C9 Micro ebook I Forecasting. C9 Forecasting. Forecasting in the Predictive Sales Organization

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C9 Forecasting

Forecasting in the Predictive Sales Organization

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The Forecast

This micro e-Book is one of a six-part series and outlines how the sales FORECASTING works in a Predictive

Sales Organization. It summarizes the approach that some of the world’s leading sales leaders are taking to

accelerate sales and realize sustained growth.

Contributors to the Predictive Sales Organization Series include:

Patrick Hurley

General Manager of the Americas, Acronis

Lars Nilsson

VP Field Operations, CloudEra

Loren Alhadeff

VP Corporate Sales, DocuSign

Mark Goode

SVP Global Sales, DSI

Joe Dillon

Director of Sales, eVault

Steve Rutledge

VP Global Sales Operations, Genesys

Jeanne DeWitt

Director of Enterprise SMB Sales for the Americas, Google

Vikas Bhambri

VP Global Sales Consulting and Sales Productivity, LivePerson

Bill Kiedaisch

Director Global Sales Analytics and Opportunity Management, Pitney Bowes

Patrick O’Leary

Senior Director of Strategy and Operations, Yahoo

Contact C9 to participate in local executive forums or learn more about how C9 solutions

can help your organization.

Sales: 650.561.7847

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Introduction

C9 works with hundreds of forward-thinking

sales leaders to transform conventional sales

organizations into what we call The Predictive

Sales Organization. The Predictive Sales

Organization capitalizes on predictive insights to

accelerate deals in the current pipeline, deliver

precision forecasts and align resources behind

long-term growth opportunities.

Sales Forecasts:

The Conventional vs. the Predictive

The Conventional Forecast:

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depends heavily on subjective assumptions

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places more weight on historical trends than on current and

future events

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relies on bespoke spreadsheets and ad hoc process

The Predictive Forecast:

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uses data science to increase accuracy

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provides employees with explicit criteria to determine which

deals make up the forecast

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minimizes resources required by using automation

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pivots views based on the needs of the user

For a comprehensive portrait of the Predictive Sales Organization,

download our full e-Book,

Becoming a Predictive Sales Organization:

Best Practices from the C9 Community.

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Looking to the Future Rather than the Past

“Our team is looking forward every day.

We have visibility into the future,

not the rear-view mirror.”

Bill Kiedaisch, Director Global Sales Analytics and Opportunity Management, Pitney Bowes

A conventional organization relies heavily on

historical data to generate projections on future

business. But if historical assumptions don’t hold

true (and they rarely do), the margin of error can

be large.

A predictive sales organization generates a highly

accurate forecast using data science to analyze

factors such as macro-economic trends, company

specific events, and real time signals from

individual deals.

Predictive Sales Organizations deliver highly accurate forecasts by blending the sales team’s perspective with data science driven projections.

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Removing the Subjectivity

In many companies, reps and managers aren’t

equipped with objective definitions of what

constitutes a forecastable deal. In the absence

of such criteria, forecast accuracy is undermined

by personal bias and subjective assessments.

Predictive sales organizations define, track, and

measure the specific attributes that help sales

teams decide which deals can be “committed”

to the forecast.

“It’s pretty painful for a person when the forecast

he’s been defending all quarter doesn’t come

to fruition—it often triggers performance

improvement plans and termination. We take

a more objective approach—a checklist in our

CRM that systematically walks you through

every question you need to ask yourself as

you are forecasting.”

Joe Dillon, Director of Sales, eVault

Streamlining the Roll-up

Many conventional organizations rely on spreadsheets,

email, and analysts to aggregate revenue data. One

Fortune 500 company spends 500 hours per week

standardizing, consolidating and distributing the

weekly forecast.

Predictive organizations deliver a forecast with a

fraction of the resources using automation tools like

workflow and alerts.

“Once Yahoo moved from spreadsheets to an

automated roll up process, our world-wide

organization was able to submit a comprehensive

forecast in a single morning. Spending less time

forecasting and more time selling translated to a 13%

increase in productivity.”

Patrick O’Leary, Senior Director Sales Operations and Effectiveness, Yahoo!

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Conventional forecasts are based solely on sales

territories and groups outside of sales, such as

product teams or industry business units, must

either cobble together their own view of revenue or

make decisions without this critical information.

Predictive organizations, by contrast, are able to

efficiently deliver revenue cuts that meet the needs

of a broad range of users. Deals can be aggregated

by account, product, geography, or industry and

can also be viewed in terms of count, revenue or

margin, all with a few clicks. Everyone is on the

same page and minimal resources are expended in

the process.

Pivoting the Forecast Based on the Audience

“We are able to break the forecast down by

opportunity, region, product, etc. We validate

what’s in there and then we are able to capture

what is a commit, what is an upside number,

and what is a best-case number.”

Bill Flynn, VP of Worldwide Sales, C9

With a few mouse clicks, Predictive Sales Organizations can pivot the forecast across multiple dimensions.

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Patrick Hurley, General Manager of the Americas, Acronis

Patrick is a top-performing sales director with experience managing SMB, Enterprise, Federal, and SLED software sales teams. His experience includes hiring and cultivating successful sales

representatives, developing internal processes, analyzing tends, and driving accountability across an organization consisting of inside & outside sales professionals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/phurley1

Lars Nilsson, VP Field Operations, CloudEra

Lars is a results-oriented Inside Sales & Sales Operations Vice President with 20 years of management and leadership experience building sales organizations and generating demand for products in enterprise software and hardware organizations. He has built inside sales teams, created and implemented processes, systems, and infrastructure that boosted sales force productivity and efficiency, enabling those companies to accelerate growth, increase market share, and meet strategic objectives while ensuring financial and corporate compliance.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/lars-nilsson/0/16/a35

Loren Alhadeff, VP Corporate Sales, DocuSign

Loren has extensive sales leadership experience building sales organizations from scratch as well as improving and accelerating the growth of existing sales teams and processes. He has practical experience and solid understanding of a vast range of business-management applications including market analysis, marketing, team-building, and quality assurance; the teams he has managed have sold to prospects/customers ranging from small and medium businesses through to the executive/enterprise markets.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/loren-alhadeff/2/a14/1b

Mark Goode, SVP Global Sales, DSI

In addition to his current role at DSI, Mark has held various leadership roles including VP Sales (Americas and North America), VP Global Sales, and SVP Sales and Marketing. His previous experience includes leadership roles at Siebal Systems and SAP; at SAP he was responsible for key global accounts, including Hallmark, Bunge, Monsanto, Koch Inc, Dean Foods, Monsanto, and Energizer Holdings.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-goode/22/3a5/213

Joe Dillon, Director of Sales, eVault

Joe’s experience includes leading and developing sales teams in start-up and large enterprises. More than 43,000 companies rely on EVault® Cloud-connected™ backup and recovery services, which seamlessly integrate on-premise and online backup data protection for fast, local data access and ensured Cloud-disaster recovery.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joedillon

Steve Rutledge, VP Global Sales Operations, Genesys

Steve is a seasoned, senior sales operations executive with international experience in B2B Software and SaaS; he specializes in turn-around and high-growth endeavors. He consistently enables sales organizations to achieve superior results and has an execution-based approach to sales operations that provides measurable and consistent results to field sales and to clients.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevevrutledge

Jeanne DeWitt, Director of Enterprise SMB Sales for the Americas, Google (formerly)

Jeanne DeWitt worked as Head of SMB Sales, North and Latin America where she ran a 60-person sales team across new business acquisition and account management, as well as direct and channel sales. Previously she was Head of Google Apps SMB Sales, Japan and Asia Pacific as part of an 18-month assignment to execute a strategic growth initiative. Currently she is Chief Revenue Officer at UberConference.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jeanne-dewitt/6/518/903

Vikas Bhambri, VP Global Sales Consulting and Sales Productivity, LivePerson

Vikas is transforming the way LivePerson sells through Sales Operations, Sales Productivity, Sales Development, and Sales Consulting teams. For the past 18 years he has advised the world’s biggest brands on the implementation of technology to better engage with their customers.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikasbhambri

Bill Kiedaisch, Director Global Sales Analytics and Opportunity Management, Pitney Bowes

Bill is responsible for the Global Sales Management

System at Pitney Bowes, which is comprised of three

groups: Salesforce.com and Siebel CRM for sales and

marketing; Business Support and Governance; and

Insights and Performance.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/billkiedaisch

Patrick O’Leary, Senior Director of Strategy and Operations, Yahoo

Patrick has held the positions of Director of Sales

Strategy and Operations and Director of Global Sales

Business Ops at Yahoo. Previously he was Director of

Strategic Planning and Operations at Autodesk.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/patrick-o-leary/1/58/177

About Our 6-Part e-Book Series Contributors

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