The fundamental premise behind the 30 60 90 Day Plan does not change no matter what role you’re in or hoping to be in. The purpose of the 30 60 90 Day Plan is widely misunderstood. It has nothing to do with helping you “get up to speed” or “hit the ground running” and everything to do with aligning your boss and management team to a definition and framework for success.
The 30 60 90 Day Plan is designed so your hiring will be declared an unequivocal success after 3 months by the people who matter most to your career. It’s designed to guarantee the success of the major projects you take on. It’s not about making sure you focus on learning or training or any of the other misinformation out there. No one cares about that. The purpose of the 30 60 90 Day Plan is to set the foundation for your career advancement.
If you haven't read my original article on 30 60 90 day plans, you can check it out here . This one is about taking you plan to the next level, especially if you're in sales or management .
While the basic goal of all 30 60 90 Day Plans is the same, you can and should customize your approach based on the situation you’re in and the role you hold or would like to hold. I’ve given some advice below on how to customize your plan for Sales positions and Management roles. If either of these sounds like you, keep reading.
The 30 60 90 Day Plan for Sales
The 30 60 90 Day Plan is critical for sales. In the interview process it can help you land the job. And once you have the job it can help you build a reputation as a smart and savvy sales executive. It’s about demonstrating that you understand how to build and execute a sales plan for a territory.
Here are three quick tips to help you build a great 30 60 90 Day Plan for Sales:
Define the Target
If you want to differentiate yourself from other candidates applying for a sales job, or just to impress your boss with your approach to planning a sales territory, you must start by defining your target with precision. Most reps and sales managers don’t take this seriously enough and aren’t scientific in their approach to identifying the “perfect customer”. My recommendation is to spend the first phase of your sales 30 60 90 Day Plan on defining your highest value target customers.
Show the Model
The difference between average sales professionals and exceptional ones is often the model they use to attack a territory or quota. Many people take a “best effort” approach. They rely on salesmanship and intuition to hit a number. While that may work some of the time, it’s not a strategy that is going to set you apart from others. My recommendation is to spend the second phase of your 30 60 90 Day Plan on dissecting your quota and building a model that shows exactly how you’re going to hit it.
Demonstrate your Approach
This is where you need to combine the art and science of sales. Now that you’ve show you can quantify your target and model your business, you need to demonstrate you the art form of sales. My recommendation is to spend the last phase of your 30 60 90 Day Plan showing the tactics you’re going to use to build pipeline and develop customers. If you do this effectively, your boss or future boss will know you have everything it takes to be an effective sales professional.
Related : The Right and Wrong Ways to Make an Impact at Work
The 30 60 90 Day Plan for Managers and Executives
It’s very difficult to be successful as a manager if you haven’t mastered the 30 60 90 Day Plan. In the interview process it will differentiate you from other candidates. And once you have the job it can help you build a reputation as a seasoned, thoughtful executive. When done correctly it will demonstrate that you can think logically about how to build a team and attack a management problem.
Here are three quick tips to help you build a great 30 60 90 Day Plan for Management roles:
The Situational Assessment
All great manager’s start by performing a situational audit or assessment. The 30 60 90 Day Plan is no different. Without this context, you run the risk of being perceived as an activity based, immature manager. My recommendation in the first phase of the plan is to focus on demonstrating how you’ll gain a solid understanding of the business situation and competencies of your team.
The Strategic Initiatives Plan
Now that you’ve completed a situational assessment, you need showcase your ability to build a focused plan that addresses top tier initiatives. One thing that distinguishes average managers and great managers is the ability to focus on the most important issues only. My recommendation is to spend the second part of your plan describing how you’ll build a plan that addresses the most prominent opportunities and gaps.
The Management Dashboard
The last thing you must focus on in your 30 60 90 Day Plan as a manager or executive is the management and measurement framework. There is no point in describing a strategic initiatives plan if you aren’t able to measure it. My recommendation is to focus the final phase of your 30 60 90 Day Plan on providing a KPI dashboard or performance scorecard to measure the success of your strategic initiatives.