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Summer Preparation for Next Year's Revenue Planning
Plan Now, Win Later: A Strategic Plan for Sellers, Managers, and Owners. Post #2

Hi,
Revenue success doesn’t start in January; it starts now. Summer offers a strategic window to get ahead while competitors slow down.
This workshop is designed to help sellers sharpen their pipeline, managers align their teams, and company owners build systems that scale.
Planning now means fewer surprises, better forecasting, and more value delivered to customers when it counts.
Whether you're carrying a quota, leading a team, or steering the whole ship, this workshop gives you the clarity and direction to enter next year with confidence.
THE 3-STEP WORKSHOP
Step 1: Write Your Upcoming January Memo Summarizing Your Current Year
Prompt:
Imagine it’s January 15, 20xx. You’ve hit your prior year revenue goals. What happened?
Instructions:
Write a 1-page memo from your future self to your team or leadership. Include:
Total revenue booked
Key wins or new clients
Challenges overcome
What made it all possible
Open a Word Doc or Google Doc and start writing. Don’t wait… Push yourself to do this!
Step 2: Reverse Engineer the Milestones
Prompt:
What had to happen in Q3 and Q4 to make your January memo a reality?
Instructions:
Work backward from your memo to identify:
Key pipeline moments
Marketing pushes
Hiring or enablement actions
Strategic meetings or investments
Break your milestones down by month and assign owners.
Milestone Tracker Template
Month | Milestone Description | Owner | Status |
September | Finalize Q4 outbound targets | Sales Manager | Not started |
August | SDR team launches test sequence or learn about drip campaigns with your marketing team | SDR Lead | In progress |
July | Create next year revenue forecast | Each seller and sales manager | Complete |
Step 3: Activate Your Summer Sprint Plan
Prompt:
What 3 things can you do between now and Labor Day to build momentum into next year?
Instructions:
Identify 3 high-impact activities
Assign owners, due dates, and success criteria
Share with your team or accountability partner
Sprint Plan Template:
Action | Owner | Due Date | Success Criteria |
Re-engage top 10 stale opportunities | Account Exec | August 15 | 3 meetings booked |
Align CS and Sales on handoff process | CS Lead | August 30 | Updated SOP published + shared |
Map ideal next year team org chart | Founder / CEO | July 25 | Hiring plan reviewed by investors |
Tips for Completion + Real-World Examples
Tips:
Block off 60–90 minutes of quiet time to complete the workshop
Use visuals like whiteboards, Miro, or FigJam to sketch ideas
Discuss outputs with a team member, mentor, or manager to refine them
Example 1:
A mid-market AE wrote her memo in July, envisioning a big Q1 deal with a retail giant. It inspired her to schedule an August discovery call. The deal closed in Q4 and accounted for 18% of her annual quota.
Example 2:
A SaaS founder ran this exercise with their executive team. It revealed that Marketing and Sales had no Q3 alignment on enablement content. They fixed it fast, leading to a 19% lift in Q1 next year demo conversions.
Further Reading
The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months
Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington (2013, Wiley)
Tactical frameworks for executing with urgency and precision, ideal for time-boxed sprint planning.Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
A.G. Lafley & Roger L. Martin (2013, Harvard Business Review Press)
A clear guide to making strategic choices about where to play and how to win in competitive markets.The Sales Tactician: Spycraft Techniques For Revenue Success
Mort Greenberg (2025, digitalCORE Publishing)
The Ultimate Sales Playbook Inspired by Spycraft Techniques
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The Revenue Workshop isn’t theory. It’s a field-tested system used by real leaders, in real markets, under real pressure.
Each newsletter is based on one of over 300 workshops and worksheets found in the eight books of the RevenueVsSales.com and TheFocusedSeller.com book series.
To contact us, email [email protected]
Thank you for your time!
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