Once upon a time there was a Sales Manager who was very upset. The Sales Manager ‘s rep had provided a pipeline forecast that never came to reality. You see the Sales Manager had to provide forecast numbers to his boss (The VP) for the region. The VP in turn had to give forecast numbers his to his boss (The CEO).
As the end of the quarter came to a close the pipeline and associated sales forecast fell apart. The sales rep never made the numbers he had promised. Subsequently, the CEO came down on the VP who came down on the Sales Manager who came down on the rep . Unfortunately, this same scenario happened again the following quarter, but now the sales rep found himself on performance review. Everyone in the Sales Kingdom was very unhappy.
As the frustration and finger pointing escalated a small but wise old man showed up in the Sales Kingdom. He had come to help get the Sales Kingdom back to a happy and productive place so he went right to the home of the Sales Manager.
The old man sat down with the Sales Manager and spoke softly, but candidly about this whole pipeline and forecast situation. The Sales Manager told the old man had had it with the rep giving him bogus pipeline forecast numbers he would never achieve. The Sales Manager said that the VP was growing concerned about the Sales Managers numbers and the CEO was putting significant pressure on the VP.
So the old man said to the Sales Manager….”who is accountable for this situation?” The Sales Manager said….”my rep is of course! I gave him the numbers he must hit, he told me he was going to hit these numbers and he delivered next to nothing. Further he has now done this to me twice!”….maybe its time to get a new rep!”
The old man pondered this for a moment and said …”Tell me…what was the reps specific plan to meet the pipeline expectations?” The Sales Manager uncomfortably shifted in his chair and said…”My rep told me he had quite a few prospect meeting setup and that a couple of them would probably close.” The old man thought about this and said ….”So how confident were you in the plan to achieve the pipeline forecast?”
The Sales Manager responded directly…”He didn’t really have a specific plan …. he just updated me on where he was at with each prospect at our 1:1 meeting.” Again the old man asked….”So how confident were you in the plan?” The Sales Manager replied defensively…” I told you that there was no specific plan.”
The old man leaned back with a inquisitive look and said…”So there was no agreed upon plan yet you provided the VP with forecast numbers?”…..not once, but twice?” The Sales Manager responded…”I guess I did.” Soon the Sales Manager began to become conscious about what was going on.
The old man questioned … “So who is accountable for the reps performance or lack of performance?” The Sales Manager says….”I am.” The old man agreed and said… “And what would you like the outcome of those forecasted numbers to be?” The Sales Manager said….”I would like my rep to achieve what he has promised.” The old man smiled and said…”So how can that be done?” The Sales Manager replied…”I need to sit down with my rep and put together a plan we agree on and one that I am confident we can deliver.” The old man said… “And what else?” The Sales Manager responded…”I need to monitor the progress of that plan with my rep and provide support and adjustment where necessary to ensure its success.” The old man pleased said…” So who is really accountable for the accuracy of the forecast?” The Sales Manager said….”I am!”
The Sales Manager soon began to realize how to make things better in the Sales Kingdom. After a little while things changed for the better AND although not every forecast hit its mark there was always a specific planned tied to the forecast goal and success came more and more often.
THE END….
