A missed forecast is rarely just a forecasting problem. It is often a deal-quality problem hiding inside the pipeline. This article explains why pipeline coverage can create false confidence, why weak opportunities stay in the forecast, and how evidence-led deal diagnosis helps leaders separate real opportunities from hopeful pipeline.

Sellers and buyers disagree on deal outcomes 50-70% of the time. If your go-to-market strategy is built on CRM loss reasons, it may be built on fiction. Here is how to find the real signal.

Before adding more activity, diagnose whether pipeline quality, deal qualification, conversion, or opportunity management is really constraining revenue performance.

In a fairly recent blunder, a well-known rewards-based scheme offered top end Smartphones for a ridiculously low ‘loyalty points’ exchange. News of this went viral! In some instances multiple units of the phones were ordered and the website crashed. Needless to say, there had been a mistake. The press got wind of this, customers were indignant and there was every likelihood that someone probably lost their job over the shambolic debacle. The return of the points was poor recompense for heightened expectations. The offer was simply too good to be true!

This simple and possibly overused analogy contains more than an element or two of truth! Consider for a moment, All Blacks, 49ers or Manchester United athletes. They dedicate days, weeks, months and even years perfecting their knowledge and skill to compete. The driving ambition is to embed every aspect of the game plan into their DNA so that their body and mind executes flawlessly.

The American Bankruptcy Institute reported 560 commercial Chapter 11 filings in April, a 26% increase from last year. World renowned companies, JC Penny, Neiman Marcus and Debenhams have filed for bankruptcy. Virgin Australia’s second-biggest airline announced on April 21 that it is undergoing third party-led restructuring that could potentially lead to a sale. The list is growing daily.

Apart from death and taxes; change is really the only other constant that governs life. How we adapt to that change determines our success or failure in acquiring what we want to have in life. In sales, what we want is inexorably intertwined with bottom line figures.

In this uncertain global socio-political and inflation pressurised world, buyer-sellers’ priorities and interactions have and will continue to change.  Gartner research predicts that non-digital interactions between buyers and sellers in the next 3 – 5 years will account for only 20% of the buyers’ journey. 

Consider this and the impact that 75% of B2B companies’ highest priority is to close more deals and that 67% of deals are lost because they are not properly qualified before initiating the sales process.

In any sport, athletes and teams have access to multiple coaches with various areas of specialty to help them reach their full potential. Consider the Los Angeles Lakers, for example. Frank Vogel is the Head Coach, and there are six Assistant Coaches, all of these are additionally supported by specialists for health and nutrition.

For much of the sales world, it’s no different. The notion that sales coaching is an essential ingredient in improving sales organisations is never disputed, but most sales leaders (if they’re honest) will tell you that they barely have time to manage their sales teams – and they simply don’t have time to coach.

The Swiss watch industry invented the digital watch and then rejected it. The lesson for sales leaders who resist change is still painfully relevant.