Annual planning is the hottest topic of Q4, and one trend is standing out more prominently than the rest: Efficiency.

It’s a trend similar to last year. A bit more optimism this year, but companies are focused on hitting their goals with the limited incremental resources. 

They want to do more, with the same. Or sometimes even less.

But continuing to grow your top line while maximizing company efficiency isn’t easy.

Here’s a few pieces of advice on how to maximize your chances:

Have difficult conversations early.

Proactively take on the internal battles of having individual conversations with each team leader on how they can do more with the same amount of resources. Come prepared with analyses to improve efficiency like sales efficiency relative to quota capacity - it’s often better to have fewer amazing sales reps that are working all of the good leads as opposed to more total sales reps.

Accelerate your annual planning timeline.

Figure out the earliest possible date you can realistically conclude annual planning, and push hard for it. Many are still trying to get 2025 plans locked. The problem is that every department is at a standstill until budgets & headcount are approved. Give your teams the best possible shot at hitting their goals, by giving them as much time as possible. Sales teams don’t start pushing until the comp plan is released, get it out as soon as possible and even consider incentivizing early fiscal year deal signings to pull in deals (I implemented this at Adobe).

Set realistic goals that incentivize the right behaviors.

At a prior company when I was a finance leader for annual planning, we pushed the marketing team to take on an MQL target that was too high in an attempt to hit an unrealistic top-down plan. The result? Marketing shifted from quality to quantity. Sales was receiving poor leads. The plan was instead detrimental to the company. It’s good to have stretch targets, but ensure you don’t stretch teams too far. 

Two plans is better than one

It’s more work, but once you create your sales plan, building a board plan that is not shared with anyone but executives is one way to increase the likelihood that you hit your plan that is shared with the board.

My final words of advice:

No plan is perfect, ship it, then be ready to re-plan. Getting the plan out the door is the first step. You’re going to re-plan anyway.

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What do you think? Let me know at [email protected]