By definition, a conundrum is a confusing or difficult problem or question. If you ask a sales officer for an example of one, chances are good that the sales planning process would come to his or her mind. The importance of sales planning is not in question; regardless of the business one is in, sales planning is a critical and strategic activity. It looks into the future of a company to provide a vision of how business will unfold.
How much can we sell? How big should our market be next year? These are critical questions because their answers drive revenue and help determine the number of people you need to employ and pay and how much material or goods you will need to purchase in the time ahead. Indeed, the volume of business drives nearly everything in an enterprise, and that volume is defined by sales.
As such, it’s not surprising that survey after survey shows that the sales planning process is an extremely high priority for enterprises; but the conundrum is that despite their commitment to it, sales planning is also consistently cited by companies as not meeting expectations.