Individual and team sales goals: What does ‘success’ mean to you and your team? Start by defining realistic goals that work with your overall sales strategy.
Your detailed sales process: What are the repeatable steps you can take to move a potential customer from prospect to client? How long does it typically take? How often does it work? You can’t experiment and grow if you don’t start with a solid foundational sales process.
Standardized definitions of leads, opportunities, and closes: This might seem obvious, but the complexity of your business might mean there’s some confusion around when a lead is a lead, opportunity, or prospect. Nail down these terms so everyone’s on the same page when they’re reporting.
Powerful and flexible CRM software: Reps need a way to track and update you on sales, closes, or potential issues, and a CRM gives them all that and more. That same study from the Aberdeen Group showed that sales reps who rely heavily on their CRM hit their quotas 82% of the time versus 65% for non-CRM power users. (We might be a little biased, but we think Close can’t be beaten for giving you a clear picture of your current and future sales.)
Info on product costs, expenses, and potential market tunisia telegram data or price fluctuations: Again, it depends on what you’re selling, but know the costs of doing business and keep your ear to the ground when it comes to the market. Your forecast is an educated guess, remember? Keep sharp!
‘Show me the money!’ data: Knowing where money is coming from and where it’s going is central to an accurate and successful sales forecast. If you have any concerns about this, take time now to get your data in order.
On top of all these, you’ll want to make sure you keep an eye on internal factors that could drastically change your forecast, like adding or removing salespeople from your team, or changing policies that will affect the way your sales team works (like changing your incentive programs or upping commission on certain sales).
There are also external factors you need to be aware of, such as changing economic conditions, competitor advances (which might impact your bottom line), legislation, or even the seasonality of what you’re selling.
A basic rule of thumb is when there are changes to your sales team, update your forecast.