August 27th, 2010
Most important opportunities don’t all come in at the same time; they are composed of a number of components – like license fees, services, and maintenance for example – which are invoiced out at different times and, importantly for you hit your forecast at different times.
The items number in the summary section is important because it tells you, in addition to the number of opportunities, the number of items Dealmaker is calculating will close in the forecast period. It also gives you a feel for how many items per opportunity you’re expecting to come in during your forecast period. The items per opportunity, the more complex your deals tend to be and the more you’ll want to focus in on the crucial ones in the detail section of your forecast.
The sub-amount column in the detail section of your forecast let’s you see the total size of the items Dealmaker is projecting for the forecast period, compared with the total size of the total opportunity value. Also, the warning ! in the yellow triangle tells you if the total of the items in a deal do not match the total value of the opportunity, regardless of when the items are due to forecast, so that you can check a specific deal and avoid any surprises.
Items and Sub-Amounts Concentrate Your Forecast Focus
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August 20th, 2010
The summary section of your forecast analysis screen gives you a wealth of information on which to make confident and sound business decisions to secure your revenues.
Two graphical icons give you the instant skinny on your forecast filter. The Distribution icon lets you see at a glance which current sales stages deals are coming from to make your forecast (not including the deals you’ve already closed in the period).
The Mix icon tells you whether, specific to your organization’s normal run of business, you have a preponderance of large deals (rocks), or small deals (pebbles), or a good balance (stones) in your forecast.
These two graphics give you an instant feel for what your forecast is looking like, and gives you the early warning signs to focus your attention.
Get an Instant Forecast Feel from the Graphics
Tags: Distribution, Graphics, Icon, Mix
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August 13th, 2010
Traditional forecasting gives you a vertical roll-up of your sales organizational hierarchy, so that you can narrow your forecast focus by team or individual.
Dealmaker Forecast Analysis goes one step further, by allowing you to forecast horizontally, across your business, thereby completing the 360 degree matrix view of your organization.
If you have the Account Management component of Dealmaker, with its MarketView, you can click the Account View on the Group By drop-down and forecast by MarketViews to see what’s projected to come in across global accounts, and vertical industries.
Forecast by Account View to Complete the Matrix
Tags: Account, Custom, Global Account, Industry, Vertical
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August 6th, 2010
Dealmaker Forecast Analysis has a large range of filtering options, so that you can really get specific about your forecast.
As well as the standard fields like the start date and end date, don’t forget that some of the lesser used filter options can help you focus your analysis. The mix icon allows you to forecast just on rocks, pebbles or stones, as well as the default ‘all sizes’ setting. The projected icon will only present those deals that Dealmaker projects will close time. The flag icon will only present dates where there is a problem with the deal.
Don't Forget Your Forecast FIlter Options!
Tags: filter, filtering
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July 30th, 2010
When you’re looking at your – or your team’s – forecast, you’ll see areas that warrant your further attention. maybe a deal has been red flagged, or a large deal is showing a projected close date very close to your quarter end.
In the Detail section of Forecast Analysis, you can drill straight into the specific sales stage for the opportunity in question, and see where you can alleviate the problem.
From Forecast to Opportunity Sales Stage in One Click
Tags: opportunity
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July 23rd, 2010
Dealmaker knows you business. It knows your average sales cycle, your quotas, your close rate, and what you’ve closed so far. When you go into Forecast Analysis and slect your filtering parameters, you’ll be presented with a host of summary information including pipeline, average close percentage and weighted average.
The figure you really want to focus on is the Projected figure. This is what Dealmaker is predicting you’ll close, based on your business. Many of our customers have told us similar stories along the lines of ‘Dealmaker said it wouldn’t close in time, and sure enough it didn’t.’
Trust your Projected figure. It’s based on your business, and on science, not on emotion or blind faith.
Trust Your Dealmaker Projected Forecast Figure
Tags: Forecast Analysis, Forecasting, Reporting
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July 16th, 2010
When you’re working a deal, especially a big deal with a complex array of factors to manage, make sure you use Coach Me to help you with prioritization, guidance and workflow. Coach Me advice should be translated directly into Actions that you or your extended team need to perform to advance the sale.
Make sure you keep your actions up to date, and prune your PRIME Actions regularly. If the list of Actions is getting long and the red overdue signs are starting to over-face you, use your the status heading and the edit button to clean up the list. See a lot of completed Actions clogging up your list? Click on Status and the up arrow next to it and the completed actions will fall to the bottom of your list, allowing you to focus more easily on the ones that need to be done. Got some overdue items? Click the edit button and put in a new date that is realistic, achievable and reflects the degree of urgency attached to it.
Coach Me and PRIME Actions. Working together to keep you moving and on track to win the deal.
Prune Your PRIME Actions to Stay Focused
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July 9th, 2010
When you’re working a deal, you and your extended team might have a range of actions that you need to follow to progress the deal and increase your chances of winning it.
The summary section in the top right of your PRIME Actions screen tells you at a glance the status of your actions for this deal: how many actions there are in total, how many have been done, how many are still to be done, and how many are overdue. Then you can drill down into the individual actions, and check Coach Me for more advice.
Check Your PRIME Summary to Keep on Track
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July 2nd, 2010
Dealmaker is designed to optimize your productive selling time, so it has a number of features built in to speed up your data entry as you work your plan.
You can go to Coach Me at any time to get deal-specific advice on what to do next. You can also click the online Help link for a fuller walkthrough of how to use the screen you’re on and leverage the encapsulated methodology. On many screens, though, you’ll see the lightbulb icon, which gives you the quick steps you need to use a screen for the first time, or else refresh the mind on what to do if you haven’t used the screen for a while.
Dealmaker is always helping and guiding you to win.
Let the Bulb Light the Way
Tags: Coach Me, Light bulb, online help
Posted in Coach Me, General, Opportunity Management | No Comments »
June 25th, 2010
As you work your plan, and check with Coach Me as to how you’re doing, you’ll want to seize the moment and your add PRIME Actions and your good ideas as you think of them, so you don’t forget them. You don’t need to move to the PRIME Actions screen to add an action; you can do it straight from the screen you’re working on.
Dealmaker is designed to make you as productive as possible; every minute of your selling time should be sacred.
Add an Action From Where You Are to Seize the Moment
Tags: Actions, Adding Actions, PRIME
Posted in Decision Criteria, General, Opportunity Management | No Comments »
