Archive for sales management
Sales Funnel vs Sales Forecast
Posted by: | CommentsSales Funnel vs. Sales Forecasting
A sales funnel and a sales forecast are not the same thing. A sales funnel looks at the overall health of all the deals in the pipeline. The forecast maps customer’s buying cycle to specific business periods. This helps predict what business will close in the specific window of time.
Sales Funnel
A robust sales funnel is a good leading indicator of medium to long-term health of your sales efforts. It dampens wild unpredicted gyrations in forecasting. It is critical to keep all the deals in the funnel up-to-date. Review the data in the sales funnel constantly. Here is a sample of the types of data that should be tracked:
- Number of deals
- Deals per sales stage
- Size of deals
- Deal progression
- Cost of sales
- Velocity
- Resource utilization
Sales funnel management helps estimate the probability that enough opportunities are moving towards closure. This allows the organization to keep revenue flowing for a period of time. Sales funnel opportunities estimates are compared against sales target and historical performance and conversion ratios. This helps to determine whether there is enough business in the intermediate term.
Sales Forecasting
Sales forecasting can have different meanings to different organizations. To the majority of organizations the most relevant measure is gross dollars that are projected to close in the next business period. Other forecast metrics include closed deals, recognized revenue, profit, and units sold. Decide which metric, or combination of forecast metrics work best for your company to create an accurate and impactful forecast.
Sales forecasting inaccuracies can result from over-eager expectations as reporting periods near an end. Also, a lack of understanding of where opportunities are in the sales process leads to inaccuracies. Apply sound process, organization, management and analytics to ensure predictable and accurate forecasts. Read More→
Data To Track In A Sales Funnel
Posted by: | CommentsA robust sales funnel provides a good leading indicator of the medium to long-term health of sales efforts. By tracking the proper indicators, wild unpredicted gyrations in forecasting are dampened.
Most sales reports offer information on what has already happened. This is like driving while looking in the rear view mirror. Tracking booked orders is very important, but it is also critical to look at what is coming in the future.
Make certain to build a tracking system or process utilizing the proper metrics. And, review the data frequently. Think of both the numerical data and the subjective indicators affecting the success of sales efforts. Some things like marketing, enhanced executive relationships, and technical training usually don’t transfer directly to sale, but they are important to strengthening and solidifying deals that are in the sales funnel.
What Is A Sales Funnel?
Posted by: | CommentsThe concept of a Sales Funnel is a visual metaphor representing the stages in a sales process. It is wide at the top to allow for a large number of potential opportunities. It narrows as it moves to the bottom because opportunities drop away at each stage of a sales process.
At the top of the funnel there are unqualified prospects. These are the many suspects who might need the product or service, At the bottom of the funnel, multiple sales steps later, are the people ready to purchase and receive delivery of the product or service.
A predictable sales funnel is something every company needs to make effective business decisions. Unfortunately, predictability proves to be extremely elusive and hard to achieve. What sales people say they’re going to close, and what they actually close is sometimes a pleasant surprise or it can result in an uncomfortable discussion.
