Most sales plans look the same. Leadership sets a big target — “Grow sales by $1 million.” Then, instead of a plan, they carve it up like a pie: “We’ve got three reps, so that’s $333,333 each. Go get ’em team!”
Or worse, they ask each rep for a “forecast,” add up the numbers, then argue until everyone agrees the number should be higher. When the egos settle, that’s the “plan.”
The truth is: that’s not a plan. That’s just arithmetic dressed up as strategy. And it’s why so many quotas get missed. (ask me how I know!).
After years of running my own business and helping people define their sales process and CRM implementations, I’ve realised traditional methods of sales planning just aren’t producing the desired results. I leaned into my Operations Management background and looked for concepts that could be applied to Sales Management.
That’s where I started thinking about the Fishbone approach to sales planning and management.
Why the Funnel Isn’t Enough
Michael J. Webb points out in Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way that many organizations confuse a sales funnel with a sales process.
- The funnel is just a picture — leads enter the top, deals trickle out the bottom. It shows you what’s happening, but not why.
- The sales process is different: it’s a defined, repeatable series of steps that move a customer forward. It’s measurable, it can be analyzed, improved, and controlled.
typical sales funnel
This distinction matters. Too many sales plans stop at the funnel: “fill the top, hope some come out the bottom.” But that doesn’t help a manager understand which levers to pull when growth is required.
That’s where the Fishbone Sales Planning Method comes in. Instead of treating sales as a vague funnel, the fishbone forces you to look at sales as a process problem:
- Which levers exist (existing customers vs. new customers)?
- What specific activities within those levers actually drive movement?
- How do you assign SMART goals to ensure those activities happen consistently?
The funnel tells you where deals are. The process — and the fishbone — tell you what to do about it.
Enter the Fishbone
In operations management and quality control, there’s a powerful tool called the fishbone diagram, also known as the Ishikawa diagram. It was created to solve complex problems by breaking them down into smaller, root causes that can be addressed one at a time.
When a factory has a defect, a fishbone diagram helps managers trace it back — maybe to a machine setting, a supplier issue, or an operator error. Instead of tackling the vague problem of “bad quality,” the fishbone makes it clear which levers actually matter.
That strength — breaking a big problem into smaller, actionable parts — is exactly what sales planning needs. After all, a sales target is just another type of problem: how do we get from today’s revenue to a larger number tomorrow?
The Fishbone Sales Planning Method
Here’s how it works. Let’s say the goal is to increase sales by 10%. That’s the “problem statement” at the head of the fishbone. From there, the diagram splits into the only two levers that exist:
- Existing customers
- New customers
From those two branches, we can break it down further:
Existing customers
- Retrieve lost accounts
- Price increases
- Cross-sell and upsell with new products
- Increase order size or frequency
- Improve retention/ reduce churn
- Epand into additional divisions or geographies of same customer
New customers
- Inbound marketing (predictable based on ad spend or SEO investment)
- Outbound prospecting (direct outreach to target accounts)
- Partnerships or channel sales
- New Markets
- New Chanels (events, tradeshows, strategic alliances, etc)
- PR and thought leadership (articles, webinars, podcasts, whitepapers)
Take it one step further, and suddenly you have specific, tactical assignments:
- Rep A increases prices by 2% for Customer ABC.
- Marketing invests $5K in PPC to deliver 20 new leads per month.
- Rep B conducts 10 new outreach attempts each week in Territory 123.
Now the “increase by 10%” problem is no longer a vague aspiration. It’s decomposed into manageable actions that, when executed, add up to the overall goal.
Each item on the above fishbone diagram can be broken down into further smaller fishbone diagrams. For example: “Identify Low Sensitivity Accounts” is a problem that warrants a sub fishbone diagram. As you drill down further, you get down to actionable steps like “Account ABC 3% price increase by January 1, assigned to rep: Dave” Now you can start putting these tasks directly in the CRM. You measure it, manage it and bonus Dave around achieving the desired outcome.
Sales as an Operational Process
This way of thinking may feel new in sales, but it has deep roots in operations. Michael J. Webb’s book Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way makes the case that sales and marketing should be treated just like any other process — one that can be defined, measured, analyzed, improved, and controlled.
Webb applies Six Sigma’s DMAIC cycle (Define → Measure → Analyze → Improve → Control) to sales problems. Instead of just pushing harder for “more sales,” Webb’s approach looks for bottlenecks and root causes, just as a factory would.
One example from his work involved a financial services firm losing prospects during the account-opening process. By analyzing where customers dropped out, Webb’s team discovered the paperwork was too cumbersome. Simplifying the process increased revenues by 18% in one year — without adding sales headcount.
Another case study documented a 94% revenue improvement from a Six Sigma sales project that identified inefficiencies and restructured the process. These results weren’t achieved by motivational speeches or quota shuffling, but by treating sales as a process problem to be solved.
And this isn’t limited to Webb’s work. Research on Six Sigma projects consistently shows strong ROI. According to 6sigma.us, organizations implementing Six Sigma see an average US$230,000 per project return and 4.5–6× ROI on training investments. One banking institution using Lean Six Sigma tools (via Minitab) improved branch operations and realized over US$1.1 million in additional revenue.
The message is clear: when you treat sales as a process — something to be engineered, measured, and improved — the gains can be significant.
Why Most CRMs Fail
You can check out my article about Why Most CRM’s Fail.
Webb also warns that one of the biggest reasons CRM systems fail is because companies track the wrong kind of data. They simply digitize what they’ve always measured — number of calls, size of pipeline, and deals closed — and call it progress.
The problem? That data is backward-looking. It tells you what happened, but not why. It doesn’t reveal the root causes of missed goals or highlight the bottlenecks in the process.
A process-oriented CRM looks very different. It doesn’t just record activities; it tracks the health of the sales process itself — things like:
- Conversion ratios at each stage.
- How long deals stall before moving forward.
- Where prospects drop off in the buying journey.
- Which activities actually drive customer progress.
I wrote a detailed article on what activities to measure in SuiteCRM that dives deeper into this topic. If your CRM is tracking the wrong metrics, you’ll never get the visibility you need to improve the process.
This is exactly where the Fishbone Sales Planning Method dovetails with CRM. Each branch of the fishbone produces specific, measurable micro-goals. If your CRM is configured to track those SMART goals, you’re no longer just digitizing old habits. You’re measuring the levers that actually cause sales to increase.
Instead of “Rep B made 50 calls this week,” the CRM should show “Rep B contacted 10 new target accounts in Territory 123, resulting in three qualified meetings booked.” That’s process data. That’s actionable.
Instead of “Rep B made 50 calls this week,” the CRM should show “Rep B contacted 10 new target accounts in Territory 123, resulting in three qualified meetings booked.” That’s process data. That’s actionable.
As Webb emphasizes, without this kind of process-oriented measurement, a CRM simply automates the same old problems. With it, a CRM becomes the backbone of a truly data-driven sales plan.
Considerations When Using the Fishbone Sales Planning Method
Like any framework, the Fishbone Sales Planning Method isn’t a silver bullet. It’s most effective when paired with good data, strong CRM discipline, and the right sales environment. Here are some important considerations:
- Best for B2B sales: This method shines when you’re dealing with accounts, territories, and relationship-driven selling. In high-volume B2C or transactional sales, the levers look very different — advertising, promotions, distribution channels — and a fishbone may oversimplify.
- Inputs don’t always equal outputs: A 2% price increase might grow revenue, but it might also risk customer churn. Likewise, more ad spend doesn’t guarantee more qualified leads. The fishbone gives clarity, but managers still need to validate assumptions.
- Requires good data: Without reliable CRM reporting and pipeline metrics, the branches of the fishbone can be just as arbitrary as a quota pulled from thin air. Data quality is the foundation.
- Beware of micromanagement: Breaking a goal into micro-actions is powerful, but if every rep feels their day is pre-scripted, buy-in will suffer. Use the fishbone as guidance, not a straitjacket.
- Incentives still matter: Reps are motivated by compensation plans. The fishbone provides structure, but it needs to be aligned with commissions and incentives to drive behavior.
- Markets can shift: External factors — economic downturns, competitors, supply chain issues — may override even the best fishbone plan. Build in flexibility and revisit your branches regularly.
By acknowledging these factors, you keep the fishbone method realistic. It’s a framework, not magic. Its real power is making the pathway to growth visible — but sales leaders still need judgment, data, and flexibility to make it work.
Breaking New Ground
To my knowledge, fishbone diagrams haven’t been widely applied to sales planning. They’re a staple in operations and quality management — but in sales, the same logic has been overlooked.
That’s why I believe this is breaking new ground. I call it the Fishbone Sales Planning Method, and it gives managers a practical, visual way to connect lofty revenue goals to the everyday actions of their sales team.
It builds on the same operational discipline Michael J. Webb advocates in Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way. Where Webb proved that process thinking can transform sales results, the Fishbone method provides a simple, visual tool to make that thinking real at the planning level.
It’s not theory. It’s not ego. It’s a plan.
Conclusion and Call to Action
Sales planning doesn’t have to be smoke and mirrors. By adapting a proven tool from operations — and building on the process-driven insights of Six Sigma — we can finally make sales planning logical, structured, and executable.
The next time someone says “Grow by 10%,” don’t divide it evenly among your reps and hope for the best. Draw the fishbone. Break the problem down. Assign SMART goals in your CRM. That’s how you turn a sales target into a sales plan.
If you’re a sales manager who wants to implement this method, reach out. At iGo Sales and Marketing, we offer CRM consulting services ranging from sales strategy and CRM implementation to the nuts and bolts of digital marketing plans. Let’s turn your growth targets into actionable plans that deliver results.
