When you are starting a franchise business for the first time, you need to be aware in advance of the type of products and services you will be selling to consumers within a particular target market industry. While in saying this, it might seem obvious to you, but understanding what your business is providing and to what customers you will be targeting is essential to the long term success of your business.

In order to ensure your business is successful from day one, consider writing up an effective sales plan, where you can state clearly who your customers are, what potential customers you need to target, how to pitch your sale and close the deal.

View the following points on how you can create an effective sales plan…

1. Study Your Consumer Base

The first step you should take in writing up an effective sales plan is to conduct some useful consumer market research. Understanding who your customers are and what their needs are will be essential to your selling pitch of products and services.

For example, if you are setting up a café franchise in your local community, you will want to target business professionals for lunch time specials, couples and families for evening meals and brunches, and finally take-away customers who will want on-the-go sandwiches and beverages. In understanding your market requirements and needs will make it easier for you to sell your services within a “niche market”.

Secondly, if you have existing clients who already know about your business brand and services, you should not rely solely on their consumer presence, but rather widen your existing consumer base to include new customers and find innovative ways to retain and build consumer loyalty to your brand and business.

In this way, you will effectively manage more business sales than if you didn’t carry out some vital consumer market research…

2. Set Realistic Goals

After deciding who your customer base is and why and how you will target them, the next step is define realistic goals on how you will achieve consistent sales growth for the forthcoming months of business.

This is not an easy task, but one that must be ascertained prior to the launch of the new franchise business. In order to be successful in the long term, you must set realistic weekly and monthly sales goals and it is up to you or a sales employee to determine these goals and how to reach them.

Most importantly with this step is not to be too ambitious with your sales targets, you need to allow yourself some flexibility if some months are much slower than others and to determine if a great month will balance out a bad one!

In order to assess your predictive sales targets you can enlist the help and advice of the franchisor, which will have completed the very same process with established franchisees. Never be afraid to ask for help when it comes to successful sales of your business…

3. Target the Right People

Now you know exactly what groups of consumers you would like to target and the realistic goals you have in achieving your sales quota for the month/year, the next step is to follow through with the sales pitch and deliver some results!

Once again, achieving sales targets can mean a number of different things and can be achieved via a number of different formats depending on the franchise business and industry you are working in. For example, if you are selling luxury holidays online, you will be targeting consumers via email, internet and phone. If you are in the fast food industry you can achieve sales targets via marketing and promotional offers to get consumers to come to your fast food restaurant. Whatever method of sales you choose to implement you must target your consumer base effectively with no “hard sell” unless really needed!

4. Practice Your Sales Pitch

If you are targeting consumers directly either by phone of face-to-face you must perfect your sales pitch on how you can promote and actively sell your products or services. You must know the main benefits of your product and service and use these points as your main argument when posing the sales pitch.

Before you meet face-to-face with a potential client be sure you know as much as you can about the individual and how your product or service could enhance their life personally or their business. This will ensure you know exactly how to win over the customer and how the service or product of your business will have a positive impact on them when they decide to buy.

5. Closing the Deal

This is the most important part of the sales plan and you must attract attention for your product or service via marketing and advertisings as much as you can. Creating brand awareness amongst the consumer market you are targeting will ensure on some conscious level of the consumer’s knowledge of whom and what you are in business.

Be careful of objections to your sale and identify some other “benefits” you could use to attract the customer in a different sales pitch. Remember customers will want to know why you are providing this service or product so be upbeat, positive and passionate about your business.

After you close a deal, remember to maintain after-sales customer care so that you retain your customer and build an effective and loyal relationship. This will help your business to grow and be consistently successful.

Aine Meade is a Website Editor for Franchise Direct, a leading Internet franchise advertising portal. Aine creates high quality franchise information for its international websites in the U.S., and Europe. Aine has a BA (First) in English and History; MA in Literature & Publishing; Diploma in Media Journalism and a Diploma in Marketing.

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good post on how to increase sales and effective sales planning methods

 Posted by: sales planning at June 20, 2008 9:44 AM

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