Sales Professionals
5 Strategies to Turn Hopecasting into Accurate Forecasting
- RECORDED ON:
Friday, June 27, 2008 - PRESENTERS:
Razi Imam, CEO, Landslide Technologies Inc.
Please join Razi Imam, CEO, Landslide Technologies, Inc. to review one of the most critical things that salespeople, sales managers and corporate executives have to report: Forecasting upcoming business. In most companies, forecasting is an art, not a science.
If done right, sales forecasts can be an effective driver of strategy and resources. But, far too many times, salespeople are required to look into a crystal ball and "predict the future". Most often, this is nothing more than a leap of faith about how large the deal will be, and when an order or contract will be complete or close. This 'Hopecasting' diminishes the value of the forecast and turns this important business tool into a broad guess at upcoming revenue.
For forecasts to be accurate they need to be far more than ‘handicapped' numbers; they need to be based on a company's realities of rep experience, individual conversion ratios, sales cycle duration variances, key milestone accomplishments and current pipeline.
In this talk show, Razi will show you how you can increase your forecast accuracy by:
You will also have a chance to share your ‘hopecasting' challenges with Razi Imam through an extended Q&A session.
At the end of the session 10 names will be drawn to win the CSO Insight's 2008 Sales Optimization Report, a $295 value.
If done right, sales forecasts can be an effective driver of strategy and resources. But, far too many times, salespeople are required to look into a crystal ball and "predict the future". Most often, this is nothing more than a leap of faith about how large the deal will be, and when an order or contract will be complete or close. This 'Hopecasting' diminishes the value of the forecast and turns this important business tool into a broad guess at upcoming revenue.
For forecasts to be accurate they need to be far more than ‘handicapped' numbers; they need to be based on a company's realities of rep experience, individual conversion ratios, sales cycle duration variances, key milestone accomplishments and current pipeline.
In this talk show, Razi will show you how you can increase your forecast accuracy by:
- Following a comprehensive sales process that goes beyond marking sales cycle stage for an opportunity.
- Identifying and capturing buying cycle.
- Objectively measuring prospect's interest levels.
- Reporting progress using leading indicators rather than historic ones.
- Using effective pipeline tools that are representations of both the selling activities AND the buying activities completed for each opportunity.
You will also have a chance to share your ‘hopecasting' challenges with Razi Imam through an extended Q&A session.
At the end of the session 10 names will be drawn to win the CSO Insight's 2008 Sales Optimization Report, a $295 value.
