Simple Sales Forecasting | Say NO! To Fluffy Sales Forecasts

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Simple Sales Forecasting | Say NO! To Fluffy Sales Forecasts

Simple sales forecasting is exactly that!

A means of planning and organising sales and business development resources, key tasks and activities, people and time in order to deliver an accurate and precise sales forecast.

A sales forecast that’s realistic.

A sales forecast that’s based on a universal set of protocols that gives your sales function a high converting pipeline of sales opportunities at a steady flow.

In short, the perfect sales process that works for you.

All you need to do is to monitor activity and outputs against this.

It takes the risk out of setting up, scaling or performance managing a sales function.

Why Do You Need Simple Sales Forecasting?

You’d be surprised, or maybe not, at the number of sales functions and business, that although they have a sales forecasting system, either informally or in their CRM, still struggle to get accurate, reliable and meaningful sales predictions.

Meaning a huge mismatch in expectation, deliverables and ambition.

Inaccurate sales forecasting really messes with cash flow, resource management, pricing, planning, purchasing, staffing, growth, resource allocation and sleep(!!), not to mention the inevitable sales peaks and troughs.

That hurts a business.

And it costs a fortune!

Living with uncertainty makes any business risk averse, cautious and nervous of being bold

And with good cause.

So How Does Simple Sales Forecasting Help?

Simple Sales Forecasting works in two ways.

1. it gives you a way of stripping out all of the rubbish from your existing sales pipeline and sales CRM…so you can focus on the potential and prospects that are likely to convert

2. it shows you exactly where your business is coming from and the absolute process you need to use to close it

In short, Simple Sales Forecasting is a way of fully qualifying and progressing your sales prospects before you commit them to your sales pipeline, your CRM or your sales forecast.

It’s the ultimate in-situ sales planning tool.

It directs your sales activities, time management, focus, prospect selection, qualification process, sales process and sales pipeline activity

Giving you sales insights that not only lead to a more predictable sales performance AND a predictable way to drive sales growth, you also get a better sales/buyer interface.

More sales!

When you need them!

Simple Sales Forecasting has an inbuilt universal scoring method that’s used throughout the sales function and the business.

If you’ve ever wanted to achieve more sales with less effort…this is it!

What’s that you say?

‘But we already to do that…or sort of’

I know you do.

How’s it working for you?

Here’s what’s really happening.

Every single on of your sales team will have a very different slant on what a fully qualified sales prospect looks like.

That slant will differ depending on where they are against target, if they’re having a good month or a bad month, if they’re under pressure of not.

It’s an accepted truth, that, at some points during the month, really ugly prospects start to look super attractive…

You get my drift?

That lack of absolute clarity costs you.

Costs the business.

And costs you the time you should be freeing up by ditching the ‘not so great’ prospects and jumping in with the prospects that will change your world, value, respect, adore and worship you like ‘not so great’ prospects never ever could.

If you’re like many of the sales teams I meet you’re probably suffering from some form of Fluffy Forecasting.

Well, I say no to Fluffy Forecasting!!!

You can self diagnose here – see how bad your symptoms are…

Are You Suffering From Fluffy Forecasting?

Here’s your quick self diagnosis kit

  • Your sales forecasts vary by more than +/-15% each month?
  • There are peaks and troughs in your sales performance/cash flow?
  • Do you have an over reliance on existing business?
  • Is existing business more than 50% of your monthly billing?
  • Are you struggling to plan resources, work flow, purchasing, stock?
  • Is your production function running at wildly fluctuating rates, efficiency, capacities due to lack of reliable sales information?
  • Are you customers resisting any form of price increase?
  • Has the spend / profit margin from your 5 biggest clients gone up or down in the last three years?
  • Do you feel like your order book is naturally and steadily growing with better quality clients?
  • Are you able to produce accurate long range sales forecasts?
  • Is the thought of low risk growth a dream with no chance of an accompanying reality
  • Is your sales team motivation low?
  • Is churn high with customers and sales staff?

And:

  • Do you constantly find your sales team offering discounts to bring work in early?
  • Or simply just offering discounts because you can’t deal with the competition who are happy to buy business?
  • Do the bulk of your sales come in during the last week of the month?
  • Have you got wildly fluctuating close rates across the sales team?
  • Huge discrepancies between average order values across the sales team?
  • A sales CRM that’s crammed full…but you’ve no idea of the value that’s in there?

Congratulations…

You’re in the revolving door that is Fluffy Forecasting, bouncing prospects forward for three months because you’ve no idea what to do with them when they don’t close as promised.

Seeing the same names being shunted from month to month in the hope that one day the deal will drop.

Perhaps even…having more sales people in your sales team than you actually need?

Or having more leads than you actually need?

Getting into price wars every day to pick up business that no-one else wants?

Seeing shoddy competitors grow at a cost to you?

Being forced into a race to the bottom when you know know you deliver so much more?

The Antidote to Fluffy Forecasting

A strict set of go/no go criteria for entering a prospect into the sales forecast, and at what stage they are entered into the sales forecast

That is universal across your business = makes sales performance management a dream

That forces your sales people to qualify hard = easy to spot which prospects the business should focus on, reduces head count/wage bill

Engaging with prospects in such a way to establish fit/fail for both parties = your business becomes an industry expert

That speeds up sales cycles = competitors don’t get a chance to swoop in

Increases sales velocity through the sales pipeline = lower sales acquisition costs

You’re building a solid Grade A + sales engine and a huge business asset = you’re no longer in danger of being held hostage when sales people leave.

Builds credibility and confidence in the prospect and certainty in the business = nothing connects with the customer like knowing their language, their needs, their challenges and their environment better than any of your competitors

10 Reasons Why Simple Sales Forecasting is the Answer

  • See your sales forecast as it really is and not how you would like it to be…
  • Take back control of the sales functions
  • Get rid of woolly sales meetings and inconsistent sales language
  • Start proactive sales prospect management of the sales pipeline
  • Standardise sales performance across the team, share best practice and get everyone doing their own performance management
  • Be able to spot and avoid the sales troughs before they become a reality
  • Stop wasting time with poor quality, low margin, low loyalty prospects, instead only work with prospect who fit your perfect prospect profile
  • Once and for all, clean out the sales CRM, uncover the gold and ditch the rest
  • Segment your prospects types and niche down hard to boost conversion rates – (this is a big, big win!)
  • Build in certainty, confidence and predictability…low risk growth is just around the corner

Morton Kyle Limited – Simple Sales Forecasting Course

Available as an in-house program only

Attended by Sales Leaders, Business Owners, Sales Team Leaders, Sales Professionals and Sales Trainers.

Simple Sales Forecasting is a two day course, further to an onsite sales audit, available through the UK/Globally.

For more information or to check dates and availability – call Carol on 0779 002 1885

Really Simple Sales Forecasting | Say NO! To Fluffy Sales Forecasts

Simple Sales Forecasting is the only known cure for Fluffy Forecasting.

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