Your Sales Plan: Goals, Activity, Routine, Commissions and AI | Free Sales Course: Sales Techniques and Closing Skills

What you'll learn

Turn a sales goal into a weekly activity plan.
Prioritize your accounts and build a routine that protects what matters.
Understand how commission plans with accelerators work.
Use AI in sales responsibly and build your 90-day plan.
Check your pace mid-month so you can correct course in time.

📥 Practice this lesson

Column B of the Activity sheet turns this lesson's goal into weekly activity, and the Commissions sheet calculates your commission and your mid-month pace.

sales-crm-template.xlsx · Activity and Commissions sheets

You've covered the whole sales process: preparation, prospecting, first contact, discovery, presentation, objections, closing, negotiation, follow-up and metrics. In this lesson, which wraps up the Advanced level, you'll turn it into a plan: what you'll achieve, what you must do each week to get there and how you'll know you're on track. A plan makes sales predictable.

$300,000quarterly goal in the example, split by source

44 and 11conversations and meetings a week: the goal turned into activity

$6,600commission on $120,000 in sales under the accelerator plan

The goal
From goal to activity
A, B and C accounts
Weekly routine
Commissions, AI and 90 days

Step 1: the goal

Set a specific goal for the period (month, quarter, year) in revenue and number of customers, and split it by source: existing customers (renewals, upsells) and new customers.

Quarterly goal: $300,000
  From existing customers (renewals and upsells): $100,000
  From new customers: $200,000
  Average new-customer deal: $10,000 → 20 new customers this quarter
                                       ≈ 7 a month

One-third of the goal comes from customers you already have; two-thirds from new customers (20 this quarter).

Step 2: from goal to activity

Work backward as in lesson 3, using your real conversion rates (lesson 11):

Step	Rate	Per month	Per week (≈ 4.3 weeks)
New customers	—	7	≈ 1.6
Proposals	30% close	≈ 24	≈ 5.4
Discovery meetings	50% reach a proposal	≈ 47	≈ 11
Prospecting conversations	25% accept a meeting	≈ 187	≈ 44

(7 ÷ 0.30 ≈ 23.3 proposals; 23.3 ÷ 0.50 ≈ 46.7 meetings; 46.7 ÷ 0.25 ≈ 186.7 conversations. Calculate with unrounded values and round up only at the end so you never plan too little; per week: 23.3 ÷ 4.3 ≈ 5.4 proposals, 46.7 ÷ 4.3 ≈ 10.9 meetings and 186.7 ÷ 4.3 ≈ 43.4 conversations.) Now the goal becomes something you control: about 44 conversations and 11 meetings a week. If that isn't realistic, revisit the goal, improve conversion or find sources that convert better, such as referrals.

1. You need 4 new customers a month. You close 25% of your proposals, and 40% of meetings reach a proposal. How many meetings do you need a month?

Proposals = 4 ÷ 0.25 = 16; meetings = 16 ÷ 0.40 = 40.

Step 3: prioritize your accounts

Not every customer and prospect deserves the same time. Tier them:

A accountsHighest potential and best fit

Attention: Frequent contact, review meetings, an account plan.
Time: ●●●●

Priority

B accountsMedium potential

Attention: Regular contact through planned cadences.
Time: ●●●●

Cadence

C accountsLow potential

Attention: Automated or low-cost channels (email, marketing).
Time: ●●●●

Automate

For your A accounts, write a short account plan: situation, key people, opportunities spotted, risks and next steps.

Step 4: your weekly routine

Protect the activities that generate sales on your calendar before urgent tasks crowd them out:

Block	When	What
Prospecting	Daily, 9:00–10:30 a.m.	Calls, emails and LinkedIn touches from your cadence (lessons 3 and 4)
Meetings	Late morning and afternoon	Discovery, presentations, negotiations
Follow-up	Daily, 30 minutes	Next steps due in the CRM (lesson 10)
Prep	15 minutes before each meeting	Research, meeting goal, key questions
Existing customers	2 blocks a week	Reviews, upsells, referrals
Pipeline review	Friday, 45 minutes	Metrics, stalled deals, next week's plan (lesson 11)
Learning	1 hour a week	Review recorded calls, practice objections, read about your industry

Step 5: commissions and incentives

If you work for a company, understand your compensation plan thoroughly (and get it in writing: for employees working in California, state law requires a written commission contract); if you lead a team, design it to reward what you want to happen (lesson 16). Common elements are a base salary, variable commission on sales and, often, accelerators for beating quota.

Sample plan:
  5% commission on sales up to the monthly quota ($100,000)
  8% on the portion above quota

Sales this month: $120,000
  Commission = 5% × $100,000 + 8% × $20,000 = $5,000 + $1,600 = $6,600

A good plan is simple to understand, pays for what the rep can influence, protects margin (for example, with lower commission on heavily discounted deals) and rewards quality (customers who pay and stay), not just volume.

Monthly commission by sales level (5% up to $100,000 and 8% above)

$80,000$4,000

$100,000$5,000

$120,000$6,600

$140,000$8,200

$160,000$9,800

Notice the accelerator: below quota, each $10,000 in sales adds $500 in commission; above it, $800. It's an incentive not to "sandbag" deals into next month. The template's Commissions sheet calculates it with =MIN(B6,B5)*B7+MAX(B6-B5,0)*B8 (sales in B6, quota in B5, rates in B7 and B8).

Check your pace mid-month

Don't wait until the last day to find out whether you'll make it. Halfway through the month, project your result and compare it with quota:

Projection = sales to date ÷ working days elapsed × working days in the month

Day 10 of 20, $40,000 sold, $100,000 quota:
  Projection = 40,000 ÷ 10 × 20 = $80,000 → $20,000 short

If the projection falls short, look at the weighted forecast for deals expected to close this month (lesson 11). Does it cover the gap? Then focus on accelerating those deals with mutual action plans. It doesn't? No brand-new deal will close in ten days: accept this month's result and ramp up prospecting now, or the problem will repeat next month.

2. Under the sample plan (5% up to $100,000 and 8% above), what commission does a rep earn on $140,000 in sales?

$7,000
$8,200
$11,200

5% × $100,000 = $5,000, plus 8% × $40,000 = $3,200; total $8,200. $7,000 applies 5% to everything and $11,200 applies 8% to everything.

AI in sales

Task	How AI helps	Your responsibility
Research	Summarize a prospect's website, news and industry	Verify facts before you mention them
Meeting prep	Suggest SPIN questions and likely objections for a specific case	Adapt them to what you know about the customer
Writing	Draft personalized emails, proposals and recaps	Check tone, facts and promises
After meetings	Transcribe and summarize calls, extract next steps for the CRM	Get consent to record (see below)
Practice	Role-play a tough customer to practice objections	Practice with real people too
Analysis	Spot patterns in loss reasons or CRM notes	Validate conclusions with data

On recording: federal law requires the consent of one party to the call, but about a dozen states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington, require everyone's consent. The simple, safe habit is to tell everyone at the start and ask. Don't upload customers' personal or confidential data to AI tools your company hasn't approved, and never send mass AI-generated messages without reviewing them: fake personalization shows. For more on AI tools in sales and marketing, see our lesson on marketing automation, CRM and AI.

Three ready-to-use prompts

1. PREPARE A MEETING
"I sell [product] to [type of customer]. Tomorrow I'm meeting the
 [title] of a [industry] company with [size]. Suggest 4 problem and
 4 implication questions (SPIN method) and the 3 most likely
 objections, with a clarifying question for each."

2. SUMMARIZE A CALL (from the transcript, if everyone agreed to recording)
"Summarize this call as: needs, numbers the customer mentioned, people
 involved in the decision, objections and next steps with date and
 owner. Don't add anything that isn't in the text."

3. PRACTICE OBJECTIONS
"Act as the procurement manager of a regional pharmacy chain who thinks
 my [service] is too expensive. Give me tough objections one at a time
 and wait for my answer before continuing. At the end, tell me which
 answer was weakest and why."

3. Which of these is a responsible use of AI in sales?

Sending 1,000 auto-generated emails without reviewing them.
Uploading your customer database to a free tool to analyze it.
Preparing a meeting with a summary of the customer's industry and discovery questions, after checking the facts.

AI speeds up preparation and writing; you verify, personalize and protect your customers' data.

Your 90-day plan

Month 1 · FoundationsSet up your systemPlaybook and ideal customer profile (lesson 2); CRM with stages and deals loaded (11); a list of 100 prospects (3); contact and discovery scripts (4 and 5); routine on your calendar.
Month 2 · ActivityExecute consistentlyHit the weekly activity you calculated; objection playbook (7); proposal template (6); follow-up on every open deal (10).
Month 3 · OptimizationMeasure and improveAnalyze stage conversion and loss reasons; fix your weakest stage; ask customers with results for referrals; plan next quarter.

4. It's day 8 of a month with 20 working days. You've sold $32,000 and your quota is $100,000. What's your projection if you keep this pace?

$80,000
$64,000
$100,000

$32,000 ÷ 8 days = $4,000 a day; × 20 days = $80,000. You'd be $20,000 short: time to see which deals expected this month can be accelerated.

What you've mastered at the end of the Advanced level

Before moving on to the Expert level, look back. Check what you already apply and revisit the lesson for anything unchecked:

Selling is helping solve problems; consultative selling works best for important purchases.
Preparation, steady prospecting and a strong first contact fill the pipeline.
SPIN discovery and quantifying the problem are the basis of convincing presentations.
Objections are understood before they're answered; closing means asking for concrete advances.
Negotiating is trading value while protecting margin; follow-up and account management multiply revenue.
A CRM, metrics and a plan with weekly activity make sales predictable.

Final project: your sales plan

Set your quarterly goal in revenue and customers, split between existing and new customers.
Calculate the weekly activity you need with your conversion rates.
Tier your accounts A, B and C, and write the account plan for your most important A account.
Put your weekly routine on your calendar.
Write your 90-day plan with actions and dates, and choose 5 metrics to review every Friday.

See solution (summary example: a corporate training firm)

Quarterly goal: $180,000
  Existing customers (new courses for current clients): $60,000
  New customers: $120,000 ÷ $12,000 average deal = 10 companies (≈ 3.3 a month)

Activity (own rates: 33% close, 60% meeting → proposal,
20% conversation → meeting):
  Proposals: 3.3 ÷ 0.33 ≈ 10 a month
  Meetings: 10 ÷ 0.60 ≈ 17 a month (≈ 4 a week)
  Conversations: 17 ÷ 0.20 ≈ 84 a month (≈ 20 a week)

A accounts: 8 retailers with more than 200 employees in Texas.
Routine: prospecting 8:30–10:00 a.m. Monday to Thursday; meetings in the
afternoon; Friday for pipeline review and LinkedIn content.
Friday metrics: conversations, meetings, proposals, weighted pipeline
value, open deals without a next step.

Summary

Split your goal by source (existing and new customers) and turn it into proposals, meetings and conversations per week.
Tier accounts A, B and C, and give A accounts a written account plan.
Block fixed time for prospecting, follow-up and pipeline review.
Understand your commission plan, with its tiers and accelerators, and check your pace mid-month.
Use AI to research, prepare and draft, verifying facts, getting consent to record and protecting customer data.
Run your 90-day plan: foundations, activity and optimization.

You've completed Level 3! You now have a complete sales process and a 90-day plan. Next comes Level 4: Expert, with the channels and contexts that are growing fastest and pay best. Next lesson: Social Selling on LinkedIn: Profile, Connection Requests and Messages That Book Meetings. You'll learn to use LinkedIn to connect with decision-makers and book meetings without spamming anyone.