Build the Ultimate Sales Forecast with CRM

No Blind Spots:
Build the Ultimate
Sales Forecast

View Slide

© 2022 SugarCRM Inc. All rights reserved.
2
Everyone is
on mute
Questions
are welcome
Recording
available
Before We Start

View Slide

James Harper
Senior Product
Marketing Manager
SugarCRM
[email protected]
Presenters
Ellen True
Sr. Director, Product
Management
SugarCRM
[email protected]
Sarah Friedlander G.
Director,
Content & Creative
SugarCRM
[email protected]
Christian Wettre
SVP & General Manager,
Platform
SugarCRM
[email protected]
3

View Slide

• Introduction
• Forecasting Fundamentals
• Forecasting Models
• How Sugar Supports Forecasting Models
• Setting Up a Committed Forecast Model
• Inspecting and Analyzing the Forecast
• Q&A
Agenda
4
4

View Slide

Forward Looking
Statements
• This material contains forward-looking
statements relating to SugarCRM’s
expectations and plans regarding our
products. These statements are based
on the current expectations and beliefs
of SugarCRM’s management as of the
date this material is issued.
• Our roadmap could change substantially
from what is presented here due to a
variety of factors, some of which are
beyond our control. Such changes can
be made by us without updating these
forward-looking statements.

View Slide

Companies who achieve a reliable sales
forecast:
• Grow faster those who do not
• Higher percent of team meets quota than
those who do not
• By 2026, 65% of B2B sales organizations
will transition from intuition-based to data
driven decision making, using technology
that unites workflows, data and analytics.
Why Spend Your Time
on Forecasts?
6

View Slide

Let the Platform do the Work!
• CRM-managed pipeline processes support
complete and accurate opportunity details
• Common areas for data discrepancy and
failure
• Quotes
• Contracts
• Opportunities
• Conversation details
• Capture and manage this data together in
CRM!
7

View Slide

Forecasting Fundamentals
8

View Slide

Terminology
9
Term Definition
Rep Quota A sales reps’ revenue goal
Company Target A company’s revenue goal
Attainment Percentage of quota or target achieved
Qualified Opportunity A sales opportunity where there is a confirmed need and interest
Open Opportunity Opportunities that are not won, lost, or abandoned
Pipeline The sum of the value of all your open opportunities
Coverage Ratio Value of Pipeline expected to close this period divided by Quota this period. For instance, if your pipeline in
quarter is $1,000,000 and your quota is $300,000 your coverage ratio is 3.3X
Forecast With a chosen forecast methodology, a calculation of the portion of the pipeline that will become revenue in a
period
Call An amount representing the forecast for a period by an individual responsible for a portion of the sales
organization. For instance, a sales manager may make a forecast ‘call’ of $1,000,000 in revenue on behalf of
their team.
Committed
Opportunity
An opportunity expected to by won in a specified period such as this quarter
Upside An opportunity where there is a chance that it may be won in a specified period but is not committed
Sales Stage Where an opportunity sits in regard to an organizations shared sales process. Typical sales stages are New,
Qualified, Presented, Quoted, Selected, Won, Lost, or Abandoned.
Close Date The date when an opportunity is expected to turn into an order

View Slide

Forecasting Models
10

View Slide

Chose a Sales Forecast Method
11
Weighted
Probability
Forecasts
Each sales stage is
assigned a Win
probability
Smaller organizations or
firms without a need for
strict sales goals
It is ‘automatic’ and the
sales team do not need
to run a forecast cadence
It is a directional forecast
only and can be heavily
skewed by ‘outlier’
opportunities
Forecast
Type
Description
Who?
Pros
Cons
Historical
Forecasts
Historical average ‘Days
to Close’ are calculated
together with ‘Win Rates’
Organization with high
opportunity velocity,
lower opportunity value,
or stable conditions
It is ‘automatic’ and the
sales team do not need
to run a forecast cadence
You are looking back at
the past and not at the
present and future states
of your situation
Committed
Forecasts
Opportunities are maintained
with an expected close date
and marked as either
committed or not
Larger organizations needing
set reliable expectations
about revenue
Encourages a deeper
individual responsibility to
committed deals and
surfaces weak pipelines.
Requires a lot of inspection of
committed opportunities

View Slide

Weighted Probability Forecasting
12
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
+
+
+
= Current Period Forecast
New
Qualified
Quoted
Selected
$100K x 25% = $25K
$75K x 35% = $26.5K
$50K x 50% = $25K
$25K x 80% = $20K
+
+
+
= $96.5K
Current Quarter Pipeline
Current Period Pipeline Value x Stage 1 Win Rate

View Slide

Sugar administrators configure as many
sales stages as needed and associates a
win rate / probability % to each
Sugar Supports Weighted Probability Forecasting
13

View Slide

• When the volume of opportunities is high, forecasts can be calculated to serve as the forecast or to
support other forecast models.
• Formulas with standard deviations of time lag trailing averages for days to close and win rates can be
built to forecast for your organization.
Historical Forecasting
14
Days to Close and Win Rates by Stage
Opportunities
x
x

View Slide

Sugar Sell Premier Supports Historical Forecasting
15
Time-aware reporting tracks
past performance to predict
outcomes in current and future
sales periods

View Slide

• Opportunities in the pipeline are updated with a commitment indicator when the sales rep is
confident that the opportunity will be won by a specified date
• Sales reps and managers make periodic forecast ‘Calls’ based on committed pipeline, historical
pipeline movement, available pipeline ‘Coverage’, and market conditions
Committed Forecasting
16
Opportunity Name Opportunity Value Expected Close Date Committed
1,000 Widgets to ABC Corp $8,800 June 01 Yes
500 Widgets to XYZ Inc. $5,000 June 13 No
300 Gizmos to XYZ Inc. $9,000 June 23 Yes
Forecast ‘Call’ addition $5,000
Period Forecast $22,800
+
=
Committed Pipeline $17,800

View Slide

How Sugar Supports Committed Forecasts
17

View Slide

How Sugar Supports Committed Forecasts
18

View Slide

Poll
What forecast model do you use?
19

View Slide

Setting Up a Committed
Forecast Model
20

View Slide

Organize a Repeating Forecast Cadence
21
Sales
Representative
Sales
Manager
Vice President
Sales
Chief Revenue
Officer
Chief Financial
Officer
Chief Executive
Officer Board of
Directors
Friday PM Monday AM Monday PM Tuesday AM

View Slide

Sugar Builds
Team Forecasts
22

View Slide

Sugar Enables Drill Down to Team Members
23

View Slide

Inspecting and Analyzing
the Forecast
24

View Slide

• During the Forecast Cadence, each team member inspects their opportunity
pipeline and prepares to defend their forecast position
• What is inspected on each opportunity:
Inspecting the Forecast, Preparing to Make a Call
25
Opportunity
Why is the deal committed?
Have the contracts been sent to
the customer?
Have we learned what we would
expect for the current sales
stage?
Have we discovered the
competitive positioning?
Contacts
Are we speaking to enough
people?
Are we speaking to the right
people?
Who are our supporters or
detractors?
Interactions
When did we interact last?
When do we meet next?
Does the interaction pace match
the sales stage?

View Slide

Inspecting the Forecast:
Who Moved the Cheese?
26

View Slide

Sugar Helps You Inspect the Forecast
27

View Slide

Sugar Helps You Inspect the Forecast
28

View Slide

Making a Forecast Call
At each level of the seller reporting chain,
at a fixed schedule, a seller confirms their
period forecast by making a ‘Call’
29

View Slide

Sugar Helps You Analyze Your Forecast
30

View Slide

Sugar Helps Your Team Make Calls
31

View Slide

Sugar Measures Forecast
History and Accuracy
32

View Slide

Key Takeaways
33

View Slide

6 Key Takeaways
1. You will be more likely to meet your
revenue goals with a disciplined
forecasting process
2. Let the platform do the work, expect your
CRM platform to help with the process
3. Establish a consistent weekly or bi-weekly
pipeline inspection and forecast call
cadence
4. Inspect the pipeline opportunities for risk
and sales process compliance
5. Hold each other accountable
6. Measure how accurate your forecasts are
and continually refine the process
34

View Slide

What’s Next?
Help us make a great product!
• Email Ellen True at
[email protected] to
schedule a feedback session
Would you like to see how this
works for you?
• Schedule a 30 minute 1 on 1
briefing by emailing
[email protected]
35

View Slide

Q&A
36

View Slide

Thank You!
37

View Slide

Build the Ultimate Sales Forecast with CRM

Build the Ultimate Sales Forecast with CRM

SugarCRM
PRO

More Decks by SugarCRM

Other Decks in Technology

Featured

Transcript

Build the Ultimate Sales Forecast with CRM

Build the Ultimate Sales Forecast with CRM

SugarCRM PRO

More Decks by SugarCRM

Other Decks in Technology

Featured

Transcript

SugarCRM
PRO