Identify the metrics that will help you effectively measure and predict your sales forecast.

by David Stargel, President and COO, The Complex Sale, Inc.

Today, the focus on sales forecast accuracy and the pressure to deliver is intense.

And, at the same time, there is article after article and blog after blog being written about big data, analytics, and all of the automated solutions to your sales forecasting nightmares.

Sales executives and frontline sales managers are looking for help and there are solutions, but it's just not as simple as a new software system or plug-in dashboard to your CRM. The good news is that the solution is not complicated. The bad news is that it doesn't necessarily come easily.

12 Costly Sales Strategy Mistakes

by Rick Page, Founder and CEO, The Complex Sale, Inc.

Research shows that less than half of all forecasted opportunities will close. A recent survey by CSO Insights found that 23.6% of forecasted deals are typically lost to no decision and another 30% are lost to the competition.

The good news is that there is something sales managers can do to improve these statistics if they work more closely with salespeople to impact sales strategy and win rates early enough in the process. Organizations with consistent sales strategy and coaching practices experience 10-15% better win rates than those that don’t. But if coaching yields such big returns, why aren’t most sales managers doing it more often? It needs to be a habit, a discipline.

The second-best process finishes second – and sometimes doesn't finish at all.

by Rick Page, Founder & CEO, The Complex Sale, Inc.

We talk to many sales executives about sales effectiveness training, and of course we do discovery with prospects to see where their needs are. Many of them say that they already have a sales process for opportunities. It is true that many companies invested in the funny sales processes of the last dozen years or so.

But when we drill down and examine what they call a sales process we find that many of them are lacking the components that it takes to win. Just having a process is no longer enough. You have to have the best sales process -- a complete process.

by Rick Page, Founder & CEO, The Complex Sale, Inc.

We recently had a call from a client who said, “We have a problem. Our phone isn’t ringing anymore and our reps don’t know how to pick up the phone and call a stranger.”

He isn’t alone. Today, most senior salespeople’s prospecting skills are either rusty or were never fully developed in the first place. Most cannot effectively prospect, even with a gun to their heads. But in an economy like this one, they have to. There simply aren’t enough leads being generated through marketing.