Sales professionals are optimistic people - they have to be! However, when it comes to sales forecasting, sometimes sales professionals tell their boss what they 'hope' will happen by month end and not what the 'evidence' in their sales pipeline is telling them. The following set of questions, if used correctly and conversationally, are useful guide to help you get to an 'evidence based' view which sales opportunities are likely to close and by when.

1. Sales professionals are optimistic people - they have to be! However, when it
comes to sales forecasting, sometimes sales professionals tell their boss what they
'hope' will happen by month end and not what the 'evidence' in their sales pipeline
is telling them. The following set of questions, if used correctly and
conversationally, are useful guide to help you get to an 'evidence based' view which
sales opportunities are likely to close and by when.
We trust you will find them useful.
How many qualified confirmed appointments have you in your
diary for the next two weeks / month etc?
Do you have enough confirmed appointments to hit your sales
targets for this month / quarter?
How many proposals have you in circulation at present?
What is the value of those proposals?
How many of these proposals will close in the next four weeks?
On what basis are you making this prediction?
How many sales prospecting (appointment setting) sessions have
you planned for the next two weeks? Who will you be calling?
Will they be expecting your call?
If you don’t call the companies on your target listing, how many of
them will call you? (Will enough people call you?)
How many appointments did you set last week?
How much business did you close last week? Is that figure higher
or lower than you expected?
How many of the confirmed appointments for the next two weeks
will close the deal in the next month?
How many new first meetings (qualified & confirmed) have you
set up for the next two weeks?
Questions a Sales Manager should ask their team
- to remove the 'hope' factor from sales forecasting

2. How many blanks or gaps are in your diary for next week? Have
you still time to fill them?
Which prospects need to be moved forward over the next two
weeks? What help can I give you to make this happen?
How many of your “proposals” are now more than one month
old? What makes you believe that they are still active? What can
we do to get them moving again?
Does your contact know how this type of decision is made e.g.
how was it made the last time?
When was your first meeting / conversation about this deal or
sale?
Does the prospect want this deal to happen as much as you do?
When are you predicting income from this prospect?
On what date will you start to worry that this prospect or deal is
probably dead? Has that date actually passed?
Which networking events are you targeting this month? On what
basis did you select them?
How many sales targets have LinkedIn with you this month?
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