Problem:
This specific case is related to a seasonal business, which is agriculture. Our problem is how to handle opportunities where interest/ability to implement exists but put on hold due to seasonal factors. For example, Agriculture is working around the clock during planting or harvest windows. All other matters unrelated to operations are put on hold. These windows are anywhere from 30-60 days.
We want to make sure we have accurate information on opportunity age, days to close, average age per stage, etc.. and make sure opportunities do not slip through the cracks.
Question:
When and how should we decide if an opportunity should be closed lost and reopened OR put the opportunity on hold in a way that is reportable. Currently, this is not defined.
Solution Idea (help here):
Systems: SF, Outreach, Atrium, Gong
We have, what I believe to be a strong sales process. Each opp stage (preparation, alignment, evaluation, proposal, commit, Closed W/Closed L) is defined with activities and exit criteria.
To prevent this from being abused "Hold Reason" needs to be buttoned up.
For an opportunity to be on hold, it needs to be an advanced opportunity, which is anything post-"Aligment" in our sales process (exit criteria: interest/ability to implement/urgency exists, pricing has been floated and in bounds, prospect can articulate how they would use our product/service to help solve their problem). We find a way to exclude this hold in the metrics (or maybe not because it's the reality of our market).
We can roll up the account status (active or hold) to the opportunity to show accounts that are on hold or active. An account should not be on hold for more than 60 days and must continue to show activity during this hold period with gifts "no action" activity to prospect.
Goal:
better forecasting, better reporting, better management, less missed follow-ups
--- Thoughts???
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