Business Issues: Developing a Tactical Sales Plan By Duane Love Seneca Creek Consulting If you have an existing business development team or plan to hire one, a tactical sales plan is an essential tool for BD professionals. It is often said that up-front planning makes for more predictable results and favorable expectations. A well thought out tactical sales plan will provide your BD personnel with a step-by-step roadmap, tailored to the specific solutions in your portfolio and in your business plan. The place to start is to match your performance and services with three to five agencies that have budgets and requirements compatible with your solutions portfolio. Determining how each agency buys will directly impact your strategies for bidding, partnering and contracting. For example, every agency is unique in that each one has preferred ways of doing business. Some utilize agency or governmentwide contracting vehicles; others prefer single or multiple award competitive acquisitions; while others are amenable to GSA Schedule buys. Each agency targeted must have a sales strategy unique to the agency. How you sell to the Army Corps of Engineers is very different from the way you would sell to the General Services Administration. We recommend that a tactical sales plan be concise and straightforward. Suggested areas the plan should address include: *Where you are currently selling and at what levels. *Who you are going to target—e.g., agency heads, program management, major integrators, etc. *What agencies, opportunities and partners will you focus on (current agencies plus new agencies and partners)? *How management will achieve its objectives and measure success. Components of the plan may include: 1. Target agencies and existing and future acquisition programs where your solution and value statement have the best fit. 2. Target partners to work with including large, small and SDV companies. 3. Strategy for utilizing additional contracting vehicles in addition to the GSA Schedule. 4. Differentiators to position you with customers and partners. 5. Key sales objectives and milestones. 6. Management reporting requirements and formats. 7. BD support required to implement the plan. 8. Lead generation activities to support the sales effort. It is often said that one cannot manage that which cannot be measured. The Tactical Sales Plan is one of the tools in your kit that help achieve the measurement portion of this goal. For more information, visit www.SenecaCreekConsulting.com.