2 Sales Manager Fears: Uncertain Forecasting & Missing Sales Targets

In this newsletter and others, I’d like to address some of the many challenges that we hear Sales Managers and Business Owners face. In fact, we’ve been asked to help with these topics on every continent in the world, aside from Antarctica! Today we address two important ones:

How to improve your sales forecasting accuracy

How not to miss sales targets

Let’s start with the former, that age-old challenge of forecasting. Let me state up front that the ownership of sales forecasting falls squarely on the shoulders of the Sales Manager. They need to “know”. Likewise, individual salespeople, if they have their own targets, territory or existing accounts to manage, should also “know” their sales forecast numbers. With the myriad of great CRMs and systems these days, there’s almost no excuse to not try to forecast. I’ve heard excuses many times such as “The market is changing so much I can’t forecast”. Let’s speak plainly: even if you’re not confident, you need to TRY to forecast: it’ll force you to take more ownership of future sales if you do.

Improve Your Sales Forecasting Accuracy

Sales forecasting is an essential part of any successful sales team. It helps sales managers make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively, and set achievable goals for their team. It also helps salespeople with their motivation and focus.

Analysing historical data is one of the most effective ways to improve sales forecasting. Reviewing past sales performance can help identify trends, patterns, and deviations from expected outcomes. This analysis can inform future sales strategies and can also be used to predict future sales performance.

I doubt many salespeople or Sales Managers even thought they’d get into data analytics, but sales forecasting involves that skill! By using data analytics tools, sales managers can make informed decisions, adjust sales strategies as needed, and allocate resources more effectively.

Engaging salespeople in the forecasting process can also provide valuable insights into customer behaviour and market trends. Sales reps can offer feedback on the effectiveness of sales strategies and identify potential issues or opportunities that may not be apparent from the data alone.

Identifying the key drivers of sales performance is another way to improve forecasting efforts. By understanding these drivers, sales managers can adjust their sales strategies to better meet customer needs and maximize sales opportunities.

Using multiple forecasting methods can also ensure accuracy and reduce the risk of errors. This can include using historical data, data analytics tools, sales rep input, and expert opinions. By using multiple methods, Sales Managers can make informed decisions based on the most accurate data available. The key is to not rely simply on gut feel.?

Regularly reviewing and adjusting forecasts is also crucial to effective sales forecasting. In fact, this is the key: forecasting and analysis need to be ongoing. It is an essential part of the role, just like client calls are.

In terms of frequency, we usually find teams do a version of the following:

1. Weekly review of lead measures/KPIs- which can help with lag measure forecasting
2. Monthly review of lead and lag measures
3. Quarterly review of the market, client or sector trends and changes
4. Annual review of the market as well as account management planning and forecasting for the year ahead

This ongoing process can help sales managers make more accurate predictions and adjust sales strategies as needed to achieve sales goals. Communicating forecasts to the operations team, senior management, and other stakeholders can help align expectations and build trust and transparency, which is essential for effective sales management.

In conclusion, sales forecasting is critical for sales management, and sales managers must be able to accurately predict future sales performance. By analysing historical data, engaging sales reps in forecasting, and identifying key sales drivers, regularly, sales managers can improve their team’s forecasting efforts and drive better results for their business.

How to Meet Sales Targets Confidently

This topic certainly keeps most Sales Managers and Business Owners up at night! Meeting or exceeding sales targets can be challenging for Sales Managers, but there are effective strategies to improve sales performance. It’s what we’ve essentially spent the last 18 years helping thousands of businesses with.?

Setting realistic and achievable sales targets based on a thorough analysis of historical sales data, market trends, and sales team capabilities is crucial. Aligning sales targets with overall business objectives can keep the sales team motivated and focused. If a salesperson doesn’t feel aligned with the overall business goal or vision, it’ll undermine their motivation.?

Sales managers should outline clear sales goals, target customers, sales channels, and tactics to achieve targets. Regular review and refinement of sales strategies to align with changing market conditions and customer needs are necessary for success. Change is constant in sales.?

Providing adequate sales training and coaching is important. Sales team members should receive ongoing training and coaching to enhance their selling skills, product knowledge, and customer relationship management. Coaching sessions, role-playing exercises, and skill-building workshops can improve sales performance and achieve targets. The secret is to train someone AHEAD OF TIME so that they can perform as required. Think about it for a moment: you wouldn’t train a surgeon or airline pilot ahead of time… so why risk it in sales??

Monitoring and analyzing sales performance is vital for identifying areas that need improvement. Sales managers should closely monitor sales metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to gain insights into sales trends, customer preferences, and areas for optimisation. Learning to connect lead measures to lag results is critical for the Sales Manager and salespeople alike.?

Fostering a motivating sales culture is essential. We’ve shared some great video insights into the All Blacks rugby culture and how it can be mimicked by a sales team on LinkedIn, YouTube and our website- have a look! Getting people motivated is one thing, keeping them motivated is another. This is something we cover in our Sales Manager Fundamentals programme.?

Sales Managers should promote teamwork, collaboration, and recognition. Recognising and rewarding sales achievements, celebrating successes, and providing constructive feedback all help. Feedback must not feel like “judgement” or motivation will be affected negatively.?

Providing adequate resources and support is crucial for sales success. Sales managers should ensure that their sales team has access to updated sales collateral, marketing materials, CRM systems, and other relevant tools that can streamline the sales process. Another popular support is to recruit one sales support person for everyone, two or three salespeople. This is to maximise their customer contact time, and NOT to let them become lazy!?

Building and maintaining strong customer relationships is another key factor in achieving sales targets. Sales managers should emphasize the importance of relationship-building with customers and encourage their sales team to focus on providing excellent customer service, understanding customer needs, and offering tailored solutions. Stick to a long-term focus.?

Collaboration with other departments, such as marketing, operations, and customer service, can also play a vital role in achieving sales targets. Sales managers should foster collaboration and communication among different departments to ensure alignment of sales strategies and efforts across the organisation.

Encouraging innovation and risk-taking is also important. Sales Managers should empower their sales team to be innovative, adaptable, and open to new sales approaches or strategies. Embracing new sales techniques, exploring new markets, and adapting to changing customer needs can help sales teams stay ahead of the competition and achieve targets.

Continuous improvement should also be encouraged. Sales Managers should motivate their sales team to learn from failures and from their successes and regularly review and identify areas for improvement.?

In conclusion, implementing these strategies can help sales managers optimize their sales efforts, improve sales performance, and increase the likelihood of meeting or exceeding sales targets. Sales forecasting and striving to hit sales targets every month is an ongoing challenge, responsibility and privilege. Embrace it. Learn. Act. Grow.?