Annual Sales Planning: A Forrester Perspective

In B2B sales, unstructured, undisciplined annual planning frequently results in a lack of alignment between functional groups, poor execution, and failure to achieve corporate revenue and profitability goals. To drive consistent outcomes, the sales function must follow a disciplined process that includes agreeing on corporate goals and objectives, aligning with other functions such as marketing and product, and setting strategies and outlining activities that can be tracked throughout the year. In this report, we introduce the Forrester Sales Planning Model, which sales leaders and sales operations can use to develop a comprehensive annual sales plan.