generating leads or a change in sales leadership. Those conditions create questions worth investigating.

Organisational targeting categories based on the supplied Klozers Ideal Client Profile. These are examples, not universal qualification rules.

Choose criteria that change a prospecting decision

Record your preferred industries, geographies and company characteristics. Then specify which observable business challenges or events would justify prioritising one account over another. A new product launch, stalled growth or expansion into another country may be relevant if your offer can address the associated problem.

Keep the profile specific enough for two salespeople to make a consistent decision about an account. Avoid presenting assumptions about a company as confirmed facts. Where information is unavailable, mark it as unknown and identify how it can be checked.

Then understand the individual prospect

An account does not make decisions as a single person. The Klozers source document contains illustrative profiles for a CEO, a Sales Director and an HR Director. Each role has different concerns, goals and potential objections. A Sales Director may prioritise predictable results and a common sales language. An HR Director may focus on structured development, accountability and the credibility of training investment. A CEO may be concerned about disrupting an existing team while improving performance.

These are persona hypotheses, not facts about everyone holding those job titles. Their value is to guide research and better questions, not to encourage salespeople to make assumptions about an individual.

Stakeholder research categories adapted from the supplied Klozers Perfect Prospect Profile examples.

Example: a Sales Director

The Klozers Sales Director persona highlights inconsistent sales results, limited new lead generation, insufficient structure and the absence of a common sales language. It also identifies a desire for predictable performance, engaged salespeople and systems that support the team.

A weak approach would assume that the Sales Director has all these problems and send a generic training pitch. A stronger approach would investigate the company’s recent sales direction, leadership changes and public statements. The salesperson can then ask a relevant question about the challenge they have reason to believe may exist.

The profile also records possible objections, including limited time, an existing internal training team and concerns that the organisation is different. These should inform preparation, not become claims about what the prospect will say.

A practical sales prospect profile template

Use the following prompts to prepare your team’s account research. Record the source of each factual observation and distinguish it from a working hypothesis.

Part 1: Organisational fit

Organisation: name, sector, geography and relevant size indicators.
Commercial fit: the business problem your offer can address and evidence that the problem may be relevant.
Business context: market changes, growth plans, product launches or leadership changes.
Decision: pursue now, research further or deprioritise, with a recorded reason.

Part 2: Stakeholder understanding

Role: responsibility for the business outcome and relationship to the buying group.
Priorities: what the individual is accountable for, supported by available evidence.
Potential concerns: risks or barriers to change to explore, not presumed facts.
Relevant trigger: an observed event that makes contact timely.
Conversation hypothesis: one question that tests whether the proposed challenge is real.

Part 3: Research quality

Known: facts supported by company announcements, credible research or direct conversations.
Inferred: reasonable but unconfirmed interpretations.
Unknown: information that requires discovery. Review these profiles as the market changes. A profile that never affects account selection or prospecting behaviour is unlikely to improve execution.

How to use the profile in outbound prospecting

Prioritise accounts before selecting contacts

Apply the organisational criteria consistently. An account that matches a preferred industry but has no observable commercial relevance may deserve less immediate attention than one with a clear change event and an identifiable business challenge.

Map the buying group

Identify the roles relevant to the purchase. In Klozers terminology, the Economic Owner controls the budget and owns the business outcome. Other people may influence evaluation, provide information or advocate internally. Do not treat an initial contact as proof that the full buying group is understood.

Form a testable reason for contact

Connect one verified observation to one plausible business question. For example, a new market launch may justify asking how the sales team is adapting its prospecting approach. It does not justify asserting that the organisation has a lead generation problem.

Use discovery to correct the profile

Listen for what the prospect confirms, rejects or reframes. Update the record rather than forcing the conversation to match the original persona. Effective profiling should improve the quality of diagnosis, not become a script that prevents it.

Inspect whether the profile changes behaviour

Managers can review whether selected accounts match agreed criteria, whether outreach uses relevant evidence and whether conversations validate the original assumptions. This gives the team something observable to coach, rather than relying only on activity totals.

For related execution guidance, see sales prospecting training and developing a unique value proposition.

Common mistakes to avoid

Confusing an ICP with a buyer persona. Company fit and individual motivation are different questions. You need both.
Treating a persona as a fact. A job title does not establish someone's fears, objectives or objections. Validate them through evidence and conversation.
Collecting details that do not improve a decision. Personal characteristics such as hobbies or family circumstances rarely establish commercial fit. Prioritise professional responsibilities, business context and observable events.
Using the profile only for marketing. Sales managers should be able to see how it affects account selection, contact research and discovery.
Replacing discovery with a template. The profile helps your team prepare. The prospect determines whether your initial assumptions are correct.

Make prospecting decisions more consistent

If your team is pursuing too many poorly qualified accounts or relying on generic outreach, Klozers can help establish clearer prospecting standards and coach their application.

Explore outbound lead generation coaching

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B2B Sales Tools

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B2B Sales Tools and Frameworks we use

Sales Audit Part 1 – Sales Skills – Use the first stage of this audit to benchmark and evaluate the core skills of your sales team
Sales Audit Part 2 – Functions – Use this stage of the audit to benchmark and evaluate the core areas within your sales function
Sales Audit Part 3 – Sales Formula – This benchmarks and evaluates areas outside sales which have an impact
Sales Change Management Planning – Any form of sales intervention means change which means you need to understand change management
Envision Planning Exercise – This is a great exercise to empower and motivate your team. It also helps identify areas for improvement in the sales function
Day in the Life – Understanding People Exercise – This workshop helps sales people understand DiSC and how they need to adapt their sales approach
Sales Coaching Worksheet – This template provides a structure and a proven framework to your sales coaching
Sales Scorecard Template – This is a simple example of a Sales Scorecard. Use the template as a starting point to develop your own
Sales Coaching Final Questions – Use these questions to finalise your coaching sessions with your sales people
Sales Training Evaluation Form – Collect feedback after every sales training session using this form
B2B Customer Journey Map – Evaluate your customers journey and look for improvements in conversion ratios
Sales Campaign Funnel – An example of an end to end sales campaign funnel. Use the template to create your own
ADKAR Change Model – Our go-to model for Change Management and simply a must have for any sales leaders
Business Case Template – If you’re selling to corporates then you’ll need to be able to write business cases so here’s a template to get started
Sales Tender Qualification Checklist – Objectively qualify your tender responses so you can improve your win rates
Key Account Management Plan Template – Document and plan your key account strategy with this comprehensive template
Handling Sales Stalls & Objections – This template helps sales people prepare for the hardest stalls and objections
Sales Call Tracker Template – This tracker highlights where in the call people are struggling so you can coach them accordingly
Prospect Profile Template – Profile your best customers and then use the information to target more of the same
Prospect Value Calculator – Understand your core value to build highly targeted sales messaging
Root Cause Analysis Template – This tool helps you build powerful questions to uncover your prospects real pain
Prospect Pains & Goals Template – Know your prospects pains and goals so you they will buy versus you having to sell
Sales Battlecards Template – Battlecards are great for identifying your strengths and weaknesses versus your competitors
Sales Negotiation Worksheet – Prepare in advance for the boardroom so you get what you want with this simple template
Client Case Study Template – Use examples of previous sales wins to generate more with this one page template
Preparing to Sell Checklist – Superb check list for new hires ( and maybe old ones) before they get in front of real prospects
Consultative Selling Process – Use this tool to reinforce your consultative selling process – slow the sales process down if you want to speed the sale up
Time Management Tracker – Help sales people become super productive and track where they lose time during the day
Meeting Notes Record – This template reminds you what questions to ask the prospect and take accurate notes on the answers given

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Sales Audit – Sales Skills

Sales Tools - Sales Audit 1 — Sales Tools – Sales Audit 1

What are Sales Skills?

Sales skills include the actions, mindset and strategies that contribute to sales success. The sales leaders audit therefore helps you accurately benchmark the skills of your sales people and will allow you to quickly see where to focus your performance improvement plans for the sales team.

Why are Sales Skills important?

In B2B sales unless you have a powerful brand the quality and performance of your sales team is vital. Indeed when products and services are similar the Unique Selling Point can often be the sales people. Most importantly the audit focuses on the three main areas that sales people need to concentrate on to be successful – Finding new sales, Klozing new sales and Growing existing accounts.

Need an objective external party to lead your sales audit? Check out or Sales Consulting here

Sales Audit – Sales Functions

Sales Tools - Sales Audit 2 — Sales Tools – Sales Audit 2

What are Sales Functions?

We all know that people are a vital part of every successful sales function however sometimes there can be other areas within sales that are equally important and also have a huge impact on our ability to sell. Consequently these can even be a huge blocker and prevent your team from selling.
Every business regardless of what product or services they are selling will have these common sales functions which we can audit.

Why are Sales Functions important?

You can use this tool to quickly evaluate where your Sales Unit is in terms of best practice and from this create your bespoke improvement plans.

Sales Audit – Sales Formula

Sales Tools - Sales Formula — Sales Tools – Sales Formula

What is the Sales Formula?

The sales formula is a list of business “ingredients” common to every successful organisation. These ingredients will apply to your business, however the context and application will be different as your business is unique.

Why is the Sales Formula important?

Examples of successful companies are all around us in B2B and B2C. Whether it’s national or international, products or services, they all follow the same winning formula. Don’t waste time reinventing the wheel – learn from others who have gone before by applying the sales formula to your business.

Sales Change Management Planning

B2B Sales tools - Sales Improvement Process — B2B Sales tools – Sales Improvement Process

What is Sales Change Management Planning?

Sales Change Management Planning is simply a structured approach to transitioning your sales team from where they are currently, to where you need them to be. Planning makes sure your changes work and are embedded in a new improved sales environment.

Why is Sales Change Management Planning important?

By creating a Sales Change Management plan you will minimise the resistance to your changes from some sales people. As a result you will increase the engagement of the team and improve the overall performance. Equally important is the long term affect of failed improvement plans which include missed sales targets, low morale and higher staff turnover.

Envision Planning Exercise

B2B Sales tools - Sales Envision Planning Excercise — B2B Sales tools – Sales Envision Planning Exercise

What is Envision Planning?

Envision Planning is a 1/2 day group workshop that facilitates an open discussion to identify and prioritise all the sales opportunities open to the business in the future. The goal of the session is to create a joint understanding of the exact direction you want to take the sales department.

Why is Envision Planning important?

Envision planning helps with team morale, increases the engagement of your sales team and ensures everyone involved is on the same page. Finally the output would include a full action plan with milestones and goals.

A Day in The Life – Understanding People

What is A Day in The Life?

This is a 1/2 day workshop focused on DiSC – a profiling system that psychologists use to learn and understand more about people. This exercise gives sales people a deeper understanding of the different behavioural styles of themselves, their work colleagues and their prospects/customers.

Why is a Day in The Life important?

This workshop is vital in developing self awareness, teamwork and understanding the preferences both prospects and customers have, in the way sales people communicate with them.

Sales Coaching Worksheet

What is the Sales Coaching Worksheet?

Our Sales Coaching Worksheet is a simple one page template that managers can use to coach sales people. The template follows the proven GROW coaching model but has been adapted to sales.

Why is the Sales Coaching Worksheet important?

Coaching is one of the most productive activities that sales leaders do to empower and enhance their sales teams. The worksheet provides a repeatable and objective framework to the coaching process.

Sales Scorecard Template

What is a Sales Scorecard?

A Sales Scorecard Template is a simple one page sheet for recording specific sales activities. The activities are divided between the four most important areas of sales – Finding new customers, Klozing new customers, Growing customer accounts and personal learning & development. As a result if sales people simply do enough of these four activities it’s nearly impossible to not increase your sales.

Why is a Sales Scorecard important?

Sales Scorecards provide a focus to the sales persons activities and ensures those activities are fully aligned with the companies overall growth strategy. They also help identify areas for development and can alert management in advance of potential problems.

Sales Coaching Final Questions

Sales Tools - Coaching Final Session Questions — Sales Tools – Coaching Final Session Questions

What are Sales Coaching Final Questions?

Our Sales Coaching Final Questions worksheet is used at the end of a structured coaching programme. There are 10 questions that the sales person has to answer taking no longer than 45 minutes.

Why are Sales Coaching Final Questions important?

The final session questions are part of “reflective learning” whereby the sales person can reflect on what they have learned and how they have grown through the length of the coaching programme. Furthermore future challenges and actions are also included to ensure continued personal development.

Sales Training Evaluation Form

What is a Sales Training Evaluation Form?

A Sales Training Evaluation form is used after any form of sales training to gather feedback from participants. The form includes specific feedback questions on the three most important areas of training – the trainer, the content and the training environment.

Why is a Sales Training Evaluation Form important?

Sales Training Evaluation forms helps to identify the ROI and value derived from any training programme and above all provides the data by which future training programmes may be improved.

B2B Customer Journey Map

Sales Tools - B2B Customer Journey Evaluation — Sales Tools – B2B Customer Journey Evaluation

What is a Customer Journey Map?

A customer journey map documents what information and actions your sales & marketing take and cross references this with the customers intent throughout the buying process.

Why is a Customer Journey Map important?

The customer journey map provides an audit which helps to identify which information and actions need to be improved and or added to, in order to reduce friction throughout the sales process.

Sales Campaign Funnel

What is a Sales Campaign Funnel?

The Sales Campaign Funnel is Klozers own funnel template that we use in our sales enablement programme ready to be customised to your business.

Why is the Sales Campaign Funnel important?

The Klozers Sales Campaign Funnel is the end to end funnel we use to Find new customers, Kloze new customers and Grow existing customer accounts. It’s a proven step by step system for B2B sales organisations.

ADKAR Change Model

Sales Tools - ADKAR Change Management — Sales Tools – ADKAR Change Management

What is the ADKAR Change Model?

The ADKAR change model is a proven change methodology from https://www.prosci.com/ the global leader in change management solutions.

Why is the ADKAR Change Model important?

This is highly relevant as every sales improvement project involves change and people do not like change. In our opinion this is the best Change Management Solution available today and we strongly recommend you include this in every improvement programme.

Business Case Template

What is a Business Case?

A Business Case is a document created to demonstrate the anticipated ROI or benefit of a project or purchase. Our template allows you to create your own Business Case bespoke to your products or services.

Why is a Business Case important?

In larger Enterprise organisations it is simply not acceptable to make a purchase without first justifying it in the form of a business case. Furthermore, Sales people can use this template both to help potential buyers and to document important information after a sale to create valuable sales content.

Tender Qualification Checklist

What is a Tender Qualification Checklist

A Tender Qualification Checklist is an objective way to pre-qualify tenders before you commit money and resources to responding.

Why is a Tender Qualification Checklist important?

Tenders can be an invaluable source of new sales revenue, however they can also be an expensive and time consuming distraction. This is because without any form of pre-qualification many companies commit to tenders that in reality they have no chance in winning.

Key Account Management Template

B2B Sales tools - Key Account Management Plan Template — B2B Sales tools – Key Account Management Plan Template

What is a Key Account Management Template?

Key Account Management is simply a joint agreement between the vendor and the client regarding the next 12 months. After 12 months the agreement would normally be reviewed and updated.

Why is a Key Account Management Template important?

The Key Account Management document sets out in writing the expectations in terms of actions, targets and milestones for both sides. Whilst they are not normally legally binding in the way that a contract is, they help identify to both sides what success is and are essential in managing expectations.

Handling Stalls & Objections Exercise

Sales Tools - Stalls & Objections — Sales Tools – Stalls & Objections

What are Stalls & Objections in Sales?

Stalls & Objections are the reasons prospects give to show disinterest in buying or obtain further information. They may be genuine or they may not. Stalls are typically the reasons not to buy now and Objections are reasons not to buy ever.

Why is the Stalls & Objections Exercise important?

The Stalls & Objections exercise provides sales people with the best possible answer or rebuttal to the most common stalls/objections that they receive. Those answers are then drilled into the muscle memory of the sales people so they become both natural and automatic.

Sales Call Tracker Tool

B2B Sales tools - Sales Call Tracker — B2B Sales tools – Sales Call Tracker

What is a Sales Call Tracker Tool?

This is a simple one page template that is used to record a sales persons activity throughout the various stages of a sales call, cold, warm or otherwise.

Why is a Sales Call Tracker Tool important?

The sales call tracker acts as a data dashboard allowing the sales person to track their success and their “numbers”. In addition by capturing the relevant data at every stage the sales person can see for themselves where they need to make any specific changes for example with their messaging, their soft skills or their call to action.

Perfect Prospect Profile Template

Sales Prospect Profile Template

What is a Perfect Prospect Profile Template?

This Prospect Profile Template helps to identify the top 20 characteristics of the prospects most likely to buy your products/services.

Why is a Perfect Prospect Profile Template important?

If you are trying to sell to everybody then in reality you will end up selling to nobody. Therefore this prospect template goes deeper and wider than traditional marketing personas, as it contains specific information to help and coach sales people.

Sales Prospect Value Calculator

B2B Sales tools - Prospect Value Calculator — B2B Sales tools – Prospect Value Calculator

What is a Sales Prospect Value Calculator?

A prospect Value Calculator helps you identify the key metrics by which a prospect measures the value of your products or services.

Why is a Sales Prospect Value Calculator important?

The Prospect Value Calculator is an essential tool for identifying and building the best messaging around your value proposition. Once captured this information can be adapted for use in telephone calls, emails, networking in fact every touch point that sales people have with prospects and clients.

Root Cause Analysis Template

What is a Root Cause Analysis Template?

Our Root Cause Analysis template helps identify the most important questions to ask prospects to uncover their business pain.

Why is a Root Cause Analysis Template important?

Root Cause analysis is the foundation of the Consultative Sales Process and is essential tool for discovering the best questions, the best order for those questions and how to ask them.

Prospect Pains & Goals Template

What is a Prospect Pains & Goals Template?

A Pains & Goals Template identifies the prospects business pains, their goals and desires, their fears & limitations and their dreams & aspirations.

Why is a Prospect Pains & Goals Template important?

The Prospect Pains & Goals template is an essential tool for building messaging and sales campaigns from your value proposition. In addition it provides sales people with an insight to the real thoughts and feelings of their prospects.

Sales Battlecard Template

Sales Tools - Sales Battlecard — Sales Tools – Sales Battlecard

What is a Sales Battlecard Template?

A Sales Battlecard template is a one page flyer that is used to clearly demonstrate the key points of differentiation between your product/service and your competitors.

Why is a Sales Battlecard Template important?

Sales Battlecards are typically used as a “leave behind” after a sales meeting with a prospect. Most importantly they are used for training to help sales people develop both product and industry knowledge.

Sales Negotiation Worksheet

Sales Tools - Sales Negotiation Template — Sales Tools – Sales Negotiation Template

What is a Sales Negotiation Worksheet?

A Sales Negotiation Worksheet is a template used to identify the vendor and the buyers goals, criteria, trades & concessions. In addition the template includes both the vendors BATNA’s (Best Alternative To No Agreement) and the prospects.

Why is a Sales Negotiation Worksheet important?

As the saying goes “In life you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate”. This is simply a must have in terms of planning and preparing for any sales negotiation.

Client Case Study Template

B2B Sales tools – Client Case Study Tool

What is a Client Case Study Template?

A Client Case Study template is a one page template used to gather the key information from any successful implementation of your product or service.

Why is a Case Study Template important?

Case Studies are one of the best ways to build trust, demonstrate tangible results and generate new business. Furthermore once the information is gathered using the template you can use it to create content in multiple formats such as presentations, proposals and sales campaigns.

Preparing to Sell Checklist

What is a Preparing to Sell Checklist?

This checklist identifies the minimum “must have” information that every sales person needs to know, understand and memorise before speaking to any potential customers.

Why is a Preparing to Sell Checklist important?

Given how much money companies spend on marketing to simply get sales people in front of customers it’s vital to maximise those meetings. Whether you are on-boarding new sales people or looking to upgrade your existing sales teams skills this will help.

Consultative Selling Process

What is a Consultative Selling Process?

A Consultative Selling Process is a sales methodology based on asking prospects specific questions in order that they themselves can determine if there is any need for what the sales person is selling.

Why is a Consultative Selling Process important?

A true consultative sales process helps the prospect uncover their unique personal reasons for buying which are always the most powerful reasons. This is an essential part of modern selling, especially complex solution sales.

Time Management Tracker

What is a Time Management Tracker?

A Time Management Tracker records the planned time versus the actual time throughout the working day.

Why is a Time Management Tracker important?

A Time Management Tracker is an essential tool for increasing productivity and identifying any distractions that may occur whether genuine or not.

Meeting Notes Record

What is a Meeting Notes Record?

A Meeting Notes Record captures all the relevant information when a sales person meets with a prospect or client. This template includes question prompts to help the sales person remember the most important questions they need to ask. In addition the template includes the ability to record both DiSC and the Primary Sensory Dominance of the prospect.

Why is a Meeting Notes Record important?

Recording and keeping accurate records is a vital part of the sales process. Furthermore failing to take notes in a sales meeting sub-consciously tells the prospect you are either unprofessional or simply not interested.

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AI SALES CONSULTANt - Top Question FRom Google

What Is The Job of an AI Sales Consultant?

Free access to our best tools and templates

Introduction: What AI Sales Consultants are Really Selling

The Current Role of AI in Sales

Generating Leads and Prospecting

Sales Forecasting & Analytics

Conversational AI and Customer Interaction

Account Management & Relationship Building

Automating Administrative Tasks

Human Sales Reps’ Strengths

Emotional Intelligence and Relationship Building

Problem-Solving and Consultative Selling

Negotiation and Persuasion

Objection Handling and Difficult Conversations

Future Outlook: AI vs Human

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Why Sales Training Fails

Why does sales training fail?

What does the research actually say about forgetting?

The first failure: the day is built to be watched, not worked

The second failure: nothing embeds it afterwards

The third failure: nothing expires

When is training not the answer at all?

How do you tell whether a provider has solved this?

Common questions about why sales training fails

Related reading

How to Build an Internal Sales Academy

Key takeaways

What is an internal sales academy?

Where should you start when building a sales academy?

Does an academy need an online learning platform?

Why develop your own salespeople rather than rely on recruitment?

What should an internal sales academy contain?

How should managers support academy learning?

How do you measure whether the academy is useful?

What practical uses can an academy support?

When should you add training or sales simulation?

Internal sales academy FAQs

How to Write a Sales Plan That Your Team Can Actually Execute

What is the difference between a sales strategy and a sales plan?

Where will the revenue come from?

How do you work backwards from a sales target?

Which customers, markets and routes will you prioritise?

What actions will create the required sales opportunities?

Does the sales team have capacity to execute the plan?

What should a 90-day sales plan contain?

How should you measure and review a sales plan?

Sales plan FAQs

In this article we will cover...

Sales Teams with Sales Playbooks are 33% MORE likely to be high performers with win rates exceeding 50%

1. Note-taking for Sales Meetings

PROS OF ONENOTE FOR SALES MEETINGS

CONS OF ONE NOTE FOR SALES MEETINGS

2. Sales Coaching Notes

3. Sales Performance Reviews

4. Sales Training with OneNote

5. Using OneNote as CRM

6. OneNote To-Do List Template

7. Journaling with OneNote.

8. Sales Team Meeting Agenda

9. Sales Playbooks

10. Recommended Reading

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Sales Consulting Services: Diagnose Before You Prescribe

What are sales consulting services?

Why should diagnosis come before the solution?

What should a sales consultant examine?

What does benchmark first, then plan mean?

What should a sales consulting engagement produce?

Benchmark.

Diagnose.

Prioritise.

Plan.

Implement.

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