Ian Altman discusses the difference between real and wishful sales forecasts on the Same Side Selling podcast. He emphasizes that salespeople are optimistic by nature and often provide unrealistic forecasts, especially when deals are forecasted to close at the end of the month, which frequently get pushed to the next month. Altman advises sales managers to ask more probing questions to uncover the true status of deals, such as understanding the client's motivations and alternatives. By focusing on meaningful questions, managers can identify real deals faster and improve sales accuracy.
Ian Altman 0:02
Ian, welcome to the Same Side Selling podcast. I am your host. Ian Altman, on this week's episode, episode 375 how do we spot wishful versus real sales forecasts. Let's face it, in business, you're always trying to figure out which deals are real which ones aren't. We need to plan, both from a revenue standpoint and an operation standpoint, for real deals, and we want to minimize the amount of time we spend on wishful deals that might never happen. And what we need to recognize is that our sales people are eternal optimists. They kind of have to be, because many people in sales feel like they face rejection all the time, and so you need to have a positive outlook. And sales people have what I like to call happy ears, so they hear what they want to hear, not maybe what the truth is. So I want to give you some insight and how to demystify this. It usually comes down to asking better questions. But first, let me talk about the most common mistakes that sales people make and that leaders make. And when I say leaders, I mean sales managers. It could be depending on the size of your organization. It could be a CEO, it could be a sales manager, it could be a VP of sales, Chief Revenue Officer. Really doesn't matter. The bottom line is, the people managing or overseeing the salespeople will often make some similar mistakes each time. The most obvious one is we ask questions that should already be in our customer relationship management or CRM application. So we ask questions like, hey, so I'm looking at this deal. What's the status of this deal? What are our next steps? When is this deal going to happen? And what we get is we get the salesperson story. And if you've hired good salespeople, this isn't the last good story they will have, because not only do they want you to believe this story, but they generally believe the story as well. So it usually sounds like, oh, you know, deals moving along, and I'm pretty sure it's going to happen by the end of this month. And, you know, next steps, you know, I'm just going to follow up with them. I mean, we've exchanged some emails back and forth, but, but, but definitely, this deal is going to happen, and it's going to happen by the end of the month. So why is it a red flag? Well, it's a red flag because when you forecast a deal for the end of the month, your question should be, as the manager, why the end of the month? And the reality is that there's a common pattern that we see with people in sales, which is deals that are forecast to close at the very end of the month are the deals that most often get pushed out. And surprise, surprise, they get pushed to the end of the very next month. Why is that? Well, the people in sales think, Okay, this deal is going to happen in March. But I can't just say March, because that's too vague. So I know I'll give the last day of the month to give myself the maximum number of days to get this deal to happen. And then when it doesn't happen, if they don't actually understand the mechanics and everything going on in the deal, they say, Oh, well, it didn't happen this month. I know I will move the date to next month, huh? What date should I pick? I know I'll pick the last day of the next month. To give myself the maximum number of days. It should be a red flag for us, unless your rep says it's the last day of the month, because my client said they absolutely have to get this done by the last day of the month. They have a meeting that day to get approval. They have the meeting at two o'clock. They should be contacting us by three o'clock. Then it's a real date, or at least has a perception of a real date. But if the message is, look, yeah, the end of the month, that's not a real date. If you want to get top results for your team, take a look at these Same Side Selling Academy. Just visit same side selling.com to learn more. So if we know those are the traps we fall into, what are some of the best practices? Well, what if we asked our team? So if the client doesn't solve this issue, they've got going on, what happens? And then, as a sales manager, listen for, oh, something catastrophic happens, or, I don't know, if they don't pick us, what is their most likely alternative? Well, if they don't pick us, they'll pick so and so. Well, why would they pick them? If the answer is, well, because they might be cheaper, then we're not doing a good job in the sales process, because our clients should never pick somebody else solely because of price. If they say, well, it is going to happen on March 23 Your question should be, really, why March 23 what's special about March 23 and then you get insight into what the client said. Is. Why that date might matter. What does the client need to believe in order for them to make a decision to go with us? See we're trying to get our sales people to think about what does the client need to see? Why are these dates important? What are the motivators for the client? Because if you don't know that, there's a good chance you haven't asked the right questions, and the client may not know either. So those deals just linger on forever. And remember, if it's the last day of the month being forecast, it's usually a hopeful or wishful forecast, not a real one. So when we're having these meetings with our with our reps, when we're having a sales meeting going over accounts, what we want to do is ask these more meaningful questions, if they don't solve this, what happens if they don't pick us? What's their alternative? Why would they not pick us? Why would they pick somebody else? Why that forecast date? What does the client need to believe in order to go with us versus somebody else? These are the questions that if you ask them in every single sales meeting, guess what your sales reps are going to realize, you know what? My boss is going to ask me these questions every time, I better be prepared with the answers. And guess what, if you start asking these types of Same Side Selling questions, you'll get to the truth faster. You'll rule out bad deals sooner, and the real deals will happen in a faster time frame with less resistance. So if you're trying to tap into which deals are real and which ones are a fantasy, use this formula, and I think you'll get better results. If there are topics you'd like me to cover, just drop me a note to Ian at Ian altman.com I'll see you next time on the Same Side Selling podcast. So long you
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