{"id":269,"date":"2020-03-26T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/?p=269"},"modified":"2022-09-12T15:27:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T19:27:21","slug":"three-ways-to-recalibrate-your-sales-forecast-and-close-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/three-ways-to-recalibrate-your-sales-forecast-and-close-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Ways to Recalibrate Your Sales Forecast and Close Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A recent Gartner survey<\/a> states that \u201conly 45 percent of sales leaders and sellers have high confidence in their organization\u2019s forecasting accuracy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is startling. Businesses are turning out forecasts that more than half of their sales reps don\u2019t believe in? How can that be? <\/em>After all, these businesses rely on sales forecasts for everything from spending decisions to product pricing and operational strategy. Even worse, if they miss their forecast,their share price will tumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Do Sales Leaders Doubt the Sales Forecast? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why companies need precise<\/em> predictions to create an accurate sales forecast, not haphazard conjecture. They have a lot to lose if forecasts are off target \u2013 so why is there so much doubt?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, sales executives are overwhelmed by a complex product portfolio, long sales cycles with increasing numbers of stakeholders, and pressure to make their quarter \u2013 or they can lose their job. To make matters worse, many sales organizations are navigating this chaos at the mercy of data that\u2019s often incomplete, inaccessible, and unreliable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no wonder that over half of Gartner survey respondents don\u2019t believe their organizations have high-quality data. They\u2019re the ones left wading through prospects, strapped for time, continuously frustrated, and \u2013 as a result \u2013 probably underperforming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three Ways to Improve Your Sales Forecast<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sales reps at all levels in an organization have the potential to deliver much more if they\u2019re given the tools to succeed. So how can sales organizations recalibrate their approach?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get smarter about sales forecast data.<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Choose a technology platform that can dynamically aggregate current, complete, and accurate information about prospects and customers. Furthermore, make sure data is readily accessible in a single dashboard, regardless of format or source, and sortable by keywords for further ease of use. Most importantly, the platform should leverage the power of AI to filter out the noise and display only relevant and reliable information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prioritize the pipeline. <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Having access to relevant data is just the start, of course. The next step is interpreting the data to unearth meaningful insights. Historically, sales reps have had to tackle this task manually, which is tedious and time-consuming \u2013 not to mention unnecessary. Advances in AI now make it possible for technology to intelligently scour aggregated data and determine not only which prospects have the greatest urgency to buy, but also when a company typically makes significant purchases, and who is most critical in the decision making process. Armed with this hyper-personalized insight, sales reps can quickly identify which accounts to focus on (and that changes every quarter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automate and engage.<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The final step is making that targeted connection. To accelerate this process further, look for a tool that can automatically<\/em> compile data and build a branded, specific email and sales deck that\u2019s customized to engage the customer \u2013 all with just a few clicks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncertainty about the sales forecast can<\/em> be overcome. With the right solution in play, sales reps can leverage more accurate and actionable data to become expert guides on the customer\u2019s journey \u2013 framing outcomes in terms personalized to the customer\u2019s needs. As an added bonus, companies can also use advances in technology to bridge the skills gap between the top 1 percent of reps \u2013 and reps who don\u2019t make quota. As productivity rises and more deals close, the transformation will be clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Headshot<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Anand Shah is CEO and co-founder of <\/em>Databook<\/em><\/a>. Anand brings to Databook over 17 years of experience as an expert in consulting Fortune 500 CXOs on how companies drive top-line growth for the enterprise. Before founding Databook, Anand was an engagement partner at Accenture Strategy, leading their engagement with the World Economic Forum on Digital Transformation, and a global lead for Accenture\u2019s Strategic Insights group.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Businesses rely on sales forecasts for everything from spending decisions to product pricing and operational strategy. Sales reps at all levels in an organization have the potential to deliver much more if they\u2019re given the tools to succeed. Here\u2019s how sales organizations can improve the sales forecast. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}