When business pressure is high, sales teams may lose track of further estimates. Failure to meet targets just creates pressure in the organization, reduces employee morale, damages reputations and reduces overall financial performance. Nobody wants that.
There are three things leaders can do to increase the accuracy of their predictions in uncertain times:
1. Increase the detail of your analysis
Sales representatives very often tend to generalize their assessments and predictions: "The whole industry is in ruins" or "Nobody sells anything." But insist on a more thorough analysis to identify opportunities. Direct your sales reps and sales managers to publications and research that analyze your customers' industries against yours.
Assessing your clients' business environment has two benefits. Your team improves its business acumen, making them better salespeople. They also improve the accuracy of the forecast, because if you better understand the customer's economic environment, you know which company is likely to close and which will not.
2. Use your managers
Under normal circumstances, it can be difficult to involve your executives in the business, but these urgent times allow for new possibilities. You can ask your own executives to attend virtual events or briefings with higher-level customers. Invite your executives to ask questions about the customer's overall business strategy. Include questions like:
- What happens in the customer's environment?
- What are their key goals?
- What are their biggest challenges?
- What does this customer's success and failure look like?
This simple framework keeps the conversation focused on the customer. After the meeting, let your executives share what they have learned with the sales team. Once everyone (the manager and the sales team) understands what's going on at the strategic level with the customer, you can better assess the opportunities.
3. Honestly assess the customer's urgency
A good practice is to ask the sales team honest questions about how much your customer needs or wants your product or service. Now is the time to put in place procedures and questions to force retailers to reckon with the current reality. Have your sales team ask some questions before trying to make a deal.
- What is the return on investment in this contract for customers?
- How easy is the transition for customers?
- What are the potential disadvantages of this contract for the customer?
- What are the consequences of the proposed procedure compared to waiting for a period of, e.g., six months?
- What resources will be needed for implementation?
If you can't clearly articulate how customers' lives and businesses will improve as a result of your deal, the business is at risk. If the agreement is not urgent for the customer, it is better to know the truth as soon as you can, rather than to have your forecast fall apart later, when the rest of the organization is counting on it.
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