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Hobby Horses and the Holy Grail
Posted by Colin Wilson
In Jul 08
My old hobby-horse has not had a decent outing for some time and so after much neglect I thought I would get it out… as they say… and for the uninitiated in the use of the term ‘hobby-horse’ which I’m sure there are very few…. I’m not referring to a child’s toy horse nor the May Day hobby-horses that run riot during the Padstow Obby Oss festival in Cornwall each year… no, I’m referring to my favourite topic… Pipeline Management.
I thought it was time to share my old versus new comparison. Unlike the Padstow Obby Oss festival that is steeped in tradition and has its roots back to the 14th century and has not changed much for hundreds of years the same nostalgic view of things past should not be held out for Pipeline Management.
To improve… to get better… things need to change and if there is anything in the B2B sales arena that needs a damn good change… it has to be pipeline management.
However, before I share my old versus new musings with you I would like to point out that Pipeline Management is also linked to another ancient custom… the quest for the Holy Grail. This legend or piece of mythology (not to be confused with methodology) has its origins dating back to the late 12th century when Robert de Boron, the French poet wrote Joseph d’Arimathe… all in octosyllabic verse… about how he, Joseph that is, used the Grail to catch the last drops of blood from Jesus’ body as he hung from the cross… apparently, as legend has it, the grail has magical powers. Through various routes it, the Grail that is… as legend has it… made its way to Great Britain where some careless soul lost it, or put it somewhere safe and wont tell anyone… people have been searching for the Holy Grail ever since… without luck.
The Holy Grail of the B2B sales world is accurate forecasting… sales directors and managers alike have been searching for years the secret of accurate forecasting… in the belief that once obtained they will be the custodian of ultimate power… they will be in control of their business!
Now, if sales management are looking for the holy grail of sales using the traditional pipeline management methods… then to coin another phrase… they are flogging a dead horse… no matter how hard you flog it, it isn’t going to do any more work… no matter how hard you insist people use the corporate system… they won’t… there are other stronger forces at work that prevent them from doings so… self preservation. Pipeline Management has to be for the benefit of the sales professional first and corporate second… not just for the benefit of the corporate. I’m advocating personal pipeline management rather than corporate pipeline reporting… notice the difference!
So… here are my 22 points of old versus new…yep… 22 points!
Click on the picture to make it larger… it will be easier to read, trust me.
12 Comments
Brilliant… Its funny the thoughts that run through my head when I read the left column. Part of the reason I like reading blogs from people with a different specialty is because it give you such a different perspective. This is a defining post Colin. Well done.
“To improve… to get better… things need to change” Colin, so basic, so true, and sometimes people are so resistant about this truth.
great analogy Colin !! Hoping you chase that hoby horse out of Toronto next week!
Hi Colin - 22 items is a big list - that’s one helluva hobbyhorse.
What’s your thinking on the importance of accurate forecasting vs the use of pripeline management to actually drive forward sales.
It’s been my observation that some companies - particularly public companies in search of that other holy grail “shareholder value” - spend most of their effort in pipeline management trying to get accurate forecasts rather than trying to maximise sales. In other words they focus on the numbers rather than focusin on the underlying sales opportunities. Their time is spent grilling the sales team to make sure the “numbers stack up” rather than trying to help the sales team improve their chances at each opportunity.
Ian
Bard, Skip and Ian P… thanks for your comments… Ian B… to coin another phrase you have just opened a whole new can of worms!
I agree with you, there is a disconnection between management and the sales force. The further up the management chain you go, the larger the disconnection. However, accurate forecasting is an absolute must. It means you are working on the right deals at the right time… not wasting your time on a deal that will not close in the period.
Pipeline management is about putting a plan in place to show how you are going to make your number. To do your job you need to do 100% of your number. To make some money you need to do more than 100%… it’s what commission plans are for… to entice you to overachieve. If you are going to overachieve then you still need to forecast that you will overachieve… you can’t have religion in sales… management praying that the number will be made.
The reason for the disconnection between sales management and the sales reps is that sales management can not report bad news. Having just been given their number, they can’t report a miss… they can’t go to the board and say we are going to miss our number and there is nothing that can be done. What they can say is…
“It’s really tough out there… sales are down… we can see 80% of the number for sure… but we have a number of deals that we are working on that with a fair wind should tip us over the 100%”
There we go, told them its tough, but we should make it. However, at the end of the period when they have hit 85% of their number and not the 100%…
“I told you it was tough…I told you were down… and I said we needed a fair wind to close those deals… didn’t get it, they slipped to next quarter… we didn’t close them this quarter, but what a great start we have to the new quarter!”
Why is this scenario played out across sales anywhere in the world… because it’s easier to ask for forgiveness then permission!
I also agree with you that sales management focus on numbers rather than helping close opportunities. The reason they do this is because they have factored pipelines. Factored pipelines don’t tell which deals are closing… management then have to do a lot of manipulation of numbers to get to a forecast… they take on the monkey of forecasting. The monkey should stay with the sales rep. The rep should only do binary forecasting… they will then have a list of deals for closing. Sales management then help them close… simple.
Colin, firstly, an excellent article which I fully appreciate. What I think that you are getting at and which relates to the discussion you having to some extent is accountability in the whole process, for if a salesperson isn’t given the power to use pipeline information for their own benefit then how to you expect them to use it for the benefit of their sales manager.
What I am aware of is that ’self preservation’ is always going to be a factor in the business world. Even if management have the ability to know beforehand that they will only make 85% of quota, the likelihood is that the same excuses are going to be made to the board about ‘positive future’ and a ‘great start on next quarter’. Excusing failure seems to be a very strong human character trait, though little is done about learning from it.
Until you have a management structure from top down, that accepts that failure is a part of the learning and improving process then there will always be a climate of fear which leads to number fudging.
Nesh
Good comments… thank you.
The only people who should be forecasting are the sales reps… and they need to be accountable… but most management seem to take the monkey… to make sure the correct numbers flow up.
However, look at the private pipelines… the ones in Excel… and you will get a much more realistic view of the pipeline… hence I’m in favour of personal pipelines, showing how the rep is going to make their number with forecast accuracy above 95%
Colin,
Tell Brad to keep his hands off my line. Brilliant is my thing and not only is your post just that, but it is going in my Brilliant post this week. Good job and try and not expose that hobby horse too often. We might all have to run for cover.
KG
[...] for Colin and his superb post on Pipeline Management. If you do not know Colin’s work, he runs http://firistborder.com and developed the product [...]
[...] Colin Wilson is clearly mad. As a hatter. But they say the line between madness and genius is a fine one - and Colin seems to skip with abandon across that line. In amongst the ramblings on the Padstow Obby Oss festival and Robert de Boron’s octosyllabic verse you’ll find some real wisdom on Pipeline Management. [...]
Pipeline management is important and, you are right, it only gets done when sellers perceive it to be in their best interests. Sales managers need to do a better job of making sure that everything they ask sellers to do is in the best interests of the sellers.
I’ll trade you a horse for the holy grail.
We have been conditioned to believe that in sales there is no such thing as the holy grail or a silver bullet.
I will tell you there is, it is called timing – getting in front of the right person at EXACTLY the right time.
When you have timing the sale almost happens by itself - No challenges getting to the customer, understanding their dissatisfaction, presenting a solution, or closing the sale.
Every day decision makers experience a Trigger Event that turn them, from someone who never would of bought from you yesterday, into someone who is highly likely to buy from you today.
Research shows that the average sales person is five times more likely to make a sale when they get to these recently motivated buyers before the competition.
Once you get there the 22 steps matter but if you have the 22 steps and don’t have timing… well we all know the results, or should I say lack of results, when that happens.