START WITH THE LIVE SYMPTOM
A verbal is not a forecast if nobody can name the approval path.
A deal can sound committed while the person giving the commitment has no authority to approve it. The problem is not optimism; it is that the motion has not reached power.
WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING
A forecast should answer who controls the decision, what approval looks like and what the buyer has already done. If it cannot, it is still a hope.
THE WORK
Map decision power rather than capturing sentiment.
Identify the approval process before carrying the deal in the number.
Separate a supportive contact from a champion who gives access to power and sells for you when you are not in the room.
Score buyer milestones cumulatively across the deal so missing evidence is visible early.
THE EVIDENCE
In a live account review, a forecasted deal rested on a spoken yes from a manager with no approval authority. The deal was not unwinnable. It was unmanaged — and it was in the number.
THE NEXT MOVE
Do not start with a programme. Start with the one live deal, account or operating problem that tells you where the motion is missing.
PRINCIPLES TO APPLY
The thinking behind the move.
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Sweep the table — see the whole picture through their eyes.
See the customer’s entire picture, including the eighty percent you do not solve. Play it back until they say you got it right. You can only see the full table from the customer’s side of it.
Read in the manifesto10
Every complex deal has a next decision.
The sales job is not to generate activity. It is to identify the one decision that must happen now and choose the move that makes it more likely.
Read in the manifesto11
Measure Buyer Activity, not seller activity
Whether the buyer articulated their problem back to you, gave you access to power or sent the first message after reaching the product. One hundred emails that produce one qualified conversation count as one.
Read in the manifesto