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Large Opportunity Validation System— Closing The Reality Gap
| Date post: | 22-Jul-2015 |
| Category: |
Sales |
| Upload: | david-sharples |
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Large Opportunity Validation System—
Closing The Reality Gap
The top priority of Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) around the world is to increase sales effectiveness.
To increase Sales Effectiveness businesses need to:I. Develop consistent, customer-centric sales methodologies and
processes that sustain customer loyalty;
II. Embed more science into sales talent acquisition and retention practices; and
III. Drive adoption of sales tools through alignment with processes, especially with mobile solutions that provide a distinctive sales representative experience.
* Accenture reports on Sales Effectiveness 2
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Every business has them.
Every business needs them.
Every business feels the pain of losing them.
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They can make or break your business.
Often treated as just part of the flow, or worse, discounted right out of the pipeline.◦ Research showed that 48.6% of CSOs believed close
probabilities were too high*
◦ Only 46% of opportunities that were projected to win actually closed*
NB: But when, on time as projected?
* CSO Insight 2014 5
Business leaders don’t trust the probability of winning Large Opportunities, or they rely on them too heavily.
Problem #1
CFOs and Sales Leaders may remove large opportunities from their forecasts altogether.
The effects ripple through multiple areas of the business.◦ Resources are mismanaged
◦ Skills and knowledge development potential is missed
◦ Employee motivation is skewed
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Problem #2
Large Opportunities create a false sense of sales growth.◦ The reality is you don’t close “50%” of a Large Opportunity; you close all of
it, or none of it.
When the Large Opportunity is lost how do you make up cash flow shortfall? Where is the backfill you need? ◦ We recently saw a $12M opportunity being forecasted at 50%, or $6M.
The opportunity was lost.
◦ With an average size of sale of $150K the company needed 40 new sales to fill the gap.
◦ These new prospects were absent.
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Problem #3
Companies often rely solely on the weighted data in their CRM and standard business intelligence tools.
Rather than focusing on individual large opportunities to validate the veracity of their forecast and close the Reality Gap.
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Your Estimated
Probability
of Close
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Your Estimated
Probability
of Close
Our Validated
Probability of Close &
Probability of Close
On Time
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The Reality Gap is the difference between your estimated Probability
of Close vs. the results of our validation technology.
To overcome the problems associates with Large Opportunities you
need to close the Reality Gap.
Your Estimated
Probability
of Close
Our Validated
Probability of Close &
Probability of Close
On Time
The
Reality Gap
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4Growth creates trust and confidence in your projected Large Opportunity wins.
We help you close your Reality Gap though two key disciplines:
1. Validation; and
2. Action.
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The validation engine at the core is Occulus. ◦ Independent of your CRM and platform agnostic
◦ Sales process independent - Works with any sales model & methodology
◦ Technology component is cloud based and works with any browser
◦ Fits easily into your business
A 4Growth experienced sales management executive works beside your sales people, coaching them through the validation process for each large opportunity.
Occulus creates an early warning system of potential problems and creates a custom playbook to guide the opportunity in the right direction.
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Web-based sales opportunity analysis and qualifying tool that fundamentally improves the way your sales teams pursue and close business.
Analyzes sales opportunities and provides an analytic and objective assessment of the quality of the opportunity:◦ How well it is qualified.
◦ The probability of winning.
◦ The probability of closing by the forecasted Close Date.
◦ Identification of the Strengths & Weaknesses.
◦ A list of information that is missing or incomplete.
◦ Action steps to improve the chances of winning the business.
◦ Identification of stalled opportunities and those that are going ‘nowhere’.
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•Logging In
•Creating the Opportunity
Creating
Opportunities
•Understanding the Questions
•Interpreting the Language
Answering
Questions
•Revealing Outcomes
•Seeing the Results
Analysis
Overview
•Understanding What’s Strong
•See What We Need for Success
SWOT
Analysis
•Missing Information
•The Action Steps
Action
Plan
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Your Dashboard lists Opportunities with
Close Dates past due.
When entering an Opportunity you
identify the date you expect the deal to
close, i.e. the Close Date.
In addition to providing the probability
that the deal with close by this date,
Occulus monitors the Close Date.
If past the Close Date Occulus flags the
Opportunity and places in the ‘Past Due’
list on your Dashboard and your Sales
Manager’s.
This gives you both a common agenda
during sales meetings.
Sales Rep Dashboard
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The Questions are divided into 6
categories;
1. Opportunity Description
How well is the opportunity defined?
2. Proposed Solution
How closely is our proposed solution
matching the requirements as defined
in Opportunity Description?
3. Decision Process
How well do you understand the
decision process for this opportunity?
4. Relationship
What is the quality of our relationship
with the prospect?
5. Competition
How are we against the competition?
6. Timing
Does the client want or need this by a
certain date?
Answering the Questions
Using the Occulus Action Plan a senior 4Growth executive coaches the sales person and manager to help them develop clear insights into their opportunities.
A key to success in Large Opportunities is qualitative; measured by the sales person’s depth of understanding of the nuances of the opportunity and the tangible actions needed to close it.
We enable knowledge transfer equipping your sales managers to continue working the system.
We help you Act, to close the Reality Gap.
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Sales Representatives◦ Get greater insight and engagement.
◦ Learn how to manage the complexities of a large opportunity.
◦ Understand where to allocate their resources to avoid wasted efforts.
◦ Have a rigorous action plan to follow as well as an early warning system for opportunities at risk.
◦ Win more large opportunities.
Sales Managers◦ Focus on well qualified opportunities with clear closing plans.
◦ Provides a defined template for rep interaction and opportunity management.
◦ Use the process to drive technical resource support requirements.
◦ Delivers evidence-based forecasts to senior sales management with a higher degree of confidence.
◦ Highlight areas for development within the sales team. The Large Opportunity Validation System gives them a framework for skill development in managing large or complex opportunities.
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C-Suite◦ CSOs gain a high degree of trust in the forecasts they are receiving from their
line managers and can confidently report status on the large opportunities that impact their forecasts.
◦ CSOs can align their growth plans with the developmental needs of their people.
◦ CFOs can better manage cash flow and future revenue planning and provide reliable forecasts to the CEO.
◦ CMOs can build programs that seek the information needed to close the Reality Gap. This also creates a powerful feedback loop between Marketing and Sales. Marketing can create solid ROI numbers for these programs.
◦ Improves alignment between sales, marketing, and senior executives.
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1. Close the Reality Gap and bring rigour and discipline to the process.
2. Increase sales effectiveness and grow revenue.
3. Gain a higher degree of confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the sales pipeline and forecasts.
4. Increase the sales organization’s ability to qualify, manage and close large opportunities.
5. Drive efficiencies by enabling the sales organization to quickly hone in on the actions and resources required to pursue a large and complex opportunity.
6. Establish a compelling platform for skills development and coaching.
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Executive
Leadership
Engagement
Sales Leadership
Engagement
Defining
Success Metrics
Selling Model
Analysis
Participants &
Opportunities
Selection
LOVS Overviews:
Managers & Reps
Participation
Details and
Commitments
Sales Management
Occulus Overview
Sales Management
Coaching Overview
Sales Reps
Occulus Overview
Coaching LOVS for
Sales Management
Coaching LOVS for
Sales Team
Emphasis in steps 1&2 is corporate
messaging, change management and
building trust around the overall system:
I. Engagement
II. Explanation
III. Expectation Clarity
Emphasis in steps 3&4 is enablement,
knowledge transfer and adoption:
I. Sales manager as coach through
the system
II. Adoption and ease for the sales team
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Engaged &
Embedded
Worked &
Reviewed
4Growth
Returns
Worked &
Reviewed
1. The initial 3-month engagement embeds the Large Opportunity Validation System into your sales process.
2. The system is then worked by your sales team.
◦ With every client interaction the opportunities are reviewed in Occulus; refreshed and renewed action plans are created moving you forward
◦ New opportunities are entered and analyzed for Validity and Actions Plans created
3. 4Growth can return to deepen your sales effectiveness.
4. The system remains embedded and used by your sales team to validate and close business.
3 months 6 months
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