---
title: "Why Should We Develop Visit Plans for Sales? | Recommendation"
description: "In companies we typically engage with, fewer than 30% of sales directors pay attention to sales visit plans, and fewer than 20% actually develop visit plans for their sales teams. Customer visits are among the most critical sales activities and one of the few digitally measurable tasks besides sales performance, making them a top priority in sales management."
author: "刘昭"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2015-07-08"
language: "en"
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# Why Should We Develop Visit Plans for Sales? | Recommendation

> In companies we typically engage with, fewer than 30% of sales directors pay attention to sales visit plans, and fewer than 20% actually develop visit plans for their sales teams. Customer visits are among the most critical sales activities and one of the few digitally measurable tasks besides sales performance, making them a top priority in sales management.

In companies we typically engage with, fewer than 30% of sales directors pay attention to sales visit plans, and fewer than 20% actually develop visit plans for their sales teams.
Undoubtedly, customer visits are the most important work in sales, and one of the few sales activities that can be digitally measured besides sales performance, making them a top priority in sales management. Most sales directors or sales managers pay attention to customer visits. When asking about a salesperson's day, they usually ask: Who did you visit today? What did you discuss? What were the results? Clearly, sales managers understand the importance of customer visits.
So why don't they develop visit plans for their sales teams?
I have asked many sales directors this question, and many respond, "I think salespeople will develop their own visit plans." Is that really true?
Let's look at a case from a professor named Ariely (who focuses on economics and psychology). When he taught at MIT (a prestigious American university where most students are elite), before a semester began, he introduced the course assignments: each student needed to submit three papers by the end of the semester. In the first class, the professor told students they must submit the first paper at one-third of the semester, the second at two-thirds, and the third before the end; deviations would result in penalties. In the second class, he told students to write their own submission plans, any plan they wanted, even all on the last day, but once set, they had to follow it or face penalties. In the third class, he said they just needed to submit by the end of the semester.
What were the results? The first class had the best paper grades, the second class had average grades, and the third class had the worst grades.
What does this result indicate? First, people are procrastinators, even top students. Second, strict planning is the most effective way to cure procrastination.
In fact, salespeople are the most typical procrastinators. If you don't follow up on their customer visits, the number of visits will certainly be low. It's rare to see salespeople start early; those who leave at 9 a.m. to visit customers are already considered diligent. Of course, many salespeople find excuses for their procrastination, such as customers being unavailable in the morning or having already scheduled a 10 a.m. meeting.
If we go to the gym, we notice that most people working out are already in good shape, including muscular men and women with great figures, while those who need exercise most, the overweight, are rarely seen. The more procrastinators, the less likely they are to go to the gym, always finding excuses, and their bodies get worse. Those who persist and make fitness plans often achieve great results (maintaining good physiques), but they are a minority. Similarly, salespeople who seriously plan their visits are rare.
Moreover, procrastination is not the only enemy of customer visits; there is also fear. If I say salespeople are afraid of visiting customers, many would laugh, but it's true. Most salespeople prefer visiting customers they get along with, who are polite and easy to deal with. When facing difficult customers or those with bad tempers, they often feel intimidated, even if the customer is important. Young salespeople especially experience this when contacting senior leaders with high status.
If visit plans are not developed for salespeople, certain customers may be selectively forgotten and not visited for a long time. If a sales director suddenly remembers such a customer, the salesperson often replies that the customer is on a business trip or busy recently, with many excuses.
The 365 Sales Management Method emphasizes developing customer visit plans. First, classify customers, as different customers require different visit frequencies. Then, sales directors and managers can develop visit plans for salespeople. Using Field 365, it's easy to see how salespeople execute their visit plans: whether they visited customers, how long they stayed, the on-site situation (via photos), and new insights (by writing visit summaries).
If you can manage salespeople's customer visits using the 365 Sales Management Method, sales management can be considered good.
Of course, developing visit plans is itself a troublesome task. Many sales managers seek simpler management methods, such as directly telling salespeople that certain types of customers must be visited within a specific period, and requiring them to record each visit in Field 365. If they fail to meet the requirements, the system can alert managers or the salespeople themselves. That's a compromise.
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