C9 Micro ebook I Forecasting. C9 Forecasting. Forecasting in the Predictive Sales Organization

Transcription

1 C9 Micro ebook I Forecasting C9 Forecasting Forecasting in the Predictive Sales Organization 1

2 The Forecast This micro e-book is one of a six-part series and outlines how the sales FORECASTING works in a Predictive Sales Organization. It summarizes the approach that some of the world s leading sales leaders are taking to accelerate sales and realize sustained growth. Contributors to the Predictive Sales Organization Series include: Patrick Hurley Lars Nilsson Loren Alhadeff Mark Goode Joe Dillon Steve Rutledge Jeanne DeWitt Vikas Bhambri Bill Kiedaisch Patrick O Leary General Manager of the Americas, Acronis VP Field Operations, CloudEra VP Corporate Sales, DocuSign SVP Global Sales, DSI Director of Sales, evault VP Global Sales Operations, Genesys Director of Enterprise SMB Sales for the Americas, Google VP Global Sales Consulting and Sales Productivity, LivePerson Director Global Sales Analytics and Opportunity Management, Pitney Bowes Senior Director of Strategy and Operations, Yahoo Contact C9 to participate in local executive forums or learn more about how C9 solutions can help your organization. Sales: salesteam@c9inc.com 2

3 Introduction C9 works with hundreds of forward-thinking sales leaders to transform conventional sales organizations into what we call The Predictive Sales Organization. The Predictive Sales Organization capitalizes on predictive insights to accelerate deals in the current pipeline, deliver precision forecasts and align resources behind long-term growth opportunities. Sales Forecasts: The Conventional vs. the Predictive The Conventional Forecast: depends heavily on subjective assumptions places more weight on historical trends than on current and future events relies on bespoke spreadsheets and ad hoc process The Predictive Forecast: uses data science to increase accuracy provides employees with explicit criteria to determine which deals make up the forecast minimizes resources required by using automation pivots views based on the needs of the user For a comprehensive portrait of the Predictive Sales Organization, download our full e-book, Becoming a Predictive Sales Organization: Best Practices from the C9 Community. 3

4 Looking to the Future Rather than the Past A conventional organization relies heavily on historical data to generate projections on future business. But if historical assumptions don t hold true (and they rarely do), the margin of error can be large. A predictive sales organization generates a highly accurate forecast using data science to analyze factors such as macro-economic trends, company specific events, and real time signals from individual deals. Our team is looking forward every day. We have visibility into the future, not the rear-view mirror. Bill Kiedaisch, Director Global Sales Analytics and Opportunity Management, Pitney Bowes Predictive Sales Organizations deliver highly accurate forecasts by blending the sales team s perspective with data science driven projections.

5 Removing the Subjectivity In many companies, reps and managers aren t equipped with objective definitions of what constitutes a forecastable deal. In the absence of such criteria, forecast accuracy is undermined by personal bias and subjective assessments. Predictive sales organizations define, track, and measure the specific attributes that help sales teams decide which deals can be committed to the forecast. It s pretty painful for a person when the forecast he s been defending all quarter doesn t come to fruition it often triggers performance improvement plans and termination. We take a more objective approach a checklist in our CRM that systematically walks you through every question you need to ask yourself as you are forecasting. Streamlining the Roll-up Many conventional organizations rely on spreadsheets, , and analysts to aggregate revenue data. One Fortune 500 company spends 500 hours per week standardizing, consolidating and distributing the weekly forecast. Predictive organizations deliver a forecast with a fraction of the resources using automation tools like workflow and alerts. Once Yahoo moved from spreadsheets to an automated roll up process, our world-wide organization was able to submit a comprehensive forecast in a single morning. Spending less time forecasting and more time selling translated to a 13% increase in productivity. Patrick O Leary, Senior Director Sales Operations and Effectiveness, Yahoo! Joe Dillon, Director of Sales, evault

6 C9 Micro ebook I Forecasting Pivoting the Forecast Based on the Audience Conventional forecasts are based solely on sales territories and groups outside of sales, such as product teams or industry business units, must either cobble together their own view of revenue or make decisions without this critical information. Predictive organizations, by contrast, are able to efficiently deliver revenue cuts that meet the needs of a broad range of users. Deals can be aggregated by account, product, geography, or industry and can also be viewed in terms of count, revenue or margin, all with a few clicks. Everyone is on the same page and minimal resources are expended in the process. We are able to break the forecast down by opportunity, region, product, etc. We validate what s in there and then we are able to capture what is a commit, what is an upside number, and what is a best-case number. Bill Flynn, VP of Worldwide Sales, C9 With a few mouse clicks, Predictive Sales Organizations can pivot the forecast across multiple dimensions.

7 C9 Micro ebook I Forecasting About Our 6-Part e-book Series Contributors Patrick Hurley, General Manager of the Americas, Acronis Patrick is a top-performing sales director with experience managing SMB, Enterprise, Federal, and SLED software sales teams. His experience includes hiring and cultivating successful sales representatives, developing internal processes, analyzing tends, and driving accountability across an organization consisting of inside & outside sales professionals. Lars Nilsson, VP Field Operations, CloudEra Lars is a results-oriented Inside Sales & Sales Operations Vice President with 20 years of management and leadership experience building sales organizations and generating demand for products in enterprise software and hardware organizations. He has built inside sales teams, created and implemented processes, systems, and infrastructure that boosted sales force productivity and efficiency, enabling those companies to accelerate growth, increase market share, and meet strategic objectives while ensuring financial and corporate compliance. Loren Alhadeff, VP Corporate Sales, DocuSign Loren has extensive sales leadership experience building sales organizations from scratch as well as improving and accelerating the growth of existing sales teams and processes. He has practical experience and solid understanding of a vast range of businessmanagement applications including market analysis, marketing, teambuilding, and quality assurance; the teams he has managed have sold to prospects/customers ranging from small and medium businesses through to the executive/enterprise markets. Mark Goode, SVP Global Sales, DSI In addition to his current role at DSI, Mark has held various leadership roles including VP Sales (Americas and North America), VP Global Sales, and SVP Sales and Marketing. His previous experience includes leadership roles at Siebal Systems and SAP; at SAP he was responsible for key global accounts, including Hallmark, Bunge, Monsanto, Koch Inc, Dean Foods, Monsanto, and Energizer Holdings. Joe Dillon, Director of Sales, evault Joe s experience includes leading and developing sales teams in start-up and large enterprises. More than 43,000 companies rely on EVault Cloud-connected backup and recovery services, which seamlessly integrate on-premise and online backup data protection for fast, local data access and ensured Cloud-disaster recovery. Steve Rutledge, VP Global Sales Operations, Genesys Steve is a seasoned, senior sales operations executive with international experience in B2B Software and SaaS; he specializes in turn-around and high-growth endeavors. He consistently enables sales organizations to achieve superior results and has an executionbased approach to sales operations that provides measurable and consistent results to field sales and to clients. Jeanne DeWitt, Director of Enterprise SMB Sales for the Americas, Google (formerly) Jeanne DeWitt worked as Head of SMB Sales, North and Latin America where she ran a 60-person sales team across new business acquisition and account management, as well as direct and channel sales. Previously she was Head of Google Apps SMB Sales, Japan and Asia Pacific as part of an 18-month assignment to execute a strategic growth initiative. Currently she is Chief Revenue Officer at UberConference. Vikas Bhambri, VP Global Sales Consulting and Sales Productivity, LivePerson Vikas is transforming the way LivePerson sells through Sales Operations, Sales Productivity, Sales Development, and Sales Consulting teams. For the past 18 years he has advised the world s biggest brands on the implementation of technology to better engage with their customers. Bill Kiedaisch, Director Global Sales Analytics and Opportunity Management, Pitney Bowes Bill is responsible for the Global Sales Management System at Pitney Bowes, which is comprised of three groups: Salesforce.com and Siebel CRM for sales and marketing; Business Support and Governance; and Insights and Performance. Patrick O Leary, Senior Director of Strategy and Operations, Yahoo Patrick has held the positions of Director of Sales Strategy and Operations and Director of Global Sales Business Ops at Yahoo. Previously he was Director of Strategic Planning and Operations at Autodesk. 7

8 C9 Inc. 177 Bovet Road, Suite 520 San Mateo, CA Call us: (650) Us: 8 Copyright 2014 C9 Inc. All Rights Reserved. Active Warehouse, Active Analytics, Active Connectors, Active Reports, Active Insights, Active Pipeline and Active Forecast are trademarks of C9.