The Opportunity Plan
As we’ve recently addressed the process and purpose of the Territory Plan (and its lacking across many sales organizations), let’s now confront the many faces, facets and formats of the equally inconsistent Opportunity Plan.
Most of the confusion and hesitation about Opportunity Plans stem from their natural evolution over the past 30 years. From paper-based forms derived from variations of the complex, verbose and dreaded Account Plan (Miller Heiman, Target Account Selling, etc.), to numerous flavors of online and iterative CRM-based templates, the modern Opportunity Plan is a helpful but often bloated sales tool dictated by well-meaning managers seeking coherent information about significant, forecasted deals.
After crystallizing Qualification, in any format, a great Opportunity Plan deftly draws out sales tactics and strategies in the following key areas:
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– Business Value/Need
– Contact Relationships
– Product/Solutions
– Demo/Trial/Proof of Concept
– Competition
– Closing/Action
This plan need not be cumbersome, over-engineered, or cause the rolling eyes of salespeople. A well executed Opportunity Plan will also provide great help for all other sales support team members and executives who need to understand the current situation and selling game plan.
Got a great Opportunity Plan and Process?
