How to perform sales analysis to support the sales plan

How to perform sales analysis to support the sales plan:

As we all know sales is the pillar of business and planning sales is an essential part of work for any organization.

actually, if we see sales we can say that my significant data of research is going to use

for sales planning, and as I said previously every department is going to contribute to

the planning of any function because after all the analysis and planning

we have the target to sell the right and best products and services to

the customers and create brand equity in the market and sell

the best product everything should be improved continuously.

What Is Sales planning and how do it?

Sales planning is a formula for how to sell, where to sell, whom to sell, through which to sell,

what to sell, when to sell, how to satisfy customers, how to retain customers,

how to create a competitive advantage, what to say, how to operate

what to show, etc, basically it covers the points of a sales pitch,

how to impress customers, and how to make the customers

experience very satisfying while purchasing.

it’s a formula that tells about the right customers, right place, right platform, customer needs&problem,

solution, benefits, etc, and these plans are created after the analysis of the current scenario of the

market, customers’ demands, our products and service performance, strength, weakness, etc.

To create a sales plan you need to do these things:

1. create a strategic analysis team, a competitive intelligence team, and a research team.
2. create the parameters of analysis according to the successful business points.
3. Ask the research and intelligence team to gather the structured data for decided parameters.
4. Then you analyze that structured data according to business needs, problems, and targets.
5. Then create the next plan for the execution for every department.

What is sales analysis?

Sales analysis is a process that comes in sales planning in which a strategic team decides the parameter of analysis according to business needs and then creates a powerful sales plan.

How to perform sales analysis to support the sales plan:

The 4 most used sales analysis methods:

The Five Force Analysis

5 most analyses majorly focus on “Competition Strategy”.

five-force analysis is very important to allow a holistic view of the market when properly used.

The analysis covers these 5 important points:

1. Level of rivalry in the industry.
2. Bargaining power of customers.
3. Bargaining power of suppliers.
4. The threat of new entrants.
5. The threat of substitute products.

Each of the forces I have described is dynamic and may change quickly and unpredictably.

Therefore, they must be understood and monitored constantly.

In addition, different phenomena behave differently.

The Steep Analysis

The steep analysis covers“ MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS”

macro environments in which industries are immersed deeply influence the industries and their players.

That is the reason the Macro Environmental Analysis and the Five Forces Analysis

help you to understand the external environment.

Macro-environment factors influence the five forces of your industry directly,

and the analysis typically used to understand it is called Macro-Environmental Analysis or STEEP.

STEEP is an acronym for the macro environment variables: Social, Technological,

Economic, Economic, Political / Legal.

It is important to remember that the macro environment variables

do not operate alone and each variable interacts with the other.

The variables from the Macro Environment:

1. Social
2. Technology
3. Economic
4. Ecological
5. Political / Legal

Each of these variables has important effects on the competitive environment.

They need to be understood in terms of their effect on the industry structure and profitability.

In addition, it is important to estimate the probable evolution of these variables,

because the combined effects of changes in macro-environmental variables

will generate the future competitive environment

in which your firm will operate in the coming years.

The 4 Corner Analysis

4 Corners Analysis applied to COMPETITORS

Competitor analysis is essential because in some industries competitors

are the main force affecting one’s firm performance. So, one must understand the competitors,

their strategies, and most likely future actions in order to plan future actions.

Some authors refer to this kind of analysis as competitor profiling.

The concept of competitor profiling was borrowed from the military,

which has used this concept for centuries as a way of understanding

and predicting the enemy’s decisions and most likely actions

and incorporating this knowledge into their planning.

Although the benefits of this type of analysis seem obvious,

a relatively small number use this tool professionally.

When you analyze a competitor, you should focus on four factors:

· Current competitor strategy – current actions;

· Capabilities – What resources is the competitor available;

· Drivers – motivates the competitor;

· Management Assumptions – What the competitor’s executives think about the Market, for their company, and about the other market players

The Value Chain Analysis

• By analyzing the processes of an organization you may understand how it generates value,

thus identifying actions to improve them or find opportunities and threats.

• Understand the processes currently used by your own firm, your clients, and your competitors.

Understanding the external environment, competitors, and customers is important

for designing successful strategies. The 4 Corners analysis technique is very powerful

to understand the capabilities and intentions of the companies that affect you,

but sometimes it takes a deeper analysis to understand how the company

we are analyzing generates value.

analysis of how a company generates value enables you to identify opportunities and threats.

Value Chain Analysis is a disaggregation technique in which value-generating

processes are analyzed individually and then collectively.

The goal is to gain insights and identify opportunities to reduce costs

or generate greater value, which can be translated into a competitive advantage.

This model was designed with an industrial organization in mind,

but it can be applied to services – banks, insurance companies, schools, etc.

In order to do that, it is important that you understand how these organizations

generate value: the inputs, the processes of value creation, and the outputs.

Every company has two basic types of activities: Primary activities and supporting activities.

Primary activities

Primary activities refer to the generation of value. And include:

• Inbound logistics – inventory warehousing and handling

• Operations – the transformation of inputs into the final product or service

• Outbound Logistics – distribution

• Marketing & Sales – marketing communications, pricing, and channel management, etc.

• Service – post-sale support

Secondary Activities

Secondary activities are those that support primary activities:

• Firm infrastructure – Administrative support activities like accounting, legal, planning, stakeholder relations, etc.

• Human resources – hiring, incentive systems, motivation, training, promotion, labor relations, etc.

• Technology Development – engineering, R & D, information technology, etc.

• Procurement – responsible for ensuring the supply of inputs – parts or ingredients and services, in order to avoid the risk of discontinuity and to negotiate fair prices.

Conclusion:

Sales planning and sales analysis are dependent on each other and all 4 methods

which I explained are the general methods that every business should continuously use it.