“I can’t depend on our sales forecasts.”

It’s tough to run a profitable business without an accurate prediction of your monthly income stream. That’s why sales forecasting is so important. Yet many sales forecasts are woefully inaccurate. Although we want our salespeople to be optimistic and positive, we also need them to be realistic so we can manage our business appropriately. So what can we do?

At Roger Wentworth Group we find that the main cause of poor sales forecasting is not properly qualifying prospects. This means the salesperson is relying on “gut feelings” rather than getting the facts he or she needs to predict the probability of success.

Fortunately, Sandler Training has a cure for poor sales forecasting.

A Sandler Solution

There are three vitally important pieces of information a salesperson needs to know to more accurately predict sales success:

1. How motivated is the prospect to do business with you? We call this the prospect’s “PAIN”. A salesperson needs to determine (A) What, precisely, is the PAIN? (B) How serious is the PAIN? (C) What happens if the prospect does nothing about the PAIN (cost of inaction)?
2. Is there a budget and how much is it? The salesperson needs to know this answer as early in the relationship as possible. After all, why waste time with a company that can’t or won’t pay for what you sell? In fact, a salesperson has the responsibility – and the right – to understand the financial situation before going to work on a proposal.
3.  How does the decision process work? Is the individual the salesperson is working with authorized to make the decision? Or are other people involved? If so, who are they and what can the salesperson find out about them? Are their “Black Knights” who want to use other suppliers? Is the prospect a “White Knight” who will champion your cause? Or simply a pawn in a corporate game?

Knowing the answers to these three questions enables your sales team to develop much more accurate sales forecasts. Learning how to accomplish this is one more benefit of Sandler Training’s comprehensive system. If you’d like to learn more, sign up for our next Business Leader’s Workshop/Luncheon: Improving Sales. CLICK HERE for complete information.