Use your forecast to plan the next step

[nishat@264]

For most sales teams, reps might say, “It’s in the demo stage because I gave them a demo,” but that says nothing about where the buyer is in their journey .

A demonstration is a step in evaluating a product
Rename a demo step to “Product Reviewed” and set the buyer exit criteria as follows:

The buyer showed up for the demonstration and got his questions answered.
Before the call ended, the buyer scheduled another meeting to discuss the next steps.
The buyer responded to a recap email, confirming the appointment and next steps.
What happens after a sales demonstration?
Now, instead of the sale moving to the next stage a complete list of unit phone numbers as soon as the rep leaves the demo, the rep can only move the sale to the next stage if they have answered the buyer’s questions, set the next appointment, sent a summary email of what was discussed and next steps, and received a response to that email confirming that the buyer understood the same thing. As a sales manager, you can say, “I saw that you moved this sale out of the evaluation stage. Can I see the email where the buyer verified your next steps?”

How accurate are your sales forecasts?
When the steps in your sales process are well defined, the forecasts you make based on those steps are accurate.

If you see that 21% of sales that made it through the assessment stage closed this month, you can expect that rate to remain consistent month over month. If the conversion rate from one stage to the next is lower than you want, you can focus on training and coaching your team to be more efficient in those stages. You can always track progress through a learning management system .