Worksheet: Name the stages and count last year's deals

A forecast needs a process under it. This sheet writes the stages, counts last year's deals through them and finds where deals die. It builds the Competent step of the check:

One sales process with named stages is used by every rep, and win rate and time in each stage are known.

Step 1. Write the stages

Stage	What must be true to enter it	Evidence the rep records
Lead
Qualified
Proposal
Negotiation
Won or lost
e.g. Qualified	Budget, a decision date and the person who signs are known	All three in the CRM

Step 2. Count last year's deals through them

Stage	Deals that reached it	Moved to the next stage	Lost at this stage	Average days in the stage
Lead
Qualified
Proposal
Negotiation

Win rate = deals won ÷ deals that reached Qualified. The stage with the most losses is where deals die, and the first place to look.

Step 3. Build the forecast from the counts

Line	This quarter
Open deals at each stage
Times the chance of winning from that stage, from step 2
Times the average deal size
Forecast
Actual at quarter end

Put the forecast beside the actual every quarter. The gap tells you which stage's numbers to recount.

Done when: every rep uses the same named stages, and the win rate and the average time in each stage are known.

Adapted from our own sales review (PSP, 2008).