It's early in Q4, we're a little behind Year-to-Date and need to overachieve in Q4 to make the year. The Q4 pipeline looks pretty solid and the team is very optimistic they will make their forecasts, which would put us about 103% on the year.
And, of course, we have a couple of deals sitting in Q1 just in case!
We have weekly sales meetings; I get status updates on the Q4 deals and I update my forecast based on what happening with the accounts. I have a skilled sales team with a range of selling experience (from 3 years to 11 years) and I have confidence in them.
One not-so-tiny concern.
Most of the deals are forecast to close in the last 3 weeks of the quarter. A couple of those deals are very large; if one of them slips for whatever reason, I'll have a tough time recovering. If two of them slip, we're finished! Even the deals I have stashed in Q1 won't pull us through.
I've spoken to the sales reps and they are confident in their Q4 forecasts. So there's nothing to worry about, is there?
But, we've all been here before, and it hasn't always turned out well.
If you have ever found yourself in this or a similar situation where you are concerned about deal slippage, find out if any of the deals in your forecast are at risk of slipping past the Close Date by analyzing the deal (or having your sales rep do it) using the Occulus Qualification Analysis tool. It's free and you do not have to provide any contact information to analyze the deal.
In addition to informing you if the deal is at risk of slipping past Close Date, the Occulus Qualification Analysis tool will also tell you how well the deal is qualified and the chances of winning it.
Click here and you will be transferred to the analysis.
Try it, you could save yourself a lot of grief!