All Opportunities Are Not Created Equal

We don't have enough time.  There are always many more things on the To-Do list than we have time to get them To-Done.  That's why we as sales managers and professionals have gotten so very good at setting priorities.  Or maybe not...

The obvious place for a sales team to start a priority setting exercise is with known opportunities.  Which opportunities have the highest odds of yielding the greatest revenue soonest?  The likely dollar value is typically fairly easy to estimate.  Likely closing date is a little harder to nail down, but can usually be pegged within a two or three month window.  Odds to close though; that's a tough one.  And unless one can get a good handle on that, any attempt at a valid, meaningful sorting of opportunities is reduced to guesswork.

Is there a way to assign odds to close that's a bit more scientific than a rep's gut feel?  See what you think of the following approach.

Start by creating a spreadsheet that will assist in examining each opportunity systematically from three different perspectives including that of the prospect, my company and the market.  With regard to the prospect, the first thing I'd like to know is how influential we are with the key decision-makers.  If we have yet to establish a relationship with them, I'll give this factor a score of 1.  If they know and respect us as business people, I'll give this factor a score of 5.  There are other things I'd like to know:  Has the prospect approved and funded a budget for this opportunity?  Do we know the evaluation criteria?  Do we thoroughly understand the business need or problem driving action?  With a little effort, you can come up with a total of 10 or 12 key questions regarding the prospect.  You can then assign a 1 to 5 score to each.

Next, come up with another 10 or so key questions from a "my company" perspective .  Questions like:  Is this opportunity in sync with our strategic direction?  Do we have the resources and ability to deliver if we win?  Can we realistically manage the risks if we win?  Do we have sufficient competitive differentiation?  Assign a score of 1 to 5 to each of these.

Finally, come up with a few more questions from a marketplace/competition perspective.  Do we have any competition?  If so who are they?  Is a competitor favored by decision-makers and influencers?  Does the solution involve new or unproven technologies?  Will winning open up new market opportunities for us?  Score each of these.

Set up your spreadsheet to add all the numbers and establish a total score for each opportunity.

It won't take you very long, maybe a month or two, to refine and standardize your three sets of questions.  With that, you'll have a pretty darn rock-solid way to prioritize opportunities.  It won't be long after that, maybe another four to six months, that you'll have enough data and an extremely simple process to calculate what will be a surprisingly accurate odds-to-close percentage.

Like the approach and wish you had an example?  If you're willing to register on the Think About It... site, you got it.  (thinkaboutit.saleskx.org)  You can download a Sample Opportunity Assessment Spreadsheet from the June 2009 article posted there.  And finally, as always...