I’ve been talked quite a bit on previous posts about using a CRM so it only seems fitting to remind everybody that any sales tool is only as valuable as the accuracy of the information that has been put into it. Frankly, before investing in any CRM for either yourself or your team, I think that you need to ask yourself some critical questions. As a manager, what do you hope to get out of this? As a sales rep, what do I hope that this will help me with? Are we doing this to increase sales, manage salespeople, or both? What other applications need to be integrated? Accounting? Case management? Outbound telemarketing or email campaigns? The list goes on and on. Will this tool need to be accessed and maintained remotely or is it strictly desktop? Best to answer these questions now because there are a lot of solutions out there and they all come with different capabilities and price tags.
This may be the biggest question of all … “Do you have buy-in from all parties involved and do they recognize the commitment and the benefits that come with investing in this tool?” If that’s a big “No”, you will be wasting your money. Your new investment will never perform as expected and will most likely follow that ancient axiom … Garbage In = Garbage Out. And, you will tear your hair out and take years off of your life expectancy in the process (smile).
We’ll talk more about this in future posts but, for now, I wanted to discuss one of the most challenging tasks for both sales managers and sales people regardless of whether or not you do this on paper or use a CRM……. Forecasting. A pain in the rear for all involved and rarely, if ever accurate. What can you expect when you ask somebody what the chances of closing the sale are and the answer you get is “Pretty good”. How, exactly, does one quantify “Pretty good”? The answer is, you can’t. Maybe what follows will help. I picked this chart up a number of years back and, if you are honest, it is amazingly accurate. When looking at each opportunity in your sales pipeline, assign the percentage probability of closing to the dollar amount and this results in the forecasted dollars. Simple.
100% – The purchase order has been received and credit has been approved
90% – Verbal order awaiting confirmation and/or credit approval
80% – Verbal acceptance but still negotiating details that don’t affect the decision
70% – Declared competitive preference for you & the client wants final recommendations
60% – The client accepts your ideas in concept
50% – The client has funds and will buy from someone
40% – The client wants to see your recommendations
30% – The client agrees to arrange another meeting
20% – Client agrees to an initial discussion
10% – Unlikely to closer or this is prior to the initial discussion
This should keep you busy for awhile (smile). Thanks for visiting!
Craig
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