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Proven Sales Pipeline Management and Forecasting Best Practices for Sales ManagersTracey KaufmanCloud9 AnalyticsSr. Director of Customer Experience

August 2010

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What We’ll Cover

• How pipeline management informed by Analytics can improve your bottom line revenue

• Why knowing "what's changed" in your sales pipeline is critical to making your number

• A step-by-step process for running successful weekly sales meetings informed by Analytics

• How to become an expert at 1:1 coaching using sales pipeline data

Cloud9  2010

The PROBLEM

Source: CSO Insights: May 2010

Only 44.8% of Forecasted Deals Are Won

50% of Time Spent on Revenue GEN

Selling w/ RepsCoaching Reps

Internal Meeting & Management Tasks

Other (Train / Travel)

Pipe / Forecast MGMT

27.2%

15.8%20.3%

21.6%

14.7%

Won

LostNo Decision31.3%29.9%

44.8%

Only 23% of Firms have a Dynamic Sales Mgmt. Process

Only 51.5% of Reps Are Making Quota

Only 78.5% of Plan Attainment is Accomplished

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Which MEANS

45% use CRM to Manage Sales Forecasts

You’re missing out on REVENUE

4.0%

30.4%

45.5%

20.1%

Use Core CRM System

Use Spreadsheets

Use Sales Analytics

Other

CRM isn’t ENOUGHSupports business NOT management processes&

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INCREASE Bottom Line Revenue & Predictability

Improve Pipeline Velocity:(# of deals) x (win conversion rate) x (avg. deal size)

Average selling time in days

The GOAL

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Example of VELOCITY

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Let’s Calculate Monthly % CHANGE in VelocityOr Variance–Pipeline Acceleration / Deceleration

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The SOLUTION

BETTER Pipeline ManagementDetect & Correct vs Measure & Punish

Activity x Proficiency = Sales

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Use ANALYTICS to:

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• Determine which forecasted deals have changed and how

• Determine which forecasted deals are slipping and why

• Determine which reps need extra coaching/mentoring

• Coach reps on how to prioritize which accounts to pursue

• Assist reps in qualifying out low quality opportunities early

Be PROACTIVE

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Pipeline Management Best Practices

Implement a DYNAMIC Pipeline Mgmt. Process 1

Escalate CRM ADOPTION for Visibility2

Leverage Pipeline ANALYTICS3

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Running a Weekly Meeting

• Where are we now–are we on track?

• Where are we going–do we have sufficient coverage to make our number?

• What’s changed–how does our progress compare to other periods (in the past)?

Ask YOURSELF:

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Performance and Coverage

Compare current performance against quota and forecast

Drill into details

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What’s Changed

Review pipeline changes (won, lost, adjusted), uncover exceptions, identify risks and develop next steps

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Weekly Meeting Example

Do Q/Q comparison, identify risk areas & make course corrections to refocus resources

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1:1 Coaching Example

Look at last quarter’s results:

• Are your reps entering a high % of deals late in the quarter or doing post quarter cleanup?

• What % of their committed deals were won, lost and deferred, adjusted?

For the current quarter:

• Is there a high percentage of expired deals?

• Are there a lot of stale deals that haven’t been managed? Should they be closed?

• Are Activities being updated regularly?

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Results You Can Expect

“Adaptable companies with a dynamic sales process reported

30% higher forecasted deal conversion rates than average”

2010 CSO Insights Report

Potential of 10% increase in revenue via improved sales pipeline/funnel management

2007 McKinsey study

VELOCITY & REVENUE Improvements

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C9 Customer Success Stories

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Forecast accuracy improved by 50% resulting in better

resource allocation

Increased forecasted deal closure by 5% resulting in

$400K per quarter

Returned 80 hours per quarter in selling time back

to Sales Management

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3 Things You Can Do Today

Review performance against goals and forecast, Review pipeline changes, Do comparisons

# Deals, Win conversion rate, Average deal size & Sale cycle daysMeasure the key pipeline velocity drivers for your business

Review pipeline regularly, Proactively identify risks & Drive desired behaviorsAdjust your Sales Management Process to improve velocity drivers

Use Analytics to inform your weekly meetings and 1:1 coaching sessions

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Cloud9 Pipeline Accelerator

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Thank  You