The Leaves Aren’t the Only Thing Falling. So Is Your Excuse to Avoid Planning

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Taking the Pain Out of Annual Planning

By Frank Hurtte

It’s November. Out here in the Midwest, Iowa’s trees are showing off, fiery reds, deep oranges, and every gold shade ever invented. A little warmth still hangs on, but Thanksgiving, December, and the holidays will sprint by before we know it. And with them come two unavoidable realities: yard cleanup and annual planning.

As I write this, I can practically feel the blister forming from the rake I’ll be wrestling with on some future Sunday. You can recruit the neighbor kid for yard duty. Unfortunately, you won’t find an $8-an-hour stand-in for your End-of-Year Planning. But good news: planning doesn’t have to be the monster lurking behind the garage. Let’s break it down and remove the dread.

Start Early

Many leaders wait until the last moment to tackle planning. Some procrastinate so masterfully, they’ll reorganize their desk drawer before facing it. But starting early prevents last-minute panic and gives you space to think, really think, about the year ahead.

Break Planning Into Bite-Sized, Delegable Pieces

You don’t have to shoulder the whole thing alone. Divide the plan into key segments, pieces your team can contribute to meaningfully:

  • Inside Sales / Customer Service
  • Marketing & Events
  • Non-Selling Expenses
  • Demo & Equipment
  • Warehouse & Delivery
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Training

Who on your team can provide real insight?
A lead Inside Sales rep could outline customer service improvements. A delivery driver might spot logistical inefficiencies long before the leadership team does. Your marketing person knows what events cost and when they’re feasible. Delegate the information gathering.

Accounting can help too. Ask for updated breakdowns of rent, utilities, phones, internet, taxes, insurance, and other operating expenses. Push them a little further: “What increases should we expect next year?” No one has a perfect crystal ball, but educated estimates are far better than guesswork.

Standardize the Format

Give every contributor a common format. Ask for numbers using the same categories as your financial statements. Provide a spreadsheet template so everything can roll up neatly into one final document. Standardization saves hours on the back end.

Evaluate Your Team

People are your most valuable asset, but only if you truly understand their strengths and gaps. Managers should assess each direct report with an eye toward:

  • Performance evaluations
  • Planned compensation adjustments
  • Training needs
  • Skills development

This “inventory of talent” ensures your plan aligns with the actual capabilities of your team.

Sales Forecasting: The Big Kahuna

For distributors, sales and gross margin forecasting drive the entire plan. We recommend the Who–What–Why forecasting method:

  1. Give salespeople last year’s customer sales broken down by product category.
  2. Salespeople review each account and estimate expected growth or shrinkage, identifying what will change and why (new projects, competitive pressures, new products, customer expansion, etc.).
  3. Roll up the numbers by salesperson and compile the company-wide forecast.
  4. Review projections together. Some reps love the “sandbag early, celebrate later” approach. That needs to be addressed individually. This process enables real coaching and mentoring.

Provide every salesperson with the same spreadsheet and instructions. In our experience, a rep with pre-formatted data can produce solid projections in just a couple of hours.

Final Words

Would you invest in a business with no projections, no forecast, and no operating plan?
Of course not, so why run one that way?

If you already have a planning process in place, start early, involve your team, and make this the best version yet.

I want a customized jump-start. River Heights Consulting offers one-on-one planning assistance and training calls. Reach out today, and we’ll help your team build a winning plan.



About the Author

Frank Hurtte combines a lifetime in distribution with a passion

for teaching the next generation of industry leaders. As founder of River Heights Consulting, he helps distributors strengthen their sales teams, sharpen their strategy, and build plans that drive long-term profitability. Frank is a speaker, author, and trusted advisor across the industrial world.



TL;DR

Annual planning doesn’t have to be painful. Start early, split the workload into clear segments, and delegate information gathering to the people closest to the work. Standardize the format, evaluate your team, and use the simple Who–What–Why method to build accurate sales forecasts. With a structured, distributor-focused approach, you can turn planning season into a strategic advantage instead of a yearly headache.



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