Checklist to Close the Quarter & Year

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ForecastingChecklist
to ClosetheQuarter
&Year
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Presented by Carlos Nouche
Thank you for joining us today.
We will be getting started shortly.
In the meantime, please share the location that you’re
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This document contains proprietary information of ValueSelling Associates. Its receipt or possession does
not convey any rights to reproduce or disclose its contents or to manufacture, use, or sell anything it may
describe. Reproduction, disclosure, or use without specific written authorization of ValueSelling
Associates is strictly forbidden.
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• Successfully predicting the closing of a forecasted
opportunity
- Skill or process?
• Top 10 questions you must ask yourself to
increase your odds of closing your forecasted
opportunities
• Tactics and strategies for successful closings
Agenda – Year end PUSH!

Top challenges at quarter-end?
• Chat me back your top challenges to accurately predict
the business closing at quarter-end/year-end

What percentage of well
qualified opportunities
actually close?
Forrester = 43%

TOP 10 EOQ/EOY forecasting statements
1. “Oh, we won, just waiting on the contract! I sent it
over….”
2. “Team has done an outstanding job, but the
signer is on vacation for two weeks.”
3. “We just found out that our budget is being cut.
They need to reevaluate the investment.”
4. “All looks good, just trying to figure out who
ultimately needs to sign due to the order size.”
5. "I've emailed/called/texted my key contact and
he/she is not getting back to me”
6. “It is still competitive, and they keep telling us we
are priced too high, if only we could provide a
bigger discount. ”
7. “Something has come up for them and they need
to revisit next quarter. ”
8. “Contract needs a legal review, and they are
swamped due to end of year. ”
9. “It was looking good, but they just had an
executive re-org due to an acquisition”
10. I used ValueSelling and ValuePrompter early on
but now I need to close the deal”

TOP 10 EOQ/EOY forecasting statements
1. “Oh, we won; just waiting on the contract! I sent it
over….”
2. “Team has done an outstanding job, but the
signer is on vacation for two weeks.”
3. “We just found out that our budget is being cut.
They need to reevaluate the investment.”
4. “All looks good; just trying to figure out who
ultimately needs to sign due to the order size.”
5. "I've emailed/called/texted my key contact and
he/she is not getting back to me.”
6. “It is still competitive, and they keep telling us we
are priced too high. If only we could provide a
bigger discount. ”
7. “Something has come up for them, and they need
to revisit next quarter. ”
8. “Contract needs a legal review, and they are
swamped due to end of year. ”
9. “It was looking good, but they just had an
executive re-org due to an acquisition.”
10. “There is now a security review process that no
one was aware was needed by IT.”
(Power and Planning)
(Planning)
(Power and Planning)
(Business and Personal Value)
(Business Issues Driving the deal)
(Competitive Differentiation)
(Business Driver)
(Planning)
(Business Issues and Plan)
(Business Issues, Power and Plan)

Whatendofquarterfeelslike!

Closing Business StartsatQualification

Think of a key opportunity...
• Wrong question:
─ “Is it going to close this quarter?”
• Right question(s):
─ “Why won’t it close this quarter?”
─ “Any identified gaps or risks?”
─ “Do we know who to ask to address the gaps?”
─ “Do we know how to ask? Etc.”

Business Issue
Problem Solution
Value Power Plan
Differentiated
VisionMatch™
confirm confirm
Value Buying Process™

Are we
at Power?
• Do we understand the “who”
─ Who can say yes and who can say no!
• Authority and access to funds
• Procurement approvals
• Are we at risk?
─ Who can veto the project?
• Do we need to partner to get to Power?
─ Tactics to gain access

What is our
prospect’s
reason to
change?
• Is our solution connected to resolving
our prospect’s business issue?
─ Why change, and why change now?
• Individual objectives, imperatives, drivers,
KPIs may be incomplete
• Wrestling with identifying the value/impact of
our solution? Good chance we don’t have the
business issue confirmed
• Remember — VALUE accrues to the business
issue — not just to problem-solving

Is our solution
differentiated?
• What is unique or better about
our solution?
• All that matters is the prospect’s perception
• Why would a prospect require that
uniqueness? “Why change with you?”
• Prospect must articulate in some way that
we’re their best solution
• No Differentiated VisionMatch? Let’s be
deliberate and make visible unrecognized
business issues and problems that only our
solution can address!

What’s the
personal
motivation?
• People are motivated for
their own reasons…not ours
• Uncover and connect to WII-FM
• Helping our prospect achieve his/her individual
goals is critical to creating urgency
• You can only have a champion if it is in their
own best interest for you to win

Is it worth it?
• What criteria will our prospect use
to justify their decision?
• Can the impact on their business be measured
and quantified?
• Do they believe the ROI or value?
• Are there any other initiatives that have a
bigger impact?
• Value is customer-specific!

Halfway – let’s recap:
61
Are we at
Power?
What is our
prospect’s
reason to
change?
Is our solution
differentiated?
What’s the
personal
motivation?
Is it worth it?

Do we
understand
our prospect’s
process?
• Evaluation, decision and procurement
• What happens after they select
a vendor?
─ After the technical win
• Who is able or needed to sign?
• Are there phases, steps?
• How long does it take for a purchase order to
be issued?
• Can various processes be conducted
simultaneously?
─ i.e., legal review, procurement, security reviews, etc.

Does our
prospect know
and own the
Plan?
• Mutual Plan ending with value realization
• Is it mutually-agreed upon?
• Joint ownership
• Based on customer requirements
• Shaped to include the items we know will
lead to success
• Is it in writing?
How do we overcome their fear of
change/commitment?

Is timing
critical to
our prospect?
• Project is connected to the “why change, why
change now, and why change with us”
• Is the timing of the expenditure for our
product/services an issue for our client?
─Year-end budget dollars may need to be used
─Expenses may be postponed to make quarter or year
earnings goal
• Critical for each of us to understand
and manage…get creative, if possible

Are there
unaddressed
objections?
• Unaddressed objections will
stall a sale every time
• Objections are usually requests
for more information – Be Transparent
• Use a 5-step approach to determine
what information is missing or has changed
1. Embrace the objection
2. Clarify
3. Diagnose using the QP Formula
4. Isolate – anything else?
5. Address the objection

Could we be
blindsided?
• What are the individual schedules
of our prospects?
• Vacations, Holiday shut-downs
• Does the prospect’s organization have a
purchasing “cut off” date to prepare for
year-end or quarter close?
• Who can veto the project?
• Find out TODAY, not December 31, and
make adjustments to the written plan
• Stuff happens!
• Focus on what you can control

To recap:
61
Are we at Power?
What is our prospect’s
reason to change?
Is our solution
differentiated?
What’s the personal
motivation?
Is it worth it?
Do we understand our
prospect’s process?
Does our prospect know
and own the plan?
Is timing critical to our
prospect?
Are there unaddressed
objections?
Could we be blindsided?

What can we
do today?
• What are the top deals you need to close out
the year/quarter?
• Ask the questions – be honest with yourself.
• Ask others for their prospective.
• Embrace discovering risk factors and
identifying missing data points.
• Better to identify the gaps now!
• Go to work – fill the gaps!

Questions?

Go to valueselling.com > resources > webinars
to download today’s slides
At the end of today’s webinar

30
Measuring the Virtual Sales Skills that
Matter
January 20, 2022| 10:00 AM Pacific
Save the date!

Thank you!
• Keep it simple. Drive Results.
Carlos Nouche
+1 678 464 1238(m)
carlos@visualize.com
in/cnouche ValueSellingAssociates
Thank you!

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