They don’t!
Unless one of two things happens:
- The sales rep tells the sales manager that they are in trouble with a deal. An unlikely scenario.
- The customer tells the sales manager; ‘Sorry we selected a different vendor.’ or ‘The deal has slipped.’
In both cases it’s too late.
Why don’t your sales managers know which deals are in trouble? → They don’t have independently verifiable information as to how a deal is progressing through the sales process.
Sales reps are often reluctant to accept, realize or admit they’re in trouble. They may not want the sales manager to know.
The CRM doesn’t provide any insights.
One of the greatest challenges for your sales managers is identifying which deals are in trouble. Lack of detailed knowledge about how deals are progressing through the sales process puts your sales managers at a disadvantage, since they cannot identify which deals require intervention nor can they challenge the sales rep’s assessment and therefore, have no ability to influence the deal outcome.
This effects everybody’s results!
Professional:
- Nasty Surprises
- Delayed (& Slipped) Deals
- Surprise Losses
- Cancelled Deals
- Missed Forecasts
- Overall Poor Forecasting Accuracy
- Competency is questioned
Personal:
- Sense of lack of control
- Reputation suffers
- Stress (especially at quarter end)
Occulus solves this problem.
Deals that are in trouble, from being lost or slipping to the next quarter are highlighted in red. The sales manager need only click on the deal to open the deal record to determine what the issues are and how severe they are. (See Pipeline Management for additional details)