1. Sales Milestones & Forecasting in CRM
1 INTRODUCTION
Historicallywe have triedtoforecastbusinesswith4stages,coveringboththe financial likelihoodof a
deal closingbya certaindate,and whatstage it was/isinthe salescycle.Tosay the leastthiswas at best
confusinganddidn’treallyreflectthe factthatthere are SalesMilestonesthatneedtobe attainedfor
businesstobe financiallyforecastable.
You will nowsee inCRMthat whenyoudoa quote there are twosectionsthatare changed:
SalesMilestone:The Magnificent7,these are the sevenessential stepsinanysalesprocess,asa rule
yougenerallycan’tmove downthe listwithoutknowingorcarryingoutthe previousactions.If youfind
youare losingdealslate on, thenyouprobablydidn’tfollow the sevenstages.
ForecastStatus:Deal or NoDeal!Three forecastcategoriesthatdefine if adeal will orwill nothappen
by the set‘Close By’date.
2 SALES MILESTONES
Fail to prepare thenprepare tofail!The Magnificent 7Stepsfor everysale.
SALES MILESTONE DESCRIPTION
INITIAL CONTACT Firstcontact couldbe inboundoroutbound,if
thisisjust a price inquiryIam lookingtogeta
checkbox onthe quote thatsignifies it’sjusta
price inquiry,whenyoucheckthisbox itwill
remove the price fromthe financial forecastsoas
not to skew the pipeline.Youwill be able to
easilyaccessa listof Price Inquiriestothenstart
the salesmilestonesandbringthemintopipeline,

2. by uncheckingthe box andfollowingthe stepsfor
a ‘Real’Opportunity
NEEDS ANALYSIS Thisis basedonyour understandingof the end
usersthree paincategories.Technical Pain,
BusinessPainandPersonal Pain.Youneedto
start to coach your resellerstouncoverthese
points,theyare the ultimate keytodeal success
and withoutthese yourhitrate will become luck
rather thanjudgment.Rememberyoucan’tguide
the SalesBulletonce you’ve pulledthe trigger.
INITIAL MEETING/DEMO/WEBEX Thisis designedtoreaffirmyourunderstandingof
theirPainpointsandmirrorthis backto them,
youneedto understandhow the problemsaffect
themtechnically,onabusinessimpactand
personally.Youcannotdoa demountil you
understandhow toovercome the technical pain
points,overcomingthe technical painpoints
takesawaypersonal andbusinesspain.Thisisthe
stage where youagree an UPFRONTCONTRACT,
thisisnot a writtenagreementbutaverbal
agreementonwhattheywill doif youcan prove
to themthe solutionsolvestheirTechnical Pain
issues. E.g. “Sojust letme checkI have
understoodyourissueshere.Youhave workers
introducingUSBsticksintothe work
environment,andyoudon’tknow what’sgoing
ontothem, or what’sbeingintroducedtothe
networkright? You’dstill like peopletobe able to
use thembut wanta greatercontrol of the types
of files,andsome securityif the USBsticksare
lost?(CheckingQuestion)Soif we take thisto a
Proof Of Conceptand can cover the technical
pointswe discussedinXDays,thenhow do we
move thisprojectforwardto a purchase?”
EVALUATION/POC Successful QualifiedPOC’s(Proof of Concept)
withan UpfrontContract have a high90’s%
likelihoodof endingupina purchase orderfor
you.Neverleave themtojust‘Test’software,
withoutagreeingwhatsuccesswouldlooklike.
E.g. “By the time youfinishthisPOCyouwill
agree successisif we covertechnical painpoints
1,2 and 3” Leadsto nextstagesof the Upfront
Contract e.g.Ballsintheircourt to deliveron
whatwas agreedre movingtowardspurchase.
POC’sneeda dedicatedTechnicalResource who
checksin at regularstagesof the POC as the
trustedadvisor. The absolute keytoa successful
POCis an SOW (Scope/Statementof Works),the

3. descriptionof whatthe POCisfor, whatthe
technical pointsare thatwill be covered,and
whencomplete signedoff bythe customerto
prove successof POC.Get intothe habitof
gettingyourresellertodo thiswiththe prospect.
COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT Thiscan be part of the UpfrontContract and run
inparallel with the POC,sowhenthe POCends
we are ina commercial situationhavingagreed
price and Terms.
TECHNICALLY COMPLETE POChas beensuccessfullycompletedandwe
have a greenlightonthe solution.If youdidn’t
agree whatPOC successwouldlooklike atthe
endof the POCyou will have shotyourselfinthe
footand the processwill be drawnoutfor further
‘Testing’,whateverthatmeans…..
IN PURCHASING Well done Einstein,youmade ittothe BigGame
and have writtenconfirmationof acommitment
to buy.
3 FORECAST STATUS
Fail to prepare thenprepare tofail!The Magnificent7Stepsfor everysale.
FORECAST STATUS DESCRIPTION
PIPELINE (UPSIDE: 59% - 0%) The opportunitiesthatare generallyatstage 1 &
2 of the SalesMilestones
MOST LIKELY (BYCLOSE DATE: 89%-60%) Generallystages3to 5 of the SalesMilestones
WORST CASE (COMMIT: 90%+) There isno technical orcommercial reasonwe
shouldnotgetthisdeal basedon correct
followingof the SalesMilestones1to 5. These
opportunitiesare normallyreflectedinSales
Milestones6& 7.
Currentlythere isnoautomationbetweenSalesMilestonesandForecaststatus,butasyou all become
conditionedinusingbothsectionswe willmove towards automatingthe movementof Forecaststatus
viaSalesMilestone andvice versa.The caveatbeingthatyouwill still be able tooverride the stages.(