Question

What's your favorite forecast hack?

  • 13 July 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 178 views

Userlevel 6
Badge +1

Was there ever a time that you absolutely nailed your forecast? 

Share your story below! 


4 replies

Userlevel 3
Badge +3

I always recommend that reps keep their forecasts up to date over the course of the week! If a big move happens with a deal, they can immediately update their forecast category, close date, ARR, etc. - right from the Forecast page. Makes updating their forecasts at the end of the week fast and painless!

Badge +2

Just a few :)

  • Never stop prospecting, no matter your role
  • Ask for the business….just ask...folks will like that you are driving the deal.
  • Keep your pipeline up to date.
  • Don’t lie to yourself about the weight ($) of your pipeline. Save the energy throwing up fake numbers and put that towards brainstorming new ideas on how to build your pipeline. 
  • Stop kicking that opp down the road….just close the opp. It’s gonna be okay, I promise. Take the learnings from that lost deal and refine your process going forwards. 
  • If someone tells you no, find out why…..but not is a weird agro way, but in a “hey, I get you don’t want to date right now, let’s be friends” way. Then ask them if they’d be will to intro you to a shared connection, that you can then sell. Obvi, do your research and have a target in mind. Don’t make them work for it. 
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

When reviewing forecasts with teams and assessing if the close date is accurate I ask reps the following questions: 

  • Do we know when they want to go-live with our solution? This helps to understand if there is a level of urgency with the client (for example if their contract with a current tool ends and they need our solution in place prior to losing access to their existing tool). It also helps to understand the level of certainty of the close date. If surfaces biases of ‘well we should have the evaluation and proposal sent by X date so we should be able to close by X date” vs “This is the close date because a decision is needed by X date in order to implement by Y date.”. 
  • I also ask if we have a mutual plan in place where both parties are agreeing to and being accountable for certain actions that will move the deal forward. For example, this could be that the prospect is agreeing to have the decision maker join the next demo. 

Gong can help surface whether these things are happening so it’s much more efficient with Gong in place. 

Badge +1

Use “minimum acceptable value” or your “walk away price” for early stage forecasting placeholder values. That way as your confidence in deals goes up so does your value for each deal on average. It will help you avoid feeling over confident with your pipeline coverage and making last minute downward moves late in the quarter/year. 

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