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30-60-90 day sales plan: examples, tips, and template

Discover how a 30-60-90 day plan can supercharge your sales team. Learn how to write a three-month strategy to train new managers and reps, and to sell in new territories.

Last updated October 29, 2024

The illustration shows two sales team members carrying a giant calendar

What is a 30-60-90 day sales plan?

The 30-60-90 day sales plan is a simple roadmap to get sales reps or managers in new companies and territories up to speed quickly. The three-month strategy is broken down into achievable steps that help salespeople learn the ropes, build relationships, and start hitting sales targets.

Icon of a calendar with check marks next to the text:

Are you bringing in a team of new hires or expanding into new territories? Implementing a 30-60-90 day sales plan could be the jumpstart your sales team needs, especially when you have fresh faces on the team or find yourselves at a crossroads, with new opportunities on the horizon that demand you pivot your approach.

The 30-60-90 day sales plan is essentially a three-month plan to open up new markets, boost your sales engagement, and up your team’s performance. But before a new rep can start smashing those quotas, they’ll need time and a well-defined sales strategy. That’s where the 30-60-90 day plan comes in.

In this guide, we’ll help you create your own 30-60-90 day sales plan and provide effective examples you can use to kick-start your next sales push.

More in this guide:

When to use a 30-60-90 day plan for sales

The 30-60-90 day sales plan works brilliantly for launching new projects, meeting and assessing new hires, and expanding into new markets. But that isn’t all. Here are other times when a 30-60-90 day sales plan can work wonders:

  • Onboarding new hires: Help new team members feel welcome and get them learning the ropes quickly, so they can start selling ASAP.
  • Selling in a new territory: Figure out what customers want in this new market, and how and where to reach them most effectively.
  • Interviewing candidates for a sales manager position: Find someone who can lead the team and deliver results by asking them to present their 30-day, 60-day, 90-day sales plan and see how it fits with your team vision.
  • Training the sales team: Keep your team sharp by teaching them new skills and strategies—and revisit training areas regularly to keep those skills fresh.
  • Changing the sales strategy: Decide if your current sales plan is working and make adjustments as and when needed to avoid missing opportunities
  • Setting team or personal goals: Laying out a clear timeframe to work towards motivates teams and individuals to stay on course and deliver.

Benefits of a 30-60-90 day sales plan

For team leaders guiding people in career development, welcoming new starters, and motivating ever-changing sales teams, a good 30-60-90 day sales plan can make a significant impact.

Key benefits include:

  • Starting as you mean to go on: A well-thought-out 30-60-90 day plan for sales can really impress colleagues, above and below, as it proves that you’re organised, eager, and ready to hit the ground running.
  • Avoiding burnout: A sales job can mean a lot on your plate, so a three-month plan helps you break things down into smaller, more manageable steps and prevent people from feeling overwhelmed and stressed.
  • Honing time management: At times, any job can be confusing and time-consuming. 30-60-90 sales plans keep the team on track and focused on the most important tasks at hand.
  • Building trust with colleagues: Setting goals that involve working with others help you learn about the company and build trust with your team. These blossoming relationships could be the start of something beautiful.
  • Learning new tools: The 30-60-90 day plan is a great way to set goals and track your progress, be it for expanding your skillset, hitting sales targets or smashing your next career milestone.

What to include in a 30-60-90 day plan—outline

When it comes to sales force management, you cannot rely on training and memory alone to get salespeople up to scratch, especially for new hires who only retain 16% of sales training in their first three months. Having a 30-60-90 day sales planning document you can refer back to is a no-brainer, and will help keep your sales team on the straight and narrow.

But what should a 30-60-90 day sales plan template include? Ideally, your 30-60-90 day plan should outline the who, what, when, where, and how for the next three months.

There’s no right or wrong way to format a 30-60-90 day plan—so create a version that works best for you. The basic idea is that each 30-day chunk represents a new area of focus: learning, implementing, and improving.

Phase 1: A 30-day sales plan

The first 30 days are all about establishing where you’re at and what you need to know. In month one, it’s all about building an in-depth understanding of your company and its customers. For those working in new sales territories, this includes exploring the geographic area, understanding its demographics, and identifying target markets.

Phase 2: A 60-day sales plan

The second month is where you put this knowledge into action. In this next phase, new sales reps and managers begin to apply their acquired knowledge. They dive into the sales process, track performance, and start exploring new leads within their territories.

Phase 3: A 90-day sales plan

The final stage is for reflecting and refining. This third month means looking back at what you’ve done and figuring out what worked and what didn’t. Knowledge is power—by identifying areas for improvement and refinement, you can use what you learnt to inform future projects.

How to write a 30-60-90 day sales plan

Over 90 days, new hires will retain just 16% of all sales training received. Source: The Brevet Group. Illustration of a person typing on a laptop.

When creating a sales plan, there’s no textbook standard—it should be adaptable to your business and industry. Your 30-60-90 day sales plan should be easy to follow, concise, and well organised. Most plans range from three to eight pages—anything longer can become overwhelming.

A good start is the goal, metric, and timeline approach. Here’s an example goal layout to get you off to a head start.

Goal: Learn about the company’s products.

  1. Review product catalogue for at least 30 minutes every day.

  2. Talk to at least three colleagues about the product every week.

  3. Read at least 20 product reviews from customers every day.

Metric: Be able to speak with someone about the product for 15 minutes unprompted and answer all questions—without having to look at the catalogue.

Timeline: By the end of the month.

Writing your 30-60-90 day plan is just the start: part of the plan may involve creating a sales deck for a pitch or sales script, so make sure you factor in enough time to do these important areas justice.

Remember, everyone learns differently. Any plan should be tailored to your individual learning style and work habits—perhaps you’re a visual learner, or prefer bullet point lists—so be ready to adapt.

30-60-90 day plan sales examples

When creating a 30-60-90 day sales plan, there are countless ways to go, but the best route will be the one that is specific to you and your organisation. Let’s focus on three key sales instances where having a great 30-60-90 day plan can prove invaluable: for new sales managers, new sales reps, and new sales territories.

30-60-90 day plan for new sales managers

For a 30-60-90 day plan for new sales managers to work, it’s essential to set expectations, understand how team members respond to changes, and ensure everyone is keeping up. It’s a fun idea to have motivational sales quotes to inspire a new sales team, but make sure you have the basics below covered first.

Phase 1: days 1–30

  1. Learn key pieces of information (birthdays, likes, dislikes, etc.) about every team member.

  2. Identify any sales management tools you might need, such as a CRM.

  3. Do in-depth research on the competition and current market trends.

  4. Study team reports to become familiar with individual strengths and weaknesses.

  5. Observe and record the daily activities of team members.

  6. Make at least one small change to operations based on feedback from the team.

Phase 2: days 31–60

  1. Identify skills gaps within the team.

  2. Set new measurable goals for team members based on their reports.

  3. Make at least one small change to support the team.

  4. Write a plan of action for the next 30 days.

Phase 3: days 61–90

  1. Strategise for new training and coaching sessions.

  2. Collect data to project how a new strategy could generate greater payoff.

  3. Create a structured schedule that implements the proposed changes.

30-60-90 day plan for new sales reps

Recruiters like it when new sales reps come raring to go. A 30-60-90 day sales plan shows that you’ve considered how you’ll start, what you’ll learn, and how you’ll grow in the job.

Phase 1: days 1–30

  1. Complete all onboarding and training.

  2. Become familiar with the company’s mission.

  3. Learn about the company’s products and/or services.

  4. Research the target market and ideal customer profiles.

  5. Learn the names and roles of everyone on the team and/or in the company.

  6. Schedule weekly check-ins with regional managers to discuss progress.

  7. Research the competition.

Phase 2: days 31–60

  1. Shadow a top sales team member.

  2. Get hands-on experience interacting with prospects.

  3. Role play interactions with managers and team members.

  4. Set clear sales goals

  5. Keep a clear journal of all sales activities.

Phase 3: days 61–90

  1. Review your journal and identify areas for improvement.

  2. Test out new approaches.

  3. Craft a daily schedule that aligns with company operations.

  4. Solicit feedback from team members and regional managers.

30-60-90 day plan for new sales territories

When you’re new to a sales territory, it can feel like stepping into the unknown. A well-crafted 30-60-90 day plan for new sales territory teams can make all the difference, especially when you add in these tried-and-tested planning and measurement strategies.

Phase 1: days 1–30

  1. Define the new territory’s market and environment.

  2. Research the competition.

  3. Study and understand the demographics.

  4. Perform a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).

  5. Build the ideal customer profile.

  6. Identify the most profitable accounts in the region.

  7. Identify the most important sales KPIs for the territory.

  8. Write a plan of action for the next 30 days.

Phase 2: days 31–60

  1. Clearly define your sales goals (make sure they’re SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely).
  2. Decide which KPIs to focus on.

  3. Identify new leads.

  4. Create an optimised route for connecting sales reps with prospects and customers.

  5. Write a plan of action for the next 30 days.

Phase 3: days 61–90

  1. Gather feedback from sales team members, prospects, and customers.

  2. Refine your plan based on the feedback.

  3. Perform a sales forecast for the rest of the year.

  4. Set a standardised schedule that aligns with the sales strategy.

Frequently asked questions

Execute a successful 30-60-90 day plan with Zendesk

Creating a plan is just the beginning—the real challenge lies in the execution. The good news is that software like Zendesk can make everything easier for teams like yours, at every stage of the sales pipeline.

Zendesk Sell software offers a cloud-based, all-in-one CRM that simplifies goal-setting and tracks your progress effortlessly. With AI-first, easy-to-use reporting, analytics, task management tools, and AI for sales, Zendesk gives you a clear picture of how close you are to reaching sales targets and suggests where you can improve for long-term success.

Join the revolution and request a demo today—or get started right now with one of our free templates.

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