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Sales Manager Workflows for Forecasting

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Kelly Hansen
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Overview

As a sales manager, one of your primary focuses is forecasting. With Outreach, you can access the metrics, actionable insights, and reports needed to achieve this goal. To do this, we’ve rounded up the key workflows every sales manager needs to improve forecast accuracy by 45%.

Check out our opportunity management, rep performance, and pipeline generation guides for managers and sellers for more workflows.

Table of contents

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Workflows

Workflows for running potential scenarios

Use these workflows when you want to review and adjust the inputs that Outreach has used to simulate your current forecast projections and see how they may impact your results so that you can make data-driven adjustments and improve the accuracy of your sales forecast.

Use the Scenario Planner to forecast changes and assess the likelihood of hitting your targets

  1. Navigate to the Forecasting tab in Outreach and select the Scenario Planner page.
  2. Choose the parameters you would like to look at for your scenario. You can adjust the following inputs:
    • Type: The type of scenario of you want to forecast against, either Weighted Pipeline by Stage or Weighted Pipeline by Forecast
    • Time period: The timeframe of the scenario that you’re running
    • Rollup or individual: Teams or individuals you want to include in the scenario
    • Filters: Opportunity-level filters you may want to apply (i.e., Type = New Logo). Note that for a field to be available here, it needs to be mapped in the CRM Plugin.
  3. With your parameters defined, initiate the scenario by clicking the Run button. The scenario will use historical inputs, including win rates and pipeline amounts, to generate potential outcomes. 
  4. Review the Baseline section of the Scenario Planner for information on the historical inputs Outreach used to generate these outcomes. These include current pipeline amounts for the time period in question and historical win rates for different sales stages or forecast categories.
  5. Review the Results graph for the following information:
    • Fair value: Your median forecast value. This shows the most frequently occurring outcome.
    • Bear case: Your more conservative forecast value. This indicates that more than 75% of the time, the forecast was above this value.
    • Bull case: Your most aggressive forecast value. This indicates that this value was achieved only 25% of the time.
  6. Analyze your results and compare these outcomes to your quota to assess the likelihood of hitting your targets. 
  7. If your organization or rep’s quota is higher than the outcomes generated in the Scenario Planner create a custom scenario to determine how changing certain inputs could influence your likely outcome.

Create a custom scenario when your forecasted changes are not aligned with your goals

  1. After running your initial scenario, if your results are not aligned with your goals, add a custom scenario to determine how changing certain inputs could influence your likely outcome.
  2. Navigate to the Outreach’s baseline scenario in the upper left and hit the + button to add a scenario.
  3. Modify the inputs to reflect the changes you want to test. For example, increase the pipeline amount in a specific sales stage, pull in revenue from another period, or improve win rates.
  4. Name the scenario with a custom, descriptive name summarizing the changes, such as “Increased discovery pipeline and 5% proposal win rate”.
  5. Initiate the custom scenario by clicking Run. Outreach will recalculate the scenario based on your adjusted inputs.
  6. Review the new scenario outcomes compared to the baseline scenario. Evaluate how your adjustments impacted the projections and use pipeline generation, opportunity management, or rep coaching workflows to help implement any adjustments.

Scenario planner.gif

 

Workflows for inspecting rep's forecasts and identifying risk

Use these workflows to review your team's forecast for accuracy and completeness and when you want to drill down into the specifics of a team or rep's deals or modify a forecast.

Inspect your team’s forecast for accuracy and completeness with Forecast Rollup

  1. Navigate to the Forecasting tab in Outreach and select the Forecast Rollup page.
  2. At the top of the page, you will see Your Forecast, which provides the rollup of your organization’s forecast metrics for your team.
  3. Depending on your position in the reporting hierarchy, you can view the forecasts submitted by the various teams or reps that report to you within the Rollup section at the bottom of the page.
  4. If you have a different forecasting setup, you will see them as tabs along the top of the Forecast Rollup page. Choose the forecast view that matches your needs.
  5. Review the forecast for each team or rep in the Rollup section and assess the accuracy and completeness by looking at the date and timestamp of the last forecast submission and any comments provided.
  6. Use the workflow below to drill down into a specific team or rep’s forecast for deeper insights.

Drill down into specific team or rep’s forecast for deeper insights and to flag at-risk deals using Opportunity views

  1. Navigate to the Forecasting tab in Outreach and select the Forecast Rollup page.
  2. Select the drop down under “Your Forecast” and search for the particular team or rep that you want to review in depth.
  3. To review the specific deals associated with their forecast, navigate to the Opportunities tab next to the Rollup tab towards the bottom of the page. Here you will see the opportunities owned by this particular team or rep.
    • Please note, the default filters applied to this opportunity view will be the same as the default view you have set up within the Records > Opportunities page of Outreach. 
    • You can toggle between saved views or add filters as needed to narrow in on the opportunities most pertinent to review. Ex. adding a close date filter to focus on the current sales period, or a forecast category filter to look at deals more likely to close. 
  4. Important details to review include: 
    • Name: The name of the deal which should include the opportunities company name
    • Health: Deal health scores that provides an understanding of what deals may be at risk & where to focus
    • Close date: Current close date
    • Amount: The total value of the deal
    • Forecast category: Current forecast category
    • Stage: What stage the deal is in based on
    • Emails: The amount of outbound and inbound emails activity within the past 12 months. Each bar represents a month and is color-coded to indicate engagement.
    • Status: Information related to upcoming Meetings, Tasks, active Sequences, and CRM-Association if applicable
    • Next steps: Displays the next steps
    • Owner: The rep who owns the deal
  5. Assess the health of each opportunity by considering factors like engagement history, scheduled meetings, and next steps. Review deal health insights to see:
    • Health status: Based on the deal health score, classified into three categories:
      • On track: Deals are relatively healthy
      • Needs review: Deals with a moderate amount of risk
      • At-risk: Deals that are relatively unhealthy compared to deals at a similar stage
    • Health trend: The trend indicator in the upper right of the Deal Health card shows which direction the score has moved and how much the health score has changed in the last 7 days.
    • What’s going well: Every deal is evaluated against many positive factors using machine learning. This is an overview of some of the positive factors identified for this deal.
    • Where to focus: Every deal is evaluated against many negative factors using machine learning. This is an overview of some of the negative factors identified for this deal.
    • Suggested actions: Based on Deal Heath factors identified as impacting the deal negatively, Outreach will suggest actions to take within the Outreach ecosystem to de-risk the deal.
  6. Determine if any deals are at risk of not closing as forecasted. Follow up with reps or teams with any suggested actions from the deal health insights or use the workflow below to modify their forecast.

Modifying a forecast based on deal assessment

  1. After identifying at-risk deals using the workflow above, select the deal you want to review more closely by clicking on its Name in the Opportunity view.
  2. Review the Engagement section of the Deal Overview page to see when the last time a prospect was engaged by a rep was and how engaged the prospect was. 
  3. Review the Next Meeting tile at the top of the Overview page and confirm there is an upcoming meeting scheduled.
  4. If you feel that the deal is still at risk of closing by the Close Date provided, either adjust the forecast category accordingly or take note of the deal amount, and modify your forecast call.
  5. To adjust your forecast, return to the Forecast Rollup page, and from the drop-down, navigate back to the top level. 
  6. Adjust your Forecast Call value by removing the at-risk deal value from the overall amount. 
  7. Navigate to the upper right-hand corner of the Forecast section and hit the Submit button.
  8. In the Submit Forecast notes, provide a comment explaining the change, such as removing the specific deal from the forecast.
  9. Once you've reviewed and adjusted the forecast, submit it with the changes. The updated forecast will reflect your modifications.

Workflows for submitting a forecast and planning for the next quarter

Use these workflows when submitting a current period forecast to ensure accuracy and completeness or when you're planning for a future sales period.

Use insights to fine-tune your forecast and submit with context using Forecast Rollup

  1. Navigate to the Forecasting tab in Outreach and select the Forecast Rollup page.
  2. Review the forecasts from the teams or reps that report to you in the Forecast Rollup. Examine the total projected finish, scenario planner outcomes, and any comments or notes provided.
  3. If necessary, manually edit the forecasted number to align it with your judgment and evaluation. You can increase or decrease the forecast based on your confidence in meeting the target.
  4. Navigate to the upper right hand corner of the Your Forecast section and hit the Submit button.
  5. If you made any adjustments, provide a clear explanation for your changes in the Submit Forecast comments section. Include details about why you believe the modified forecast is appropriate.
  6. Once you've reviewed and adjusted the forecast, submit it with the changes. The updated forecast will reflect your modifications. Review the confirmation to ensure that your adjustments and comments have been recorded accurately.

Manager submit forecast.gif

 

Plan for future-period forecasting with the Forecast Rollup

  1. Navigate to the Forecasting tab in Outreach and select the Forecast Rollup page.
  2. Navigate to the top right corner of the page and use the time window selection box to choose the desired future sales period.
  3. Review the forecasts from the teams or reps that report to you in the Forecast Rollup. Examine the total projected finish, scenario planner outcomes, and any comments or notes provided.
  4. Determine whether the current forecast aligns with your judgment and expectations and either accept the rollup or adjust accordingly.
  5. Navigate to the upper right hand corner of the Forecast section and hit the Submit button.
  6. If you made any adjustments, provide a clear explanation for your changes in the Submit Forecast comments section. Include details about why you believe the modified forecast is appropriate.
  7. Once you've reviewed and adjusted the forecast, submit it with the changes. The updated forecast will reflect your modifications. Review the confirmation to ensure that your adjustments and comments have been recorded accurately.

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