by Gautam Banerjee

Created on: October 06, 2009

Any plan is a blueprint for the future, a sales plan is no different. Often while making a sales plan we look only at the past sales trends in different segments of the market and try to work out a course of action which will either increase penetration of the product in the targeted market segments and or retain it's market share. The estimated volume of sales, percentage increase over the previous time period and ROI are the overriding issues of a sales plan.

The subtle changes that takes place in the customer behavior over a period of time is either not quantifiable or not given due importance. The cumulative effect of behavioral changes of target group can become a powder keg on a short fuse. Therefore, a sales plan must look at these changes broadly on two time frames.

Long term changes in buying habits which can affect sales are broadly related to changes in life style, disposable income and availability of better value propositions from close substitutes.

Changes in life style are slow to perceive but if market research is conducted on a regular basis suitable adjustments in sales plan can be done easily. Similarly,a decision regarding pricing of a product may become necessary if there is a shift in buying behavior due to changes in income as a result of economic causes, for example, recession and consequent unemployment or wage cut. The sales plan in such instances must incorporate and factor in their effects.

Better value propositions from close substitutes which alter customer behavior are difficult to counter in the sales plan. This may involve considerable capital expenditure to match the better values of the close substitute product. The aggressive advertising and marketing by the competitor may wean away a large chunk of the target group. This requires additional marketing spend for which fund may not be easily available. Sales plan in such a situation will have to transform realistically until ways and means are worked out to counter the threat.

The worst scenario for a sales plan to go hay wire by changes in the customer behavior comes from bad publicity of an existing product. There are innumerable examples of products being recalled from the market. For example, faulty design of a car which makes it accident prone or health related issues like adverse side effects of a food or pharmaceutical product can alter customer behavior. These can severely impact a sales plan in the short term.

All said it is better to remember that customer behavior will always be subject to change which can happen over a time or even suddenly. Therefore, to create an effective sales plan, it must be amenable to incorporate changes that may be necessary. It must be dynamic enough to be relevant for the market situations which will continuously evolve. Market research, intelligence, analysis of market updates and feedback that track changes in customer behavior are imperative for a sales plan to keep pace with changes in customer behavior.

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