The Fallacy of Funnels & Forecasts
by Frank Rumbauskas
Published on this site: October 21st, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
If there is one mainstay in virtually every sales office,
it would have to be funnels & forecasts. Sales managers
swear by them; however, I've found that they frequently do
more harm than good.
Funnels seem like a good idea in theory. The problem with
funnels, however, is that they practically scream "micromanagement."
Funnel reviews strike terror in the hearts of salespeople.
They scream the words "probation" and "performance
improvement plan." Sales managers who wish to succeed
need to learn some basic psychology, especially the principle
of autosuggestion. Doing so will make it very clear as to
why the very sound of the word funnel instantly changes salespeople's
attitudes from positive to negative and has very bad effects
on sales performance.
Forecasts also make sense in theory. After all, accurate
forecasting is a necessity for good business planning. The
key word, however, is accurate. If you believe that an accurate
sales forecast has ever existed then I've got a nice bridge
for sale just for you. Salespeople simply do not submit accurate
forecasts. Most salespeople grossly overestimate their forecasts
in order to appease their managers. After all, would you,
as a salesperson, want to face the wrath of submitting a forecast
that falls short of expectations? This is why dead deals and
phony deals tend to outnumber the real ones on forecasts.
On the other side of the coin, some salespeople underestimate
forecasts simply because they don't want a manager asking,
"When is this one going to sign? When is that one going
to sign?" An overbearing manager simply isn't worth dealing
with so they leave good deals off the forecast.
The other huge problem with funnels & forecasts is that
they force salespeople to manage their activity on a month-to-month
basis. This results in the horrendous practice of slacking
off at the beginning of every month, then working overtime
at the end of the month trying to get enough deals signed
to make quota. It just doesn't work in the real world. Successful
top producers work in the present, not in terms of "it's
the beginning of the month" or "it's the end of
the month." Top producers are consistent because today
is neither the beginning nor the end of the month. Today is today, and that means doing the same thing
today that they do every day to get the results they achieve.
Forget about funnels & forecasts. Manage with common
sense instead and watch your sales results skyrocket.
Frank Rumbauskas is the author of Cold Calling
Is A Waste Of Time: Sales Success In The Information Age.
He is the founder of FJR Advisors, LLC, which publishes training
materials that educate salespeople on how to generate business without cold calling. For more information, please
visit http://www.nevercoldcall.com
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