Strategic planning: How it supports a perfect sales operation

I’ve led two sales teams at SaaS and was a salesperson myself. I spoke to hundreds of C-level salespeople and founders from enterprises like Coca-Cola to different IT vendors.

When we talked about strategic sales planning, it was often confused with operational planning, as I came to understand through conversations. Back then, I thought it was just wordplay. In reality, though, this leads to inadequate sales quotas and misaligned stakeholder expectations.

In fact, 56% of executives and their teams wasted time on strategic planning, while only 44% spent the strategic planning time productively.

That’s a huge gap. This fact indicates that over 50% of the sales team can improve their performance.

Theory aside — let’s dive into a practical breakdown of strategic planning in sales.

Table of Contents

What is strategic planning?
What is the purpose of strategic planning?
Strategic Planning and Sales Teams
Strategic Planning Process
Benefits of Strategic Planning
Why is strategic planning important?
Strategic Planning Software

Common frameworks for strategic planning include the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Objectives and Key Results (OKR), and the Theory of Change (TOC).

Balanced Scorecard Institute sums up strategic planning nicely:

“It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful.”

What is the purpose of strategic planning?

The purpose of strategic planning is for an organization to determine the direction it will head in over the next three to five years. You’ll set overarching goals and outline how you want to achieve them. Strategic plans are often adjusted based on market changes or unforeseen threats, so they may be modified to respond to changes in the business environment (internal or external).

When you have long-term business goals, it becomes easier for different departments in your organization to plan their activities, allocate resources, and take actions that will help your business meet your goals in the designated time frame. The plans created from strategic planning are called operational plans, and I’ll discuss the difference between the two concepts below.

Strategic plans set long-term goals, while operational plans outline the daily, monthly, and quarterly actions to achieve those goals.

Operational plans turn strategy into action.

Usually, individual departments or team leaders create operational plans to support the broader strategic objectives.

For example, if your company’s goal is to increase revenue by 75% in 3 years, each department will develop operational plans to contribute to that goal.

Customer service might focus on retention,
Sales could upsell and generate qualified leads,
Marketing may refine buyer personas to target the right customers.

In the end, each department’s efforts contribute to reaching the revenue goal.

Why is strategic planning important?

Having a solid plan keeps the team focused and proactive instead of reactive — no matter the size of the team.

When I worked at startup Signum AI as the first sales leader hire, we would typically sit together with the founder and outline our 12-month plan, which was a combo of strategic and operational goals. We mapped out high-level business goals and aspirations, and then cascaded them into quarterly and monthly operational plans aligned with marketing efforts.

It helped us meet sales quota almost every month (like 85-100%).

Without that, we would be just blind and pour money into sporadic motion, as it used to be at the very beginning (I’ll discuss this later in the article).

Bottom line: For sales teams, strategic planning directly impacts quota attainment, territory management, and how effectively reps use tools and data.

Another great example of the importance of strategic planning is Mary Kelly’s story; she is a corporate advisor and founder of Productive Leaders.

Kelly asked her friend, who owns two successful restaurants, if he was going to revisit his strategic plan going into the new year.

He literally laughed and said, “What strategic plan?”

His approach was just to figure things out along the way and keep doing what’s been working.

“To be fair, he has been doing well,” says Kelly. But she also made a really good point here: What if he could be even more successful … with less stress? That’s what strategic planning is all about.

Kelly explains that every business, no matter the size or industry, can benefit from having a strategic plan. And why is it important? Well…

A strategic plan defines your vision and mission. It sets the direction for where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.
You’re prioritizing what actually matters and putting the rest aside.
Markets change fast. With a strategy in place, you’re more prepared to pivot without losing momentum.
Everyone (not only the sales team) is pulling in the same direction.
Most importantly, it helps you measure progress. You can check in on where you are versus where you wanted to be, and adjust accordingly.

Strategic Planning and Sales Teams

The strategic plan is determined by senior leadership or executives to develop a long-term vision for the company. Then, it’s up to individual departments to create plans and strategies for their teams to align with and work towards the objectives set in the strategic plan.

Sales leaders create a sales plan (operational plan) that outlines the short-term strategies and tactics used to achieve long-term goals. This aligns sales teams and salespeople, so they know exactly what they’re working towards and how progress and success will be measured.

Benefits of Strategic Planning for Sales Teams

If I had to pick one thing as the best part of strategic planning, it’d be focusing on the right moves and creating a roadmap for long-term growth, which, in turn, brings even more benefits.

Sets the direction and improves agility and adaptability.

I used to think a long to-do list was a good strategic plan. I learned this hard lesson when I led a SaaS sales team of five people at Signum AI. In the first months, I realized we were just busy — launching things, testing channels, hiring reps, etc. — but we were not strategic.

Basically, we were chasing quotas without connecting the dots. That couldn’t last long, and so we had to rethink our approach.

Professor Roger Martin calls this the “planning trap.” Teams feel in control because they’re managing tasks, but there’s no cohesive theory of success behind it.

Instead of obsessing over execution, strategic planning makes you ask: What’s our bet? What unique approach are we taking that others aren’t?

It connects the dots between your goals, your actions, and your edge.

And here’s the impact: Organizations that build this kind of strategic clarity — where everyone understands and rallies behind the plan — are 3.4x more likely to adapt quickly when things shift.

As I previously said, strategic planning translated into our sales growth, too, hitting high monthly quotas.

Forces us to make hard, but smarter choices.

Real strategy isn’t about doing more, it’s about choosing what not to do. That part’s uncomfortable. But every time I’ve committed to one clear path over three average ones, results followed.

Strategic planning pushes you to say no to “nice-to-haves” and double down on what you believe will work. It’s a bet, it’s risky, but it also creates focus.

Research shows that when companies focus on just 2 or 3 top priorities, they usually hit all of them. But when they try to juggle 4 to 10, they tend to only get 1 or 2 done, and if they go over 10, they often don’t finish any.

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Aligns sales and marketing teams toward a clear, mutual goal.

When there’s no strategic planning, sales teams chase random targets or react to short-term numbers. The same goes for the marketing department. They shoot campaigns just to hit the number of lead goals without much thinking about their quality and the number of lost relevant opportunities.

Guess what? That happened to us, too. But this time, in all the SaaS companies where I was employed. Marketing could launch a crazy campaign that filled our pipelines with totally irrelevant leads. The worst time was when 3 SDRs suffocated with 100+ leads over a week, with a 70% disqualification rate. I was furious because we must have contacted them, gone on discovery calls, and done basic SDR stuff to qualify them.

Conversely, a clear plan means everyone knows why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Not only does it sound great, but companies with strong sales and marketing alignment also close 38% more deals compared to those with poor alignment.

Moreover, a 2024 report from InfoPro Learning found that 61% of execs struggle to connect strategy with day-to-day sales efforts. But when all employees understand the plan, they’re 77% more likely to perform at the highest level possible.

Also, according to one of the most experienced salespeople, Anthony Nicks, a clear sales process leads to 15% more salespeople achieving their quotas and 18% higher revenue growth compared to those without a defined process.

And speaking of growth, let’s close it out with the final benefit.

Turns sales into a long-term growth engine.

When your plan is strategic, you stop measuring success only by this quarter’s quota. You start thinking bigger: lifetime value, customer loyalty, and market positioning.

From my experience, companies that take time to build a strategic sales plan (one that connects marketing, product, and customer success) see compounding growth. Not explosive overnight wins, but steady, predictable scale.

Here’s a real-world example that backs “my” theory up:

Lloyds Banking Group recently pinpointed 18.7 million of its 27 million customers as key growth opportunities. As part of a new sales initiative, they’ve trained a team of around 830 people to focus on building stronger customer relationships.

The goal? Boost the average number of products sold per customer by 5% by the end of 2024. That’s a long-term play built on connection, not just conversion.

Pro tip: I suggest using HubSpot’s Growth Strategy Template to map out your growth plan. It helps you monitor revenue, expand into new regions, add products, and grow your customer base. Super easy to fill out and keep an eye on progress.

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The strategic planning process is designed during planning sessions to define the business’s overall vision and high-level, long-term goals that the business wants to achieve. The outcome of the entire process is a strategic plan.

1. Prepare for strategic planning.

Getting your strategic planning off the ground starts with setting the right foundation. I was part of strategic planning for a charitable foundation, a startup, and another SaaS company where I had worked. Here’s how we set things up to make sure we were ready to execute:

Choose the right people.

First, you need the right mix of people:

Executives and leadership set the vision and help guide the direction.
The finance team keeps us grounded. Their input ensures the strategy is financially feasible.
The operations team knows the nuts and bolts of the business. They make sure our plans are practical and can actually be executed, even if something has to be modified.
The product team ensures the strategy aligns with what customers need.
Sales and marketing teams know the customer and the market. Their input is critical for targeting the right opportunities.
HR is often overlooked, but they make sure we have the right talent and resources to pull off the plan.

Set a realistic timeline.

When we have the right team in place, we usually want it all now and as soon as possible, but that’s not how things work. Here’s what to take into account when setting a realistic timeline:

Company size and complexity: Smaller companies may only need a few weeks, while bigger ones might need a few months. I set a timeline based on the scope of the project.
Allow for flexibility: Always leave room for adjustments. Plans change, and you don’t want to be scrambling when something unexpected comes up.
Milestones: Break it down into phases (research, strategy development, feedback, approval) to stay on track.

Pro tip: I incorporated regular milestone reviews (every 2–4 weeks) to assess progress, identify issues early on, and make necessary adjustments.

Set clear expectations.

The team is ready, we have deadlines, so it’s time to make sure everyone knows what’s expected of them.

Commitment level: Be clear about how much time they’ll need to dedicate to attending meetings, presenting data, or leading a part of the process.
Preparation: Always ask your team to come ready with research or data that can contribute to the conversation. It makes the sessions more efficient, and everyone feels their opinion matters.

2. Assess the business.

At this point, you want to know where your business stands. And this is how to do it:

Evaluate internal and external factors.

Look at what’s driving the business and what could hold it back. Here are some key things I advise focusing on.

Growth areas: Is a specific part of the business growing fast? Identify what’s working and figure out how to support that growth further.
Technology: Are there any new tools or tech that could make a big difference in improving efficiency or processes? If so, look at how you can use them.
Legislation changes: Keep an eye on any laws or regulations that could impact the business. If something’s coming down the pipeline, ensure you’re prepared to respond.

Choose the strategic planning frameworks.

I always rely on these five frameworks because they keep me clear on the big picture, help me spot what matters, and make it easier to turn ideas into real steps.

SWOT Analysis: Identifies your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It helps you understand what’s working and where you’re vulnerable.

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Porter’s Five Forces: Looks at competition by analyzing new competitors, supplier power, customer power, substitutes, and industry rivalry. It helps you spot market pressures.
Balanced Scorecard (BSC): A visual plan that shows your mission, vision, goals, and how to measure progress with KPIs and action steps.
Objectives and Key Results (OKR): Pick 3–5 main goals, and for each, set 3–5 measurable results you can track with a score (like 0–100%).
Theory of Change (TOC): Start with your big goals, then work backward to figure out the steps needed to get there.
PESTLE Analysis: Evaluates the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors affecting your business. It’s about understanding outside forces that could impact you.

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3. Outline your mission, vision, and key stakeholders.

What’s your business’s mission or vision? Identify the core values and priorities of your business by outlining your mission and vision statements.

Mission: This is why you exist. Keep it customer-focused. What problem are you solving, and how does your product/service help?

Example: “We want to help small businesses scale with affordable tech solutions.”

Vision: This is your end goal. What’s the bigger picture?

Example: “To be the top provider of cloud solutions, helping businesses thrive.”

Identify your target customers.

Know exactly who you’re selling to. Create profiles based on their pain points, needs, and buying behavior.

For example, if you’re selling a productivity tool, target business owners looking for efficiency.

Focus on what’s driving their buying decisions. If they need more efficiency, position your product as the solution to that issue. Sell outcomes, not features.
Go after high-potential customers who are likely to convert and stick around. Look at repeat buyers and big spenders, then tailor your efforts to them.

List all stakeholders.

Include investors, suppliers, and board members. Keep them informed on how your strategy will drive profits and growth.

Start with aspirational goals.

Your goals should focus on measurable growth.

Avoid vague goals. Instead of “grow the business,” aim for clear targets like “Get 100 new customers by Q3.”
Tie your goals to delivering value. Example: “Increase customer retention by 15% by improving the user experience.”

4. Create a strategic plan.

Record the agreements and strategies in a strategic plan. The strategic plan is a physical document that can be shared across departments in the company.

With this project portfolio management system, you can manage ideas and projects to help you and your team develop a strategy. An interesting feature is the star rating system that allows employees to rate each project. The system takes this information, analyzes it, and rates the project’s overall potential.

The tool creates transparency between leaders and employees, and management is able to engage with the feedback to improve upon their strategic goals and projects.

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With a strategic plan, your company and your sales organization will be well-equipped to set goals and achieve them.

Plan first. Crush it later.

At the end of the day, even the best sales team can’t hit its stride without a clear plan guiding its efforts.

It’s not just about planning for the sake of it. A strategic plan means smarter decisions — faster, better, more effective.

With the right people, the right process, and the right focus, strategic planning can turn vision into execution. And execution into results. I witnessed it firsthand — once as the one who fine-tuned sales operations, and in another case, as the one expected to follow orders.

So if you want to move from chaos to clarity, start with a strategy. Your sales team (and your bottom line) will thank you.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Strategic planning: How it supports a perfect sales operation

What is the purpose of strategic planning?

Why is strategic planning important?

Strategic Planning and Sales Teams

Benefits of Strategic Planning for Sales Teams

Sets the direction and improves agility and adaptability.

Forces us to make hard, but smarter choices.

Aligns sales and marketing teams toward a clear, mutual goal.