Topic

forecast funnel pipeline

A collection of 202 issues

Black Swan Stress Test

I read the book that introduced this phrase a couple of years [http://salespodder.com/the-black-swan/] back. So was intrigued to find an article from HBR in September 2011 (by Flyvbjerg & Budzier) evoking the concept in the context of (IT) project success. If you sell in the tech space, the

Account Manager Genie

There are some pretty awkward meetings account management can throw your way. Each nasty scenario will be well known to higher management and will come with a positive counter. For instance, when summoned to be told that your company’s provision is so bad that your supply is no longer

Hopeium

I came across a cracking portmanteau today. Meld Hope with Opium and you get Hopeium (or if you prefer, Hopium). It is not evidently a neologism used on the street in a positive manner. It crops up as a way of knocking what someone is thinking, generally questioning their mental

Urgency Algorithm

There’s an American research team that can predict injuries suffered in a car crash. They do so seeing only the state of the crumpled wreck. This isn’t just impressive for a party trick. It hugely saves lives. When one of the team used to arrive at crash scenes,

Most Revealing Sales Stats

Here’s the meat on a mailshot promoting a September seminar sponsored by a mindmap software house. The figures are credited to a CSO Insights survey on 2009 performance. > The percentage of salespeople making quota dropped from 58.8% to 51.5% last year. Despite this drop, 85% of surveyed

What's Your Top-Line Indicator?

A thoroughly enjoyable meeting at a client the other day uncovered a remarkably simple approach to funnel management. Selling a combination of fairly big-ticket items (mixing ‘hardware’ & ‘software’), the typical account manager monthly revenue target is 50k. Whilst obviously the main figure, there are two other numbers of prominence. How

Internal Design Trio

I’ve been away from the internet for what seems like an eternity these past few days, so when I caught up on a bit of light sales-related reading relaxation, was surprised to read three articles in a row that all had resonance with internal salesteam politics. Firstly, I came

Another Forecast Spreadsheet

One of my customers shared with me the parallel reporting that has since resoundingly taken the place of their ditched Goldmine crm. It’s a single worksheet they call the Schiffman Board. It seems that with usage of Goldmine having tailed off to practically no use at all, a new

Forecast Qualification Routine

Spent an enjoyable afternoon in the company of an old pal of mine watching the Rugby. He’s scaled dizzying heights bean counting for one of the world’s largest retail luxury brands. He got to telling me about a future cash flow pinch he’s luckily uncovered. The forecast

Forecasting Focus

Fairly regularly I get to rant about the prevalence of all-too-abysmal forecasting routines. A pal of mine (congrats on the new baby, Bren!) currently has his charges attribute one of these tags to deals: 1. Drop Dead (you don’t miss this) 2. Commit (deals you feel will come in