What Your Bad Sales Forecast Is Telling You (and What You Should Do Next)
“How accurate was your last quarterly or monthly sales forecast?”
That’s how important, and revealing, your sales forecast is. It’s a culmination of all the people and processes you have in place. Like a thermometer reading, it reflects your organization’s overall health. The more inflated the forecast, the more acute the illness.
This post aims to show you how to improve the accuracy of your sales forecast.
4 Best Practices for a More Predictable Sales Forecast Pipeline
A bad forecast reflects misallocated time. Bad leads clog the pipeline; reps spend their days chasing them. Opportunities that were supposed to close aren’t even real. Or they get stuck, and no one has the heart to kill them.
Here’s how you can get real opportunities flowing through your pipeline. And position your team to succeed.
1. Understand Your Buyers
These questions can help you ascertain your buyers’ suitability and interest.
- Are you talking to the right people in the organization?
- What do your buyers do, or need, at each stage of the sales process?
- Are they engaging in the process, or just following the rep’s lead?
- Are they sending signals that the opportunity is real?
- Does their behaviour make sense in the context of how other buyers have purchased?
2. Tighten up Your Sales Process
A well-disciplined sales process offers two important benefits.
- It will keep the sales team honest. Leads are verified along the way. There’s no going too fast or too slow along the buyer’s journey.
- Everyone will use the same language and definitions. When two reps refer to “evaluation stage,” they both know exactly what it means. And they know that two opportunities at this stage are equally promising.
3. Assess Your Talent
You’re looking for an A-Player approach and mindset.
- Are your reps buyer peers, or lackeys? Reps should act and be seen as the buyer’s partner in solving business problems.
- Do they challenge buyers to invest equally? Reps shouldn’t let buyers dump work on them. Instead, they should agree to buyer requests but ask for something in return. (Executive input, for example.)
- Do they win or lose fast (and occasionally win slow)? Top sales reps recognize the fact that their cycles are limited. They know when an opportunity goes south. And they don’t hesitate to move on.
4. Improve Your Deal Inspection Process
This will hold your team accountable for making sure practices 1-3 are well executed. Through this process, you’ll verify:
- Buyers are in the right place and sending the right signals.
- The entire team defines each funnel stage the same way.
- Reps are doing all the right things at the right time.
- Reps are challenging buyers, and vice versa.
Sales Forecast Pipeline emergency: Critical Do’s and Don’ts
You can take immediate steps to address a leaky pipeline.
The DO’s
1. Do conduct a buyer review.
Talk to actual buyers to find out exactly what unfolded. Trace their journey and interactions with your organization
2. Do play devil’s advocate.
Don’t ask, “How can we secure a win?” Ask, “What might derail this opportunity?” If you entertain negative scenarios, you can head off potential problems.
3. Do cover your bases.
No one will ever win 100% of forecast deals. You need a margin of error. Make sure there are plenty of opportunities in your funnel to make your number.
The DON’Ts
1. Don’t pressure marketing for more leads.
If you loosen the lead requirements, you’ll be stuck with even more bad leads. It’s a reactionary move that will compound your problem
2. Don’t roll poor opportunities into the next quarter.
The last thing you need is more reps chasing bad leads for months (“losing slow”)
3. Don’t incentivize bad buyer behaviour.
Offering discounts or incentives at the last minute trains buyers to wait. You’re selling, but not under optimal conditions. There’s no making up for a lackluster sales effort earlier in the quarter.
How ProAptivity can help with your Sales Forecast
ProAptivity are an independent CRM solutions provider. We focus on the implementation, training, and support of highly customised CRM software solutions. Our CRM software supported by our sales training provide customers with the tools needed to deliver successful sales forecast management.
Fundamentally, we help organisations embed CRM best practice throughout their organisation. This helps organisations become more competitive, customer focused and ultimately more profitable.
If you need help in understanding why my business needs CRM, maybe some of our eBooks could help! Alternatively visit Maximizer CRM for more information. Contact us today in Belfast on 028 9099 6388 or at our Bedford office on 01234 214004. Alternatively email us on info@proaptivity.com. Contact us today for a free CRM consultation that will assess if your business is CRM ready.
