Every sales team wants to win more leads and close more deals. But how do you make that happen? With a solid sales plan, of course!
A sales plan gives your team a way to focus on your goals while taking only the necessary steps to get there. It has everything you need to win, which means it’s often a comprehensive guide—and that takes time.
And we’re guessing you’re already pressed for time. ⏲️
Fortunately, creating a plan doesn’t have to be complicated—with the right template, you can simplify the process.
That’s why we’re sharing this list of the best sales plan templates. Not only are these sales strategy templates absolutely free but they’ll also save you time so you can start closing those deals faster. ⚡
- What Is a Sales Plan and Why Create One?
- 10 Sales Plan Templates to Help You Close Your Next Deal
- 1. ClickUp Sales Plan Template
- 2. ClickUp Sales and Marketing Plan Template
- 3. ClickUp Sales Strategy Guide Template
- 4. ClickUp Sales Pipeline Template
- 5. ClickUp Sales KPI Template
- 6. ClickUp B2B Sales Strategy Template
- 7. ClickUp Sales Calls Template
- 8. Word Sales Plan Template by Business News Daily
- 9. Word Sales Plan Template by TemplateLab
- 10. Excel Sales Plan Template by Spreadsheet.com
What Is a Sales Plan and Why Create One?
A sales plan is your roadmap for how to make sales effectively. Think of it in the same way that a business plan guides the strategy for your company or a marketing plan sets out how you’ll find, reach, and serve your ideal customers.
A good sales plan sets out your sales goals, objectives, and sales activities. It considers your target audience, brand, products, services, and needs—and covers which sales tactics and strategies you’ll use to close deals, as well as which metrics you’ll use to measure success.
Your sales plan is a practical plan that outlines who’s responsible for what, the resources you’ll need, and the overall goals you’re working toward. Without one, your sales team will feel lost and struggle to connect with your customer base.
With a strategic sales plan, though, the sales manager and the entire team will know exactly what you’re trying to achieve and the steps needed to get there. 📚
How to choose the best sales plan template
There are so many different sales plan templates out there. Some are designed for specific niche audiences, while others are more generic and easier to customize. How do you know which is the right template for you?
When you’re thinking about using a sales plan template, consider the following:
- Ease of use: Is the template easy to use? Will everyone in the team structure and sales planning process be able to understand it fully?
- Customization: Can I personalize the template to match my sales goals?
- Sales Collaboration: Can my sales team work on this template together?
- Integrations: When I create a sales plan, can I integrate this template with other aspects of my sales pipeline or workflow, like task management?
- Artificial intelligence: Can I use a built-in AI writing tool or copywriting tool to help me complete the template? Are there sales automation features that speed up the process?
- Platform: Which sales app is this template for? Do I have it already, or should I invest in it? What’s the pricing like?
Asking yourself these questions will help you figure out what your needs are, so you can then choose a template to match.
10 Free Sales Plan Templates in Word, Excel, & ClickUp
Now that you have a better idea of what you’re looking for, let’s explore what’s out there. Take a look at our hand-picked selection of the best sales plan templates available today for Microsoft Word and sales enablement tools like ClickUp.
1. ClickUp Sales Plan Template
Smart sales teams use a sales plan to map out their route to success. The best sales teams use the Sales Plan Template by ClickUp to simplify the process and ensure they don’t leave anything out.
This template is designed with all the structure you need to create a comprehensive sales plan that can drive results. Use this template to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) business goals; plan strategies and tactics; and organize all your sales ideas in one place.
The list-style template is split into sections that cover the executive summary all the way through to specific tactics and strategies. Beneath this, you can arrange tasks and subtasks, and see the progress at a glance. View task titles, deadlines, who’s responsible, approval status, and a visual progress bar.
Use this template if you want to consolidate all your sales tasks and initiatives in one area. Add your sales tasks and tactics, then tag team members so you can see what’s happening and hold everyone accountable. ✅
2. ClickUp Sales and Marketing Plan Template
While sales and marketing teams often work independently, sometimes it’s useful to collaborate on shared goals. With the Sales and Marketing Plan Template by ClickUp, you can organize and run your sales and operations from one location.
Our collaborative template makes it easy to set sales and marketing goals and objectives, visualize your tasks, work together on sales and marketing campaigns, and track your results in real-time. View the status of your sales and marketing projects, adjust your plans, and monitor your key performance indicators (KPIs)—all from one view.
This sales and marketing plan template allows you to split your tasks into sections. The examples in the template include revenue goals, competitive analysis, and action items, but you can customize these to match your needs exactly.
View tasks beneath these categories to see at a glance whether there are any roadblocks when a task is due, and who is responsible for it.
Add this template to your collection if you want to work more collaboratively with your marketing team—especially on preparing assets for sales calls or outreach programs. 📞
3. ClickUp Sales Strategy Guide Template
Before you can plan your sales tactics, you first need to decide what your overall goals are. The Sales Strategy Guide Template by ClickUp is your go-to resource for determining your approach.
This sales process template explains the benefits of having a well-defined approach and gives you a central place to create, review, and store your own. Everyone on your team can then access your sales strategy guide to help them understand what to do when prospecting and closing deals.
Our sales goals and strategy guide template is presented in a document format. Some sections and headings allow you to split your guide into different areas, making it easier to read and understand.
Use the prompts to fill out your own strategy guide details like your target market, sales strategies, and how you’ll monitor progress.
Use this sales strategy guide template to create a resource for your team. Make it the only destination for everything your sales reps need to know to execute an effective sales plan. 📝
4. ClickUp Sales Pipeline Template
Sales strategies are a must-have for any great sales team, but beyond that, you need a way to record and monitor specific tasks or initiatives. That’s where the Sales Pipeline Template by ClickUp comes in handy whether you need a visual into sales forecasting or your specific sales goals.
This sales pipeline template gives you one place to store all your daily sales-related tasks. With this template, it’s easy to work toward your sales goals, track leads, map out each step of the sales process, and organize all your tasks in one place.
You can view a task’s title, assignee, status, due date, complexity level, start date, and department—or customize the experience with your own custom fields.
5. ClickUp Sales KPI Template
With ClickUp’s Sales KPI Template, you and your team can create and manage goals surrounding your sales initiatives. See instantly what’s in progress and when it’s due, alongside the task’s impact level.
This allows you to identify high-priority tasks to focus on and to react quickly if it looks like there’s a roadblock.
This sales KPI template includes:
- Custom Statuses: Create tasks with custom statuses such as Open and Complete to keep track of the progress of each KPI
- Custom Fields: Utilize 15 different custom attributes such as Upsell Attempts, Value of Quotes, Product Cost, No of Quotes by Unit, Repeat Sales Revenue, to save vital KPI information and easily visualize performance data
- Custom Views: Open 4 different views in different ClickUp configurations, such as the Weekly Report, Monthly Report, Revenue Board per Month, and Getting Started Guide so that all the information is easy to access and organized
- Project Management: Improve KPI tracking with tagging, dependency warnings, emails, and more
This template gives you a simple way to see which tasks are complete or in progress, so you can monitor the progress of your project and crush your sales KPIs. 📈
6. ClickUp B2B Sales Strategy Template
While there’s not a huge difference in the way we market to business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) customers these days, it’s still useful to have specific templates for niche needs. If you’re driving sales in the B2B space, you need the B2B Sales Strategy Template by ClickUp.
Like our first sales plan template, this one gives you space to communicate your sales objectives and revenue targets, but it also introduces other areas—like market research, stakeholder analysis, customer relationships, buyer persona, and customer pain points.
This document-style template is highly customizable so you can make it match your brand style and sales approach. Fill in each section and use the supplied prompts to complete your B2B sales strategy document even faster.
Add this template to your collection if you’re working in B2B sales and want to approach your process in a more organized way. Use the template to build a strong sales strategy, then share it with the rest of your sales team so they know how to execute against your sales and company goals. 🎯
7. ClickUp Sales Calls Template
ClickUp’s Sales Calls Template is designed to streamline the sales process, from tracking contacts and calls to managing sales opportunities.
The template includes custom statuses for creating unique workflows, ensuring that every call and client interaction is accounted for. It also provides an easy-to-use Sales CRM to manage and track leads, visualize sales opportunities in the sales funnel, and keep all contacts organized.
With additional features like the Sales Phone Calls SOP Template, sales professionals can empower their teams to make every call count and close more deals. ClickUp’s Sales Calls Template is a versatile solution for sales teams, aiding in everything from daily calls to long-term sales forecasting.
8. Word Sales Plan Template by Business News Daily
We’re big advocates of using ClickUp as the go-to place to store everything about your sales workflow, but if you’re limited to using Microsoft Word or Google Docs, then this template is a great option.
This sales business plan template has sections for your executive summary, mission statement, target customers, sales targets, benchmarks, and more. Each section has useful prompts to guide you on completing your new sales plan.
Use this template if you’re tied to using Microsoft Word and want a comprehensive guide on how to create your own sales plan or sales strategy. 📄
9. Word Sales Plan Template by TemplateLab
If you want a free sales plan template or want to choose from a variety of options, this collection of Word templates by TemplateLab is a good place to do that.
There’s a wide range of options available including sales process plans, lead generation plans, sales action plans, and sales report templates. Each template works with Microsoft Word, and you can customize the look and feel to match your brand or your sales goals.
Use this resource if you prefer to see a range of templates on one page, or if you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for until you see it. You can easily set your sales goals and the action steps needed to achieve them. 📃
Successful sales strategies need to be integrated with other teams—like your marketing department—to ensure your sales objectives are clear and possibly align with the overall marketing strategy too. Choose your specific sales goals, set revenue targets, and describe everything in detail with these Word sales planning and sales process templates.
10. Excel Sales Plan Template by Spreadsheet.com
The Excel Sales Plan Template by Spreadsheet.com is a comprehensive and user-friendly tool designed to assist businesses in developing effective sales strategies and managing their sales activities.
This template is crafted with the aim of providing a structured framework for sales planning, enabling organizations to set clear objectives, track performance, and optimize their sales processes.
Types of Sales Strategies
It’s essential to know that there isn’t a single ‘best’ strategy that will work for every business or every sales team. It all depends on your business goals, the nature of your product or service, your audience demographics, and various other factors. Here’s an overview of some of the most common types of sales strategies that you may consider incorporating into your sales plan:
Solution Selling: This strategy involves identifying a problem that your prospective customer is experiencing and positioning your product or service as the best solution. This requires a deep understanding of your customers’ pain points and how your offerings can address those issues.
Value Selling: Value selling is a strategy often used in B2B sales where the focus is on communicating the overall value that a product or service brings to a customer’s business. It involves demonstrating how features and benefits translate to significant returns on investment, savings, or productivity gains for your customer.
Social Selling: With the prevalence of social media platforms in today’s business landscape, social selling has become highly effective. It involves using social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to find and engage with potential customers. By providing useful content, answering questions, and engaging in conversations, salespeople can build relationships and generate leads.
Inbound Selling: Inbound selling puts the customer first. It’s a sales methodology that focuses on personalizing the sales experience based on where the buyer is in their journey. This strategy aligns sales efforts with buyer needs to provide solutions that are the best fit for their individual challenges.
Consultative Selling: This strategy involves acting as a trusted adviser to potential customers. The focus is on building relationships, understanding the needs and problems of the customer, and then recommending solutions. It’s more about dialogue and less about pitching.
Account-Based Selling: Account-based selling is a strategic approach that treats individual accounts as markets of their own. It involves crafting personalized buying experiences that cater to the unique needs and challenges of high-value accounts.
Each of these sales strategies can bring efficiency and effectiveness to your sales process. However, the key to success is understanding and selecting which strategy aligns best with your business model and customer base. Then, incorporate it into your sales plan and support it with the right sales plan template.
Sales Planning Tips and Strategies
Planning is a crucial aspect for a successful sales strategy. Here are some valuable tips and strategies to boost your sales planning process:
1. Set Clear Objectives: Clearly outline what you want to achieve. Your objectives are your guiding light, providing a direction for your sales planning. These objectives should align with broader business goals.
2. Understand Your Audience: Research extensively about your target audience. Understand their needs, desires, and pain points. The more you know about your potential customers, the better you’ll be able to position your product or service effectively.
3. Implement SMART Goals: Your sales plan should be based on SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound) goals. This way, your goals will be clear, realistic, and trackable.
4. Stay Informed about Market Trends: Business environments are constantly changing. Stay updated with the latest industry trends and competitor strategies to keep your sales plan agile and effective.
5. Incorporate Sales Tools: The effective use of technology can completely transform your sales process. Build your sales tech stack with CRM software, data analytics, and sales project management platforms like ClickUp to automate processes and give your sales team a high-impact lift.
6. Regularly Review and Adjust Your Plan: Your sales plan should be a dynamic document. Regularly revisiting and adjusting your plan based on performance metrics, market changes, or shifts in company goals ensures that your sales strategy remains relevant and effective.
7. Train and Empower Your Sales Team: The success of any plan lies in its execution. Provide your sales team with proper training and resources they need to effectively implement the sales plan. Encourage them to also bring innovative ideas to the table.
8. Customer Retention: Don’t just focus on acquiring new customers. Implement strategies in your sales plan to retain existing customers as it’s often more cost-effective to maintain a loyal customer base than to constantly seek out new ones.
9. Refine Your Sales Pitch: Ensure your value proposition is strong and compelling. Your sales pitch should highlight the unique values and benefits of your product or service.
10. Measure Performance: Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of your sales plan. This can provide valuable insights about what’s working and what needs to be improved.
By incorporating these sales planning tips and strategies into your processes, you can improve your sales plan’s effectiveness and increase your chances of success. As always, keep an open mind to adjustments and improvements along the way!
Reach Sales Goals With Free Sales Strategy Templates
A strategic sales plan makes it easier to achieve your goals. Give your team the guidance and support they need with the help of a well-crafted free sales plan template.
If you’re considering making even more improvements in how you work, try ClickUp for free. We don’t just have incredible sales process templates: Our range of features and AI tools for sales make it easy for you to optimize and run your entire sales funnel and CRM system from one place. ✨