A new sales position can be daunting. After all, you’ve just been entrusted with a big bucket of potential, and it’s your job to turn it into gold (. . . or revenue, but you get it). It’s your name on the spreadsheet, your prospects to win or lose, and your commissions for the taking.
Working with new leadership can be daunting too, since they want to make sure that you are on the same page with the company. It’s hard to prove that you are doing your job while you are still trying to learn the ropes and your metrics need time to line up with your colleagues.
No pressure, right?
During these critical early days, a game plan is essential. An organized schedule can help you prioritize all the vital tasks and adapt to your new environment. That’s where 30-60-90 day sales plans come into the picture.
A sales plan can help you figure out exactly how you will best execute your new position. For sales reps, it also helps take the pressure off of sales management with clear timelines and goals that they can monitor. For leadership, coming up with the right sales plan will make sure that sales reps are completing what they need to be successful and ensures that everyone is on the same page.
We’re going to show you how to build out a strategy that will help you go from getting the territory to absolutely crushing it in just three months. And the best part is, you even will know when to implement what.
Here’s what you need to know about 90 days sales plan and 30-60-90 day sales templates to get you started.
Table of Contents
1. What Is a 30-60-90 Day Plan?
2. When to Use a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan
3. How Long Should a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Be?
4. 30-60-90 Day Plan Templates for Better Sales
Template #1: 30-60-90 Day Plan for an Interview
Template #2: 30-60-90 Day Plan for a New Sales Territory
Template #3: 30-60-90 Day Plan for Managing a New Team
What Is a 30-60-90 Territory Plan?
Simply put, a 30-60-90 plan is when you strategize action steps and goals to accomplish in the first 30, 60, and 90 days of a new sales territory or position.
The plan is helpful not only for keeping yourself focused on specific targets but also for keeping your manager in the loop. The truth is, managers love 30-60-90 plans. Often, hiring managers will even ask potential sales reps to lay one out in their interview process. It’s good stuff.
There’s not a single “right way” to do these plans. But generally, they’re broken down like this:
- Days 1 through 30: Learn all you can
- Days 31 through 60: Put a plan into action
- Days 61 through 90: Make the plan better
Getting down to the details and being on the same page with your manager is a fantastic way to avoid stresses down the road for all parties. For example, if your manager knows you have a big push planned for days 31 to 60, then they’ll be able to take a breath and give you a bit more space to get acquainted with your territory from 1 to 30.
Alright, now that you know what we’re talking about, let’s get into it.
When to Use a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan
A 30-60-90 day plan is useful for mapping out the transitions in your career. Whether starting, taking on new responsibilities, or ready for growth, you can tailor your plan to meet whatever your environment. How you want to structure your sales plan depends heavily on what you want to use it to achieve. Some of the most common times that a sales plan is used include:
Interviewing for a New Sales Position
You nailed the initial interviews, have the experience and references to land a great sales job. As you enter the final round of interviews, though, you’ll be up against other candidates that are just as likable and qualified as you. A sales plan is a great way to highlight exactly what you can bring to their company.
It’s common for hiring managers to ask about a sales plan, and it’s a critical way for you to distinguish yourself from the other candidates. Often, the manager may casually ask what your plan is for the first 30, 60, and 90 days on the job. In most cases, you would benefit from having a formal plan drawn up to show that you have carefully thought through how you will tackle the job. Done well, a sales plan will enable your hiring manager to view you in your position and what would make you excel in the company.
On a New Job
Another situation that you may find yourself crafting a sales plan is early into a new job, typically during the first week. Outlining your 30-60-90 day plan will allow you to communicate with leadership so they understand how you operate and how they can best support you during the onboarding and ramp-up process. It is also a chance for you to discuss how your goals align with the company goals and discuss any questions or concerns you have about your new role.
Once you start a new job, you’ll have a clearer picture of the company’s goals to align your sales plan. Even if you came up with a sales plan during the interview process, it is time to review your plan in light of your better understanding of your new company.
Starting a new job can be overwhelming. Even if you are not required to create a sales plan when you start at a company, creating one for yourself might provide you with the clarity and vision you need to excel as quickly as possible.
Assignment to a New Territory
Sales is fluid, and even the most senior reps may find change necessary during their careers. Whether a change in a territory or learning new technology, you will likely find yourself starting over again while working for the same company.
A 30-60-90 sales plan during this time can be critical to ensure your success during the transition. It can offer organization and clarity necessary so you can concentrate on what is important and make things as smooth as possible.
If you’ve been assigned to a new territory or part of your region has shifted, you’ll want to develop a 30-60-90 day plan to get ahead of it. It’s no easy task to become acquainted with a new market. Sometimes managers will require this, but if not, you should come up with a focused plan to get organized.
Create a Leadership Strategy
Entering a company as a leader can be a challenging prospect. Each company has its own unique goals, objectives, and values that leaders need to learn. Plus, every team has a different dynamic with unique strengths and weaknesses. Even experienced managers and leaders need time to understand these before making changes. However, they may feel pressure to make immediate improvements to establish their worth.
A 30-60-90 plan is a valuable tool for new managers to establish themselves. It allows them to stay on the same page with the rest of leadership and create a strategy for making improvements. The right strategy will allow them time to understand the dynamics of the company and team they will lead so that they can manage effectively.
Leveling Up Sales Skills
Success in sales does not happen by accident. It takes intentionality and drive to make sure you are hitting not only your quotas but your own professional goals as well.
It’s not a bad idea to implement these kinds of plans on a semi-regular basis. You can use a 30-60-90 plan to audit the way you’re approaching your customers and improve upon your messaging. It’s especially helpful during times of change — for instance, during an economic downturn or when your organization is adjusting their product/market fit is an excellent time to use a 30-60-90 plan.
Whether you want to move up in your company or just want a larger commission check, a sales plan can help you start making your dreams a reality.
How Long Should a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Be?
The length of a sales plan can vary widely. The average length typically spans anywhere from 3-8 pages.
How in-depth should your plan be? It depends on what you are using your plan for. If you have a new position with multiple responsibilities, you might benefit from a longer document that can tackle your goals and plans for each part of the job. For an interview, a shorter plan would be better to keep your answer from being long and rambling (a classic interview mistake).
Your sales plan should be as long as you need it to be. Don’t feel pressured to make it longer if there is not as much to tackle, but make sure that it is adequate to address all of your needs.
30-60-90 Day Plan Templates for Better Sales
Now that we’ve discussed the general outline of a sales plan, it’s time to dive into what that means specifically. We have broken down what your plan should look like based on what you are using it to accomplish.
Some of the most common templates for 30-60-90 day sales plans include:
Template #1: 30-60-90 Day Plan for an Interview
A 30-60-90 day sales plan is one of the best ways to prepare yourself for your big interview. Even if the hiring manager doesn’t ask about your plan, it is a critical opportunity for you to research and strategize to be prepared.
Days 1-30: Gain an Understanding of the Company Values and Analyze Your Market
Coming up with the right sales plan from scratch is all about defining what success looks like in the beginning.
When it comes to a sales plan for an interview, it takes some more creative thinking to define and segment your goals. It is especially challenging because you most likely have not received clear company goals to outline.
However, you can still get a general outline to differentiate yourself from the other candidates. Take a careful look at the job description to find the necessary responsibility and qualifications for the position. What is emphasized in the description and qualifications? Is there any overlap in the two that seem significant? You can use these to distinguish goals to create an effective plan.
At its most basic, your first 30 days should include:
- Completing company training to learn valuable skills and their objectives. This goes beyond simply completing a training course and getting insights into your company and team’s high-level priorities. Understand their objectives for the future and the core goals to get you there.
- Gain an in-depth understanding of the company products or services. Your goal should be to gain mastery as soon as possible to help you advise customers and provide valuable information.
- Understand. who your target market is. Research to find out more about them. This is the time, for example, to research buyer personas and how your product or service uniquely serves them.
- Create connections in your organization. Not only should you be connecting with your sales team, but also key players for your customers. For example, you should get to know customer service and IT to create one comprehensive team for your clients.
Incorporating all of these elements should give you the chance to schedule weekly checkpoints to spend 1:1 time with a mentor or leadership to report on your progress. It is also a critical time to get support and advice for anything that comes up during this time.
Days 31-60: Get On-The-Ground Training
The first 30 days are critical to getting a solid foundation and understanding of your company. While you may still be speaking with customers depending on the company, most of your energy will be spent getting a general understanding of the company, your team, and customers. The next phase of your training plan, then, is making this theoretical knowledge practical.
The 60-day portion of your plan will likely concentrate on getting practical, on-the-ground training to put the knowledge you gained in the first 30 days to use:
- Set and revise your sales goals. You can decide what works well and resonates with customers, and what does not.
- Get to know your prospects and how you can improve the customer experience. Your hands-on experience should also give you a better understanding of your market and where you can support your customers.
- Find a mentor or more experienced team member during this time. You can shadow them to see how they best manage their territories and make sales. You can also role-play with them to sharpen your skills.
Days 61-90: Refining Your Goals and Plans
Now that you have received critical training and an in-depth understanding of your company, team, and customers, the last part of your sales plan should put that all together. It is a chance to put everything you learned together to make the most impact.
The last part of your plan should include these elements:
- Adjust your goals in light of everything you have learned.
- Optimize your list of prospects and customers to ensure you are reaching the maximum number of people possible.
- Think through your schedule. Are there certain days or times that are better for prospecting? Can you batch your schedule or schedule routes to make the most use of your time? Make the most of your time to set yourself up for success.
- Get feedback from team members and leadership. Their experience can help guide you to be as effective as possible and line up your goals with your organization. Actively seek feedback and use it to shape your strategy and goals.
The final step in a general, interview-ready sales plan is refining and perfecting your sales strategy. Now is the time to learn, adjust, and optimize your sales approach.
Template #2: 30-60-90 Day Plan for a New Sales Territory
Although a territory change does not require as much adjustment as starting at a new company from scratch, it does come with unique challenges. A solid sales plan will help ensure that you continue to meet and exceed your sales goals no matter where you are.
Here is a sample template for a territory change:
Days 1-30: Understand and Analyze Your Market with a Strategic Sales Plan
When you are just handed a brand-new territory, it pays off to do your research and understand the direction you need to go in before diving into a set plan. Rather than sprinting off blindly into the distance, let’s take these next thirty days to get fully acquainted with the market and create a strategic sales territory plan.
Sales territory plans help you orient yourself and lay out a clear, intentional approach to your sales. This is essential because when you are intentional, you’re better able to measure your results and optimize down the road.
Define
This may seem a bit simple, but it’s imperative—don’t skip it! Before you can do anything, you need to define your market and environment quantitatively. Get started by asking specific questions with objective answers:
- What are the literal geographical bounds of this territory?
- How big is the Serviceable Addressable Market (or SAM) in this territory? Or what is the value of this specific territory? You can look at profitability, potential deal values, total number of prospects, or leads—whatever is the most relevant KPI for your goals.
- How big is your Share of the Market (SOM)? Or, how much of the SAM can your company reasonably serve? Think about your available resources.
- What are the demographics of this territory? Are the companies large or small? What industry are they in? How educated are they about your solution?
- What spending power do these prospects have?
- What competitors are already here?
The more interview questions you ask, the better prepared you will be down the road—so don’t be afraid to dig in.
Analyze
Once you’ve collected your data, it’s time to make sense of it. Analyze your leads and evaluate them based on overall quality.
Your business goals define “quality.” If your current goal is to maximize revenue, you should look at potential revenue as your main KPI. If your goal is to minimize churn, you should look at the likelihood that the prospects would stick around.
Segment
Finally, you can divide your market into segments that help you target them more efficiently and effectively. It’s important to remember that segments aren’t made arbitrarily. Instead, they are defined by four things:
- Substantiality: Are there enough leads to make this segment worthwhile?
- Measurability: Can you easily identify who belongs in this segment?
- Accessibility: Does this segment represent actual prospects in your territory?
- Responsiveness: Does this segment require different sales or marketing tactics than other segments?
Typically, segments that meet these four criteria will be related to a relevant to your target KPI (noticing a theme here?). Some salespeople choose to create three segments based on the amount of “touch” (or work) involved in converting them: low touch, medium touch, and high touch. The choice is yours!
Complete a SWOT Analysis
Now that you know the basics about your territory, it’s time to evaluate your team’s relationship to it with a SWOT analysis.
“SWOT” is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Like most great tools, it seems simple at first, but you’ll find it to be invaluable as we build up our strategic sales plan.
“Strengths” and “Weaknesses” both look at the internal advantages and disadvantages your team has in this particular territory. They are directly related to your team—for example, the number of resources at your disposal.
“Opportunities” and “Threats” are external advantages and disadvantages. This has to do with the territory itself and the environment. For example, you may include competitors with a strong foothold as a threat or an underserved market as an opportunity.
Complete your own SWOT analysis by dividing a piece of paper into four columns and giving yourself some time to brainstorm. Take this exercise seriously—it’s going to come in handy soon when we start planning action steps.
Define Success
By now, the answer may be obvious, but it’s still essential to write it out explicitly and concisely: what exactly would success look like in this territory? What is your most important KPI? Based on your research, what is a reasonable but challenging expectation for you to achieve?
This is when you want to set tangible goals for yourself—a process called sales accountability, which has been shown to drive productivity, increase sales, and improve customer satisfaction. Sales accountability is all about setting specific sales quotas and goals and holding yourself accountable for hitting them.
When deciding what your goals should be, choose something that’s SMART—you know, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. (We’re really all about the acronyms here at MMC.)
Create Action Items
Finally, what we’ve all been waiting for: action items. This is the final step of creating your strategic sales territory plan. Now, you’re going to write out the blueprint that will be your guide for the following thirty days.
To find specific actions you should take to reach your SMART goals, return to your SWOT analysis, ask yourself how to take advantage of your Strengths and Opportunities, and neutralize your Weaknesses and Threats. For example:
- Is there an untapped market you can reach? How will you reach it?
- Who is your biggest competitor here? Why is your company the better choice? How will you convey this to your prospects?
- How can you let each of the team members at your disposal shine? How can you utilize their skills?
Write it out. This is going to be your guide for the next 30 days when you execute and evaluate.
Days 31-60: Execute Your Plan and Get Qualitative Feedback
For days 31 through 60, it’s time to put the pedal to the metal, for the rubber to hit the road, to make like Nike and “just do it.” It’s time to put your strategic sales territory plan into action.
For these thirty days, you’re going to have a fuller calendar than you could imagine. Your goal is to keep your head up and keep moving forward. Think of it like a writer’s first draft—you need to get something on the page to improve upon it later.
In addition to hitting your action items, here are some critical tasks for you to complete during this time.
Find New Leads
There are always more leads out there, and the more acquainted you get with your territory, the better you’ll know how (and where) to look for new customers.
The best way to find new leads is to excel at serving the customers you currently have. When you leave a path of satisfied customers in your wake, you increase your referral rate and generate free positive “press” (people talk!). Even better, these leads are warm, which means less work for a higher close rate.
Optimize Your Route
Now that you know where you need to go, you can start optimizing your route. Use a digital tool like Map My Customers to discover how to get from Customer A to Customer B and then to Customer C more efficiently—and, better yet, what order to visit them in.
See a hands-on product tour of Map My Customers
Depending on your priorities, you can choose to optimize for time spent driving, distance covered, or a specific order in which you need to meet with clients. You can save up to 30% on gas just by making this simple change!
Get Qualitative Feedback
At this point in the game, it’s too early to have a significant amount of meaningful numerical data. Instead, it’s the perfect time to lean into qualitative feedback from your own team, your customers, and your prospects.
Be sure to regularly check in with your team to see how they think things are going and if they have any ideas. A good way to do this is to schedule a time in advance for a quick touch-base with each person. Try to come to that meeting ready to listen.
You can also meet with a mentor figure at your company. This person may be in another team or higher up. The point is that they have the experience, and you value their opinion. Ask to grab coffee with them and show them what you’re up to. See if they have any useful pointers.
And, of course, you can always get feedback from your customers—and even the deals that don’t go through (which, as sad as it is, is typically the most helpful of all).
Lastly, use surveys, questionnaires, and interviews to gather as much information as possible from your customers about why they did or didn’t buy, what other solutions they considered, what they think of your business so far, etc. As they say, the customer is always right—so figure out what they think!
90: Optimize and Implement New Strategies by Using Sales Analytics
You’re nearly there—it’s the home stretch! These final thirty days are all about taking what you did up to now and doing it better. Fortunately, you should finally have some of your very own data to work with, which will give you an enormous advantage.
Run the Numbers
Now that you’ve had time for data to accumulate, we can finally get to analyzing. This is the back end of that “sales accountability” we talked about before—it’s time to see if you hit your goals.
By referencing your CRM, lay out your data in a way that helps you to make sense of it all (we love graphs). Be sure to look not just as your main KPI but at all relevant data points. Review the results with your entire team to see where you did well, where you can improve, and what was successful.
Look at the numbers and the qualitative feedback you collected side-by-side. What’s the story here? It can be useful at this point to also evaluate how specific action steps you took played out. Did they help you to address the Weakness or Threats that you identified? Or do you need a new plan?
Then, take the numbers even further. Go beyond what’s currently happening with your customers and discern what is likely to happen down the road with predictive analytics and sales forecasting.
For example, if you notice a customer has been calling into customer support more than usual—a red flag that they may churn soon—you can reach out to them with a special or thoughtful offer to keep them on board.
Individual Account Reviews
Often, figuring out the best way to serve a current customer is as simple as just asking. Maintaining a positive relationship with your customers is all about staying one step ahead and showing them that you’re thinking of them. Accomplish this by scheduling individual account reviews for each of your clients.
In these meetings, you can ask critical questions to help you better serve your client. For example:
- How has our service been?
- Have we been able to help you improve your KPI?
- How could we serve you better?
- What else are you working towards or struggling with?
This is an opportunity to gather invaluable qualitative feedback and upsell or cross-sell existing customers. Whatever you do, be sure to be empathetic—only sell what you genuinely think will be good for them
Automate Your Sales Processes
It’s hard to automate systems before you’ve worked out the kinks, but by now, you should be prepared to switch some tasks over to some handy-dandy robots (or software, but same thing).
To find the best ways to automate your processes, first, take a day or two to organize your CRM.
When you adjust to a new territory, it’s normal to be overwhelmed and make silly mistakes with your CRM. Go back through and make sure that you’ve logged all the relevant information completely and correctly.
Then, you can take a look at some of the easiest ways to automate (and the best tools out there). That way, you can focus less on menial tasks and more on selling.
Template #3: 30-60-90 Day Plan for Managing a New Team
A 30-60-90 day plan is not just for sales reps. It’s a critical tool for leadership to make concrete plans to meet their goals as well. With different roles and goals, though, the 30-60-90 day plan will look far different than a general sales plan:
Day 1-30: Get to Know Your Team
The first month of any job requires getting to know the company. You should be taking this time to learn about policies, goals, and how the company works. For leadership, in particular, this includes getting to know your team and how it currently operates.
The first month should dive deep into learning about your company in general. You should be learning about your product or service, the target market, metrics, and trends. Your team will rely on your expertise, so an in-depth understanding will be vital to your position.
Beyond the technical expertise, use this time to have conversations with your direct reports and get to know them. They can provide valuable insights to help direct your goals and understand each team member’s strengths and weaknesses.
No two teams are exactly alike. Each person brings something different to the team, and each team has different strengths and weaknesses. It’s impossible to be an effective leader and keep your team happy and motivated if you don’t take the time to understand their unique dynamics. A deep team understanding is critical to good leadership.
Days 31-60: Bringing Your Skills to the Team
While the first 30 days are about getting a more in-depth understanding of your company and team, the next 30 days are your chance to start making tangible and useful changes. You are hired for your unique skill set, so now is the time to impart that onto your team.
Take this time to identify any skills gap on your team. For example, does your team lack a tech expert to help other members navigate their sales technology? See where you can offer your expertise and where training might be necessary.
Based on what you have observed in your team and your understanding of your company, now is also a time to create goals for your team. Being able to impart a vision to your team is valuable for maintaining morale and guiding their decisions. With measurable goals, you can help shape how the team operates to meet the overall company goals.
Days 61-90: Develop and Draft a Training Strategy
Having identified your team’s gaps and goals, your final 30 days might be developing a training strategy to overcome any skills gaps and guide your direct reports into their roles in the future. It is where you take practical steps to address what you have learned and identified in the first 60 days.
While you may not be promoting people quite yet, your time so far should give you a sense of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Your final process should be coming up with the best plan to coach them to where they can be and want to be in the future.
Day 91: What Now?
Congratulations! You’ve officially gone from getting a new sales job or territory to crushing it in just 90 days. How does it feel?
Remember that “crushing it” is all about constant improvement. If you’re trying new things, looking for new opportunities, seeking out new leads, and generally playing an active role in your position, you’ll always be crushing it—even if one specific campaign isn’t a resounding success.
