PURPOSE
This portion of the daily XRay report shows you what Sales has forecasted to close this month. Deals are shown in order by the “sales stage” they are in, with “Closed” and “Delivered” deals shown first. The further down the list of sales stages you go, the greater the risk that the deal listed may NOT close this month, even though it is forecasted to close. As is the case is all XRay reports, the figures estimated are broken into various components (detailed below).
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
If you’re the CxO, but you’ve never been a commissioned sales rep selling for someone else, I would suggest that you have NO idea how difficult the sales process can be (especially if you don’t have a formalized sales process that you follow). My 30+ years in the technology industry (including roles as salesperson, sales manager/director, and customer) tell me that to be successful in sales, you need AT LEAST:
- A Sales “Process” – Your sales “stages” in ConnectWise should align with your sales process directly. In addition, there should be visible actions or behaviors by the client that clearly indicate WHICH sales stage they are in. (i.e. Have they agreed that they HAVE a problem? Have they agreed with YOUR assessment of WHAT that problem is? Do they have budget available to ADDRESS that problem? Will they USE the available budget to address the problem? How do they APPROVE a technology purchase?, etc.) Too often, salespeople are asked “What’s the likelihood that deal will close?”, and they pull a number out of the air (okay, or elsewhere!). The question SHOULD be “Which sales stage are they at?”, “What actions or behaviors have you SEEN (not hoped for, but actually SEEN) from the client that leads you to believe they are at that stage?”, and “What needs to happen to move them to the NEXT stage of the sales cycle?”
- Consistent Accountability – You need to follow a consistent review process with your sales team, using the same measure every time to gauge current status, as well as tracking progression of a deal through the sales process by comparing “last week” with “this week”.
- Action Plan – The third critical piece is the Action Plan. Too often, CxO’s ask “What will it take to close this deal?”. Wrong question. The right question is “What will it take to move this deal to the NEXT sales stage?”, followed closely by “When will you TAKE the necessary action with the client?”
The Daily XRay report shows you:
- WHERE deals are in the pipeline
- what ACTIONS are scheduled to move them to the “next step” in the sales cycle
Report Items
P(Close) xxx% – Sales Stage name – Shows the probability of close for deals that are at this sales stage, along with the totals for all forecasted deals that are at this sales stage and forecasted to close this month.
Opportunity Name – Company Name – Name of the opportunity and client.
Activity Details (yellow background fill) – Shows “activities” for this deal, both past and future (“next steps”).
- Subject – Subject of the activity.
- Type – Type of activity
- Who – Who will be actually DOING the activity?
- Contact – Who from the client-side will be involved?
- Next Date – What date is the activity scheduled to take place?
- Est Hrs – How many hours do we anticipate this activity will take?
Contr Margin – Contribution Margin (Revenue less direct costs) for each forecasted deal.
Revenue – Sales revenue (i.e. invoice amount) for each forecasted deal.
Cost – Estimated direct costs for each forecasted deal.
Est Close – Estimated close date for each forecasted deal.
Mgd CM $ – If the deal includes a Fully Managed contract, this column shows the value of that Fully Managed contract.
T&M Rev $ – This field shows the amount of “time-and-materials” revenue estimated for the forecasted deals.