Ninety Days, Three Channels: A Sales Plan a Small Firm Can Actually Follow

Headline and Overview

This piece draws on the earlier ones in the series: the open network, the support scheme, the caution on vendor statistics, festive planning and sales hiring. It is our framework. The example numbers are invented to show the arithmetic and do not describe any real firm.

Step 1: Know your customer in one paragraph

Write who buys from you, what problem you solve and why they choose you over alternatives. If you cannot write it, ask ten recent customers. Their answers are more useful than any market report.

“Three channels, a weekly review and honest arithmetic beat a bigger budget.”

Step 2: Choose three channels, not ten

Possible channels include your own shop or counter, direct wholesale, an open-network seller app, a social media page, a marketplace, referrals and local events. Pick three that reach your customer at an acceptable cost and that you can manage. Spreading yourself across ten means none gets enough attention.

Step 3: Set numbers for each channel

For each, estimate: visits or enquiries per week, the share that becomes orders, the average order value, the margin on each order and the cost of running the channel. Multiply through to see what the channel yields.

An invented example: a channel brings 200 enquiries a month, 10% convert, giving 20 orders at Rs 1,500 each, which is Rs 30,000 of sales. If direct costs are 60%, contribution is Rs 12,000. If the channel costs Rs 8,000 a month in fees and promotion, the net contribution is Rs 4,000. Raising conversion to 15% would lift it to Rs 10,000 contribution after the same costs, in this illustration. Small improvements in conversion can matter more than more traffic.

Step 4: Calculate what a customer costs

Divide your total selling and marketing spend in a period by the number of new customers won. Compare that with the contribution a customer brings over a year. If you spend more than you earn, change the plan.

Step 5: Make the offer simple

State price, delivery time and return terms plainly. Small firms often lose orders because customers cannot tell quickly what they will get. A short list of three products beats a catalogue of thirty for new customers.

Step 6: Follow up

Most sales are lost through silence. Reply to enquiries the same day, send a reminder for quotes, and contact buyers after delivery. A simple spreadsheet of names, dates and next actions is enough.

Step 7: Run a weekly fifteen-minute review

Every week, record enquiries, orders, revenue, costs and complaints for each channel. Note one thing to try and one to stop. Over twelve weeks, the pattern shows which channel deserves more effort.

The ninety-day shape

• Days 1 to 15: Customer paragraph, channel choice, baseline numbers, catalogue and price list. • Days 16 to 45: Launch the three channels, follow up promptly, and fix problems as they appear. • Days 46 to 75: Double down on the best channel, trim the weakest, test one new offer. • Days 76 to 90: Review all numbers, decide the next ninety-day plan and note lessons.

Common traps

Discounting too early cuts margin and teaches customers to wait. Chasing large orders can stretch cash if payment terms are long. Paying for advertising before the product page works wastes money. Relying on a single big customer is risky. Ignoring complaints turns small problems into reputational ones.

Using public support

Schemes such as those discussed in earlier pieces can pay for training and onboarding, but they do not replace the plan above. Use them to lower the cost of testing a channel, not to avoid testing.

For MSMEs in services

A consultancy, repair shop or clinic can use the same logic: enquiries, conversion, average fee, repeat rate and referral rate. The channel may be a local network or a professional referral rather than an app.

A starter weekly dashboard

Keep one sheet with a row per channel and these columns: enquiries, orders, conversion rate, revenue, average order value, direct cost, channel cost, contribution and complaints. Add a notes column for what you changed that week. After four weeks you will see which numbers move when you act, which is the real purpose of the exercise. Resist adding more columns until you consistently use these.

When the plan is not working

If after sixty days no channel yields positive contribution, the problem is more likely the offer than the channel. Return to the customer paragraph, speak to buyers and non-buyers, and test a simpler product or price before spending more on promotion.