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Get Reliable Sales Forecasts With Short Meetings by Ian Altman
It’s not a coincidence that most deals are forecast to close at the end of a month.
Sue runs sales and business development for a consulting company. She hosts a sales meeting with her team each Monday from 9AM until 11AM. On the screen behind her, everyone can see the pipeline report from her customer relationship management (CRM) system.
As each rep takes his turn, Sue asks questions. The second time I sat in their meeting, I realized that Sue asks the same questions at each meeting, and to each rep. Doing things the way we always have done them leads to forecast meetings becoming a waste of time.
The Common Traps
You can easily fall into a pattern of questions, without realizing it. At each interaction, Sue asks:
“When did you last meet with them?”
“What’s the next step?”
“When do you expect it to close?”
If a deal isn’t moving forward, she asks, “Do you need help?”
The problem with these questions is that Sue (and you) could answer most of them just from reviewing the CRM and doing a little preparation in advance.
You’ve been taught that people do what gets measured or monitored. But, why does everyone have to be there to know that Tim met with the client last week and that the client will likely push off their decision to the following month?
Have you ever noticed that most forecasts have close dates that fall on the last day of the month.
Why Month End
Does your company make each and every decision on the last day of the month? Of course not. Salespeople earn their commission based on what they sold in a given month. So, is it any wonder that salespeople often set a close date as the end of a month?
If you do have a detailed discussion with the client, and truly understand the motivation and process for their decision, then you can set a specific date. Without the facts, you’ll assign the last day of the month as the date you think you might possibly maybe perhaps potentially close the deal.
When it doesn’t close on that date, you simply change the forecast to the next month, and hope and pray again. That’s not a formula for success. All the rep is doing is hedging for the last day possible. If they get the sale prior to that day, genius!
A Strategy For Shorter Meetings and Better Forecasts
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